Digitized Scrolls from the Japanese Manuscript Collection, 1158-1591
Osame-dono azukari bō Toyoi no shō ōoka nengu uketorijō, 1179
The Japanese Manuscript Digital Collection comprises a set of twenty-two medieval legal manuscripts and annotated facsimiles in scroll form called komonjo. Komonjo—literally “old documents”—are remnants of day-to-day legal transactions. These documents frequently focus on land and property issues, though they can also represent edicts and judicial rulings. Part of a large donation presented to the Harvard Law Library in 1936, around the time of the University’s 300th anniversary, these komonjo represent one of the finest collections of their type outside Japan.
Hosaka Junji (1875-1963), an affluent collector and land owner who was a member of the House of Peers in the pre-war Imperial Diet, donated these komonjo to the Harvard Law School Library through the influence of Takano Tatsuyuki (1876-1947), a composer and teacher of music at the Tokyo Music Academy. In 1936, Takano had these manuscripts mounted on scrolls and copied, adding annotations in red to the facsimile copies.
Spanning a nearly 450 year period, from 1150 to 1591, these documents provide a rare window into legal transactions in the Heian (794–1185), Kamakura (1185–1333), Moromachi (1333–1568), and Momoyama (1568–1600) periods.
For further information about the scrolls and their importance to the study of Japanese legal history, see the essay “Laws of the Land in Medieval Japan: Komonjo at Harvard University,” linked here by permission of its author Professor Mikael S. Adolphson. This essay comes from a larger work Treasures of the Yenching: seventy-fifth anniversary of the Harvard-Yenching Library, published in 2003.
To view the individual scrolls that make up this remarkable collection click on the links to their HOLLIS records listed below.
Kanjin’in shoshi-ra ge, 1158
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 1
HOLLIS 10063922
Osame-dono azukari bō Toyoi no shō ōoka nengu uketorijō, 1179
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 2
HOLLIS 9135218
Kuraryō kou fūshō sōbun, 1238
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 3
HOLLIS 9163451
Sō Fukujō baiken, 1226
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 4
HOLLIS 9139526
Ama Gan amidabutsa hatachi shobunjō, 1250
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 5
HOLLIS 9158031
Ariwara no Aneko shobunjō, 1253
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 6
HOLLIS 9148621
Ama Kakumyō baiken, 1257
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 7
HOLLIS 9160239
Tokuishimaru sōhakujō, 1260
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 8
HOLLIS 9161288
Sō Eijitsu baiken, 1265
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 9
HOLLIS 9160758
Saeki no Aneko shobunjō, 1297
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 10
HOLLIS 9160810
Tamon Ishimaru baiken, 1299
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 11
HOLLIS 9160836
Rukuhara migyōsho, 1299
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 12
HOLLIS 10063889
Sō kōhen hōsho, 13th century
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 13
HOLLIS 10063864
Tanabe no Kasugame baiken, 1306
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 14
HOLLIS 9161111
Sumiyoshi kannushi Kunifuyu ukebumian, 1311
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 15
HOLLIS 9165468
Kenkyō shimyō dendaīa ando jō, 1326
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 16
HOLLIS 9139592
Yo-kōyon tennō rinji an, 1359
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 17
HOLLIS 10063779
Tōdaiji ryū Mino no kuni Ōi no shō sanshiki ukebumi, 1368
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 18
HOLLIS 10063875
Tōdaiji gikō kensai ra rensho, 1370
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 19
HOLLIS 10063940
Uemon Tarō kishinjō, 1388
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 20
HOLLIS 10063970
Muromachi bakufu bugyōnin, 1439
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 21
HOLLIS 10063998
Jōsuke kishinjō, 1591
MSS Japanese Collection, Scroll 22
HOLLIS 9171119