Category: Reference sources

Diaries and Documents of Premodern Japan: Shiryō Sanshū

Front page of a website

Homepage of the JapanKnowledge collection of the Shiryo Sanshu.

As part of our ongoing effort to strengthen access to premodern Japanese historical sources, we announced earlier this fall the addition of the complete digital transcription of Heian Ibun (平安遺文). Building on that momentum, we are pleased to now offer access to the first unit of Shiryō Sanshū, newly available through the JapanKnowledge platform.

This initial release includes documents and diaries dating from the Heian, Kamakura, and Nanboku-chō periods, offering valuable insight into Japan’s premodern past. The collection features writings by prominent historical figures, including Prince Shigeakira (4th son of Emperor Daigo, 重明親王), Emperor Hanazono (花園天皇), Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家), and Nakahara Momori (中原師守), among others. These diaries and journals allow researchers to explore the daily lives, thoughts, and concerns of court nobles and members of the imperial family.

The Shiryō Sanshū is a highly respected compilation of ancient diaries and documents, published by Yagi Shoten (八木書店), a Tokyo-based publishing house, between 1968 and 2020. The series encompasses more than 260 documents spanning from the Heian period through the Edo period. Each volume has been meticulously digitized, presenting both the original script and modern Japanese transcriptions. This dual-format approach enables full-text searching using both historical and modern character forms.

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Online Japanese Newspapers with PressReader!

Current newspapers can offer a great way to see how events are unfolding and discussed in Japan. In this digital age, such resources are thankfully at our fingertips. The present blog shows how advanced readers of Japanese can access Japanese periodicals and newspapers like the Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞, literally “Daily News”) in full print view through an online database called PressReader!

Mainichi Shimbun shown on PressReader

The Mainichi Shimbun is one of the top five most widely read daily newspapers in Japan (along with the Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun, Sankei Shimbun, and Nikkei Shimbun). In addition to carrying the daily news, PressReader also offers over ten years of full print views of the Mainichi Shimbun dating back to April 2011.  (It also offers of other foreign language newspapers, as well as English language newspapers published overseas. For example, readers who prefer reading in English can also access the Japan News, a major English language newspaper published by the Yomiuri Shinbun, on this powerful digital archive.)

Accessing PressReader and the Mainichi Shinbun

To access the Mainichi Shinbun, we recommend starting from the OSU library catalog page for PressReader. From here, you will click on the blue “PressReader” link near the middle of the page. After entering your OSU credentials (name.# and password), you will next be brought to Pressreader’s home page.

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Selected Resources for Japanese 8500 class: Western language Bibliographies for Japanese studies

Searching for Japanese books by subject

The Ohio State University Libraries uses the Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH) to support subject searches with controlled vocabulary — in addition to the convenient keyword search. Other research libraries also use LCSH, so the subject headings can also be used in Worldcat or to search in other research library catalogs. Spending some time becoming familiar with subject headings can be helpful in conducting research. An easy way to do this is to look at the “full record” when you find a book — then click on the subject headings to find other books on the same subject (or click on the call number to find books classified in the same call number range — another kind of subject index!)

Japanese library catalogs also use subject headings. At the National Diet Library(NDL)try the advanced search . There is a guide to NDL’s subject headings.

An older edition of NDL’s subject headings is available in print:
国立国会図書館件名標目表
Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan kenmei hyōmokuhyō
Z695 .K68 1991

A few years ago we kept subject bibliographies in the EAS Reference collection. For specific research purposes the printed books may still be helpful —