Toji Hyakugo Monjo (Archives of Toji in One Hundred Boxes; 24,067 documents)

A Thousand Years of Temple Records

The Toji Hyakugo Monjo (Archives of Toji in One Hundred Boxes; 24,067 documents) (東寺百合文書（二万四千六十七通）) is the archives handed down at Toji (Kyoogokokuji) from the Nara to the early Edo period, held by the Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archives (Kyoto Studies and History Museum) in Shimogamo Hangi-cho, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto City, which in 1997 were designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records 24,067 documents in all (3,863 scrolls, 1,172 bound volumes, 6 folded books, 67 hanging scrolls and 13,695 sheets), owned by Kyoto Prefecture.

UNESCO records their inscription on the Memory of the World Register in 2015.

How They Survived

According to the Agency, the documents were kept in Toji's treasury and founder's hall and were sorted several times in the Edo period, most thoroughly by Maeda Tsunanori, lord of Kaga, who in 1685 donated paulownia boxes to hold them; 94 survive, 46 labelled in katakana and 48 in hiragana.

Kyoto Prefecture explains that the name Hyakugo, a hundred boxes, comes from these boxes. The prefecture bought the documents from Toji in 1967, and they are kept in the store of the Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archives.

What to Look For

The Agency notes that the core is the temple's own records of rites, ceremonies, prayers and council minutes, followed by many documents of dealings with the court and the warrior government, including a body of Heian Council of State documents, imperial and retired emperors' edicts and Kamakura and Muromachi shogunate documents, among them a copy of the Einin debt-cancellation decree of 1297.

Kyoto Prefecture notes that the documents span about a thousand years from the eighth to the eighteenth century, richest for the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.

Visiting the Toji Hyakugo Monjo (Archives of Toji in One Hundred Boxes; 24,067 documents)

Kyoto Prefecture publishes images and catalogues of the documents on its Toji Hyakugo Monjo website.

Enquiries: Kyoto Prefectural Library and Archives, archives section, 075-723-4834.