Library of Congress: Asian Division

Founded in 1800, the library's main building was constructed in 1886-1897. Upon its public unveiling, it was considered the safest and costliest library in the world.

The Japanese collection was started in 1875 with a reciprocal agreement between the governments of the United States and Japan concerning government publications. Since, it has grown to include over 1 million items.

For more information about the Japanese collection, please contact the Asian Reading Room at (202) 707-5426, (202) 707-3766, or via inquiry form.

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An Illustrated Guide to the Asian Collections (2007)

Collection size: as of May 2014 The Asian Division contained over 18 million items of which 1.2 million volumes were in Japanese with an additional 3,600 Japanese serial titles. The Library of Congress is the official depository library for the United States and has reciprocal agreements with many libraries worldwide including the National Diet Library of Japan.

Notable Collections:

• Pre-1915 Fine Prints of Japan: a collection of over 2,500 Japanese prints, including woodblocks and drawings, from the 1600s-1900s. Strengths include ukiyo-e (浮世絵) and Yokohama-e (横浜絵).
• The Floating World of Ukiyo-e: exhibition of the collection of ukiyo-e prints dating from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries.
• World's Transportation Commission Photograph Collection: consists of nearly nine hundred images taken by American photographer William Henry Jackson, including photographs of Japan, during the late nineteenth century.
• Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar: a complete database of the over 200 photographs and negatives taken by Ansel Adams documenting the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California.
• College Women's Association of Japan Print Show Collection: a collection of over 200 prints made by 180 different artists living in Japan.
• Genji Monogatari: A complete, sixty-volume edition of Genji Monogatari created in the mid-seventeenth century in Kyoto, this set has been digitized for online use.

URL: http://loc.gov/

Online catalog: http://catalog.loc.gov/

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All in-person researchers are required to have a Reader Identification Card, issued for free by the Library. These cards can be obtained at the Reader Registration Station in the Madison Building, room LM 140, by presenting a valid driver's license, state ID, or passport and completing the registration process. Researchers must be at least 16 years of age to register. Items cannot be borrowed. For more information, please visit this site or call (202) 707-5278.

Items held by the Library of Congress can be duplicated for a price. Formats available for delivery include digital scan, PDF, and print, paper photocopy, or microfilm. Audio, video, film, and other multimedia formats cannot be duplicated at this time. For pricing information, please visit this site.

For all comments and questions about the Guide, please e-mail us:

mlaguide@nccjapan.net