Special Materials Department focuses on cultural properties, documents stored outside of Japan, and records written in other languages. The kao (monograms) on historical records are one area of the focus of the department. Another area is the study of documents written by foreigners in Japan during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Monograms are published in the Kao Kagami while the foreign documents are made available as the Nihon Kankei Kaigai Shiryo series.

OVERSEAS MATERIALS SECTION

The first page of the diary kept by the head of
the Dutch Factory in Japan (1644-1646)