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Early Modern Japanese Literature Research Guide: Online Reference Works and Catalogs

created and maintained by William Fleming and Haruko Nakamura

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National Institute of Japanese Literature 国文学研究資料館

NIJL’s databases include catalogs of the Institute’s holdings of books, journals, and microfilm for researchers planning visits or who would like to request materials remotely.  In addition, the following are of particular use to scholars regardless of location (see also under Full Text and Image databases below): 

 

    National Institute of Japanese Literature OPAC 国文学研究資料館 OPAC  

 

Nihon kotenseki sōgō mokuroku dētabēsu 日本古典籍総合目録データベース (Union Catalogue of Early Japanese Books)

Electronic version of Kokusho sōmokuroku 国書総目録 (Iwanami shoten, 1963-1976).  The first place to turn for information on titles, authors, holding libraries, and reprint editions of premodern and early modern Japanese works.

 

Kokubungaku ronbun mokuroku dētabēsu 国文学論文目録データベース (Database of Articles on Japanese Literature in Japanese)

 

Wakokubon kanseki sōgō dētabēsu 和刻本漢籍総合データベース (Database of Chinese Classics Published in Japan)

Useful, but origin of data is unclear; includes Chinese editions of some works—so unclear how much the title is to be trusted.

 

Kōnitsukī Ōshū shozai Nihon kosho sōgō mokuroku dētabēsu コーニツキー・欧州所在日本古書総合目録 (Kornicki Union Catalogue of Early Japanese Books in Europe)

Designed to be the equivalent of the Nihon kotenseki sōgō mokuroku or Kokusho sōmokuroku for premodern Japanese books held in European collections.

 

JapanKnowledge+ ジャパンナレッジ プラス

A useful collection of numerous dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference works, as well as some full-text collections of classical literature and academic works, mostly full-text searchable.  The various reference works and databases are, to a large extent, cross-searchable (although the cross-search function does not always draw on the full text available when using each resource individually).  Aside from a number of Japanese, Japanese-English, and character dictionaries not mentioned here, the following are particularly useful (unfortunately, the individual resources must be accessed through the top page, and direct-link URLs are not available) (see also under Full Text and Image databases below):

 

Nihon kokugo daijiten 日本国語大辞典 (Nikkoku Dictionary of the Japanese Language)

Full text of one of the largest and best dictionaries of the Japanese language, the Nihon kokugo daijiten (2nd edition, Shōgakkan, 2000-2002). About 50,000 entries and 100,000 usage examples (including many drawn from premodern literature).

 

Kokushi daijiten 国史大辞典 (Great Dictionary of Japanese History)

Full text digitized content of the 17-volume Kokushi daijiten (Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 1979-1997), comprising 54,000 entries, with a further 4,000 crossheadings.

 

Nihon rekishi chimei taikei 日本歴史地名大系 (Encyclopedia of Japanese Historical Place Names)

A vast collection of information on Japanese place names and their origins, organized by prefecture.  Electronic version of Nihon rekishi chimei taikei (Heibonsha, 1979-2005).

Shinpan kabuki jiten 新版 歌舞伎事典 (Encyclopedia of Kabuki, New Edition)

An encyclopedia of the 400-year history of kabuki theater, from the Edo period to the present, including plays, actors and other figures, and terminology.  Updated version of Shintei zōho kabuki jiten (Heibonsha, 2000).

 

Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan

A digitized version of the multivolume set published in 1993, containing 12,000 entries (of which 3,500 have been revised and 180 added for the electronic version) in English on Japanese history, literature, culture, politics, and more (the set is also available in less complete form on CD-ROM; see below).

 

Kokuritsu kokkai toshokan sāchi 国立国会図書館サーチ (National Diet Library Search)

Choose by resource type (cross-searching available and enabled by default).  For example, select “kiji, ronbun” (記事・論文) to search journal articles; this supersedes the formerly separate Zasshi kiji sakuin 雑誌記事索引 (Index of Journal Articles).

 

Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University 京都大学人文科学研究所

 

Tōyōgaku bunken ruimoku 東洋学文献類目 (Bibliography of Oriental Studies)

A bibliography of scholarly works in Asian studies, searchable by discipline and by title and author keyword.

 

Zenkoku kanseki dētabēsu 全國漢籍データベース (National Database of Chinese Classics)

A catalog of premodern and early modern Chinese works (including modern editions) held by Japanese institutions.

 

National Institute of Informatics 国立情報学研究所

 

Webcat Plus

Comprehensive database of books published in Japan and Japanese institutions holding them; allows associative and keyword searching.

 

CiNii Articles

A catalog of articles published in Japanese academic journals.  Searchable by title, author, and, when available, full text.  Includes entries for many obscure university journals (including the numerous minor university and departmental kiyō, etc., that are unlikely to be carried by institutions outside of Japan), and some content is available for full-text PDF download.

 

Kōseisha zasshi kiji sakuin shūsei dētabēsu 皓星社雑誌記事索引集成データベース

Database of Japanese magazine and periodicals from Meiji to the present.

 

International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) 国際日本文化研究センター

Aside from catalogs of the their holdings of books, journals, and microfilm, Nichibunken hosts a number of databases of great use to research in early modern Japanese literature.  All of the databases can be cross-searched here (http://search07.nichibun.ac.jp).  Individual databases of particular note are as follows (see also below):

 

Haikai database

 

Historiographical Institute, University of Tokyo

Contains various databases which, unfortunately, cannot be linked directly (users must first link through pages where they consent to usage guidelines).  Of particular use for the study of early modern literature are the databases of kuzushiji, surimono, and nishikie, as well as the “On-line Glossary of Japanese Historical Terms,” a compilation of translations into Western language, from a wide range of works, of historical titles and terminology.

 

NDL Search 国立国会図書館サーチ

Gogen yurai jiren 語源由来辞典 http://gogen-allguide.com/

Useful guide to etymologies of Japanese words; new entries are added on an ongoing basis.

 

ARC 日本文化研究文献検索システム

Provides sophisticated calendrical conversion between the traditional Japanese calendar and the Western calendar.

 

Denshi Bukkyo Jiten 電子佛教辭典 (Digital Dictionary of Buddhism) 

  

Encyclopedia of Shinto

 

Kabuki reference guide