Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives

Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives
山口県文書館
Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives; 山口県文書館
	Yamaguchi
Established	April 1959
Collection size	530,000
Building information
Building	Yamaguchi Prefectural Library; 山口県立山口図書館
Website	Official website (ja)

Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives (山口県文書館, Yamaguchi-ken Monjo-kan) opened in

Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, in 1959 as the country's first dedicated modern archival institution.^[2]^[3]^[4]

History

In

daimyō of Chōshū Domain, deposited its domainal documents with Yamaguchi Prefecture, whereupon they were stored, alongside materials gathered by the pre-war Prefectural History Compilation Office, at Yamaguchi Prefectural Library (ja).^[5] These items were transferred in with the opening of Yamaguchi Prefectural Archives in 1959; donations and deposits - including materials from the Tokuyama Domain Mōri family - have continued since.^[5]

Holdings

The archives holds approximately 530,000 documents, roughly divided into five groups:[1]

Domain documents, including:
- Mōri Family Library (毛利家文庫)
- Tokuyama Mōri Family Library (徳山毛利家文庫)
- Prefectural Government's Old Clan Records (県庁伝来旧藩記録)
Administrative documents, from the
Meiji era
onwards
Administrative materials, from the Meiji era onwards
- Publications, photographs, films, audio recordings, etc.
Family documents, including:
- Corporation, foundation, and family documents, including those of Edo period samurai houses
Special library
- Textbooks, newspapers, etc.

Cultural Properties

The holdings include seven Important Cultural Properties, two Prefectural Cultural Properties, and three Municipal Tangible Cultural Properties.^[6]

Important Cultural Properties

Arimitsu Family Documents (有光家文書・長門国正吉郷入江塩浜絵図): 121 items, dating from the Kamakura period to the Edo period, together with a map of the Nagato Province Masayoshi Irie Salt Fields^[7]^[8]
Kumagaya Family Documents (熊谷家文書（二百五十五通）): 255 documents mounted as 13 scrolls, dating from the Kamakura period to the Edo period^[9]
Takasu Family Documents (高洲家文書・日明貿易船旗): 117 items, dating from 1351–1643, together with a
Japan-Ming trade ship flag of Wanli 12 (1584)^[10]^[11]

Lotus Sūtra Woodblocks (大内版法華経板木): 59 woodblocks of the Muromachi period^[12]

Noshima Murakami Family Documents (能島村上家文書・過所船旗): 199 items from the sixteenth century, together with a flag pass of Tenshō 9 (1581)^[13]
Administrative Documents of Yamaguchi Prefecture (山口県行政文書): 13,549 items, dating from the
Shōwa era^[14]

Former Yamaguchi Prefectural Office and Prefectural Assembly Hall, together with construction records and plans (山口県旧県庁舎及び県会議事堂附工事関係記録6冊設計図5): 6 construction records and 5 plans, from the
Taishō era^[6]

Prefectural Cultural Properties

Materials relating to Yoshida Shōin (transmitted by the Yoshida family) (吉田松陰関係資料（吉田家伝来）): 754 items, including a portrait inscribed by Yoshida in the fifth month of Ansei 6 (1859), and his zeppitsu or final writing (Tangible Cultural Property)^[15]
Oda Family Household Items, Merchant House Materials, and Townhouse (小田家の生活用具・商家資料・町家): 1,011 documents (Tangible Folk Cultural Property)^[16]