Tenno Kozoku Jitsuroku

Full digitalization of the documents (facsimile edition, 135 volumes plus supplementary volume 1) of the Tenno Kozoku Jitsuroku (Records of the Emperor and the Imperial Family), the highest level historical materials for research into the Emperor and the Imperial Family, compiled and edited by the Imperial Household Ministry in the pre-war period. Authoritative historical sources are also displayed together with the original documents.

Records of the Emperor and the Imperial Family are a chronological record of the historical traces of successive Japanese emperors from Emperor Jinmu to the 121st Emperor Komei, as well as the five emperors of the Northern Court, Emperor Kogon, Emperor Komyo, Emperor Suko, Emperor Gokogon, and Emperor Goenyu, and also including the empresses and consorts, relatives of the emperors, and imperial princesses (with the exception of the four families of the imperial princes of Fushiminomiya, Katsuranomiya, Arisugawanomiya, and Kanninnomiya), prepared in the pre-war period through extensive research conducted by the Imperial Household Ministry on all extant documents and records available at the time.

Compilation and editing was initiated in the Imperial Household Ministry’s Bureau of Books and Charts in May 1920 and completed in December 1936. Only very few copies were prepared, being presented only to the Emperor and certain related persons. Many years passed with almost no researchers making use of the materials until, in 2005, the publisher Yumani Shobo gained permission from the Archives and Mausolea Department, Imperial Household Agency to publish a facsimile edition (all 135 volumes plus supplementary volume 1). Since that time, numerous researchers have come to make use of the materials, and we are now pleased to make a digitalized edition available for the convenience of still larger numbers of people.

As the historical traces of the full lives of successive emperors, along with their empresses and consorts, and relatives of the emperors up to the Edo period have been compiled in Records of the Emperor and the Imperial Family, searching for persons such as the grandchildren, great-grandchildren and consorts of emperors, who have not generally been the subjects of research thus far, is now made easy through the use of the search function. The digital edition will also make it possible to search in far greater detail not only for historical incidents that have taken place on the Imperial Family stage but also to enhance research into the history of the Imperial Family and court society, as well as ceremonies and rituals that have been performed in the Imperial Palace in each age.

Since large numbers of classical literature works are cited as authoritative sources, Records of the Emperor and the Imperial Family are an indispensable historical source for scholars of classical literature. A further deepening of research by not only historical researchers but also researchers of literature is anticipated through the publication of this digital edition.

Editorial supervisors: Yoshioka Masayuki (Honorary Professor, National Museum of Japanese History), Fujii Joji (Honorary Professor, Kyoto University), and Kita Keita (Former Director General of the Kyoto Office of the Imperial Household Agency)