Old maps, classics, books, magazines. Direct access to primary sources.
A national integrated platform, with the National Diet Library at its core, that cross-searches digital materials of museums, libraries, archives, and universities. Themed "Galleries" are also rich.
For materials not in the Digital Collections, search "holdings" and head to a library.
A "how to research" guide by theme from the NDL. Bibliographies, field-specific guides, and reference lists are abundant — usable as a starting point for teachers researching materials for inquiry lessons.
Browse Japan's public records as primary sources. A basis for institutional and political history.
Modern records of Japan and Asian relations. The catalog is powerful.
Full-text search of newspaper articles from Meiji to early Showa. Trace public opinion, events, and social conditions in modern history.
An official archive that traces the history of broadcasting. From programs, chronologies, and themes, build an entry to background understanding and primary sources (footage).
Footage that recorded society of the time as a primary source. Read it including the perspective of reporting (what is shown, what is not).
An entry to primary sources (public records) on the administration, policy, and urban formation of Tokyo. Trace modern municipal/social/economic change with evidence.
Cross-search excavation reports and reach the primary source (the report) that provides the evidence.
Ideal for practicing reading images as primary sources.
Catch the "flow of history" by themed exhibitions, then descend into primary sources.
Form questions from visual materials such as photographs and ukiyo-e.
An entry that broadens from individuals to social structure and the era's background.
View historical materials as "objects to think with".
Ideal as a first contact point with history.
Japan's sole national film institution, preserving domestic films and newsreels. Its official search makes the holdings available as a primary source for reading the "way society was seen" at the time of production.
A cross-disciplinary database suite from an Inter-University Research Institute dedicated to Japanese history and folklore. Folklore, archaeology, old documents, and modern history are all searchable — use it together with integrated-resource-studies (khirin) for maximum depth.
The official cross-search portal centred on the National Museum of Japanese History, covering university, museum, and municipal historical resources. IIIF-enabled image comparison, combined with the Rekihaku DBs, makes it a core entry point for Japanese history research.
The Imperial Household Agency's official archive holding imperial and agency documents, gyobutsu (imperial treasures), and premodern records. A starting point for tracing the primary sources of the modern imperial institution and court rituals.
The current entry point integrating databases such as the New Database of Pre-Modern Japanese Works, run by the National Institute of Japanese Literature. High-resolution images of manuscripts, printed books, and illustrated books — a shared base for classical Japanese literature and historical research.
A public archive aggregating women's history, gender policy, and related statistics. Lets you search primary sources, policy papers, and statistics in one place — essential entry point for gender and family-history inquiry.
A public archive holding records of Okinawa from the Ryūkyū Kingdom through the US administration and post-reversion periods. Easy to pair with US NARA holdings on Japan, making it a strong primary-source entry point for modern Okinawan history.
A prefectural archive that comprehensively handles Kyoto's old documents, historical maps, administrative records, and publications. A "place-rooted primary-source" starting point for regional history and cultural-heritage research.
A large-scale repository of the National Archives of Japan for modern public records. Alongside the Tokyo main branch, an essential archive for modern Japanese political and administrative history, used mostly by universities and researchers.
The Ministry of Defense's official research institute preserving former Army / Navy war records and publishing contemporary security studies. With JACAR, lets you reach primary sources of military and war history.
The U.S. national archives. Publishes over 200 million digitised pages, including not only U.S. primary records but also documents on Occupation-era Japan and the U.S. military — vital for Japanese history research. Use the dedicated catalogue to search.
Germany's federal archives. Holds federal-level records from the Imperial, Weimar, Nazi, East / West German, and contemporary periods. Essential primary-source entry for 20th-century German and international-relations history.
The national archives of France. Holds central-government records from the Ancien Régime through the Republic and modern period; invaluable for French Revolution, colonial, and diplomatic-history primary sources.
The official directory of world national archives maintained by the National Archives of Japan. Cross-trace counterparts by country / region — a hub for international comparison and multilateral history research.
