2024-02-14
361 items from the Kikutei Collection have been newly digitized and released
Kikutei Collection is an assembly of manuscripts and books handed down through the Kikutei Family founded by Kanesue (1281-1339; 兼季), the forth son of Sanekane Saionji (1249-1322; 西園寺実兼). The Kikutei (Imadegawa) Family was designated one of the highest status court families called the Seiga (清華) family which members can be appointed as Daijō-daijin (太政大臣) and served as biwa (Japanese lute) players. The collection includes many records of the court rituals, documents on music and instruments, and diaries hand-written by nobles.
The collection deposited in 1921 and 1923 and additional documents and scrolls of portraits related to the Kikutei Family were donated to the Main Library, Kyoto University by the owner of the collection and were formally registered as the holdings of the library in January 2021.
This time, 361 items from the collection have been newly digitized and released. These include "今出川家歴代履歴", a records of the Kikutei Family, and "伊勢外宮正遷宮", "春日祭次第", "禁中年中行事", records of rituals.
The digitization of rare materials released this time was conducted under the "Project to Build an International Collaborative Research Network for Pre-modern Japanese Texts" by the National Institute of Japanese Literature in which Kyoto University Library participates.
As of February 14, 2024, the Digital Archive provides 2,092,303 images of 25,157 titles.