The national library of the UK. Holds a world-class collection including manuscripts, maps, and codices, and publishes many digitised materials. Strong as a primary-source entry point for world history, cartographic history, and bibliography.
The Vatican Apostolic Library's digital manuscripts and rare books. Medieval European, Byzantine, and Asian-related materials are viewable in high resolution — first-rate primary sources worldwide.
A public cross-search portal centred on the National Library of Australia, covering AU / NZ records, newspapers, images, and maps. Rich in colonial, Pacific-War, and Indigenous-related primary sources.
Run by the National Library of New Zealand, this portal cross-searches cultural materials from NZ museums, archives, and libraries. Also handles Māori culture, settler history, and war-related materials.
Korea's National Central Library. Digitisation of primary sources on modern Korean and Joseon history is advancing, with many Japanese-language materials as well. Essential for bidirectional inquiry into Japan–Korea relations.
A shared digital library run by U.S. research-library consortia. Makes public a vast body of full-text-searchable digital materials, mostly out-of-copyright books. A standard base for researchers worldwide to cross-reference primary and secondary sources.
A pioneering project that digitises and freely publishes out-of-copyright books worldwide. Over 70,000 classics and landmark works available in full text. Useful for confirming originals when using scholarly translations.
A meta-link list covering all of Japan's prefectural and municipal archives, records offices, and historical-materials repositories. The shortest path to your own region's archive.
Cross-search of four national museums, two research institutes, and Sannomaru Shozokan.
Image search of artifacts held at the Tokyo National Museum.
Comprehensive database of Japan's intangible cultural properties from the Tokyo National Research Institute.
Official database of nationally designated cultural properties — historical sites, buildings, crafts, and performing arts.
Local history digital platform covering 188 institutions, 1.11 million catalog records, and 300,000 content items.
300 maps showing geographic distribution of dialects, published as PDFs.
300 maps showing the geographic distribution of grammatical features in Japanese dialects, as PDFs.
CODH's GIS map linking historical place names to modern geography.
Historical place name dataset from the National Institutes for the Humanities.
Database of place names appearing in the Kojiki, Japan's oldest chronicle, compiled by Kokugakuin University.
Integrated search across historical place name datasets using the GeoShape spatial data repository.
Scholarly databases from the University of Tokyo's Historiographical Institute — the core of Japanese historical research.
Japanese historical terminology with English translations, compiled by UTokyo's Historiographical Institute.
Cross-search digital archives of cultural institutions across the EU.
Browse printed works, manuscripts, scores, and maps from the French National Library — includes a kids' corner.
The largest library in the world — primary sources, digital collections, and research guides.
Cross-search digital collections from US libraries, archives, and museums in one portal.
Germany's national digital library portal cross-searching cultural and scientific heritage institutions.
The largest online library of Hispanic literature and culture in Spanish-speaking history.
Classical works including The Tale of Genji, Essays in Idleness, and Tales of Ise, released for elementary–high school education.
National treasure — the oldest surviving illustrated handscroll in Japan. Suzumushi, Yugiri, Minori chapters.
National treasure — part of the Owari Tokugawa family collection, remounted as 15 handscrolls in 2020.
High-resolution images of the Tale of Genji Illustrated Scroll from the NDL digital archive.
Comprehensive database of classical Japanese texts from Waseda University Library.
Search the collection of the Kyoto National Museum online.
Japanese folktales from across the country, in audio narration and text.
Okinawan folktales recorded from 1973 by the Okinawa Prefectural Museum, in the Shima-kutuba dialect.
25 audio recordings in Saru Ainu dialect by speaker Ueda Toshi, with PDFs, MP3s, and picture books.
Japan's national Ainu museum and symbolic space for indigenous Ainu culture and coexistence.
Database of the classic anime series 'Manga Nihon Mukashibanashi' — Japanese folktales in animation.