Shimazu Family Documents - Shimazuke Monjo

Japanese: 島津家文書 - しまづけもんじょ

These are documents from the Middle Ages to the early modern period that were passed down to the main family of the Shimazu clan and are currently held at the Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo. In the narrow sense, they refer to 5,579 documents from the early Kamakura period to the early modern period, including white wood and long chest documents, and other administrative documents of the Kagoshima domain, and more than 12,000 documents. In the broad sense, they refer to a collective term for about 25,000 historical documents related to the Shimazu clan and the Kagoshima domain, including about 6,500 manuscripts and 362 volumes of the Kyuuki Zatsuroku. They are important historical materials not only for historical research in southern Kyushu, but also for historical research from the Heian period to the Meiji Restoration. The documents passed down to the main family were scattered when Shimazu Tadakane (Katsuhisa) left Kagoshima during the Sengoku period after being pursued by the Shimazu clan of the Isaku Sagami clan, but were subsequently recovered one by one through the generations of Shimazu Yoshihisa, Yoshihiro, Iehisa, and Mitsuhisa. In the early modern period, the Magistrate of Documents and the Magistrate of Records were appointed to collect historical materials and compile family histories, while also sorting and repairing documents. During the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877, important documents stored in the Rokka Collection were saved from being burned thanks to the risk taken by the family steward, Togo Shigemochi, and others to remove them. As the documents are among the best in Japan in terms of both quality and quantity, some have been designated as Important Cultural Properties by the government.

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

島津氏本宗家に伝えられた中世・近世にわたる文書史料群で，現在東京大学史料編纂所に所蔵される。狭義には〈御文書〉と称される鎌倉時代初期から近世初期にいたる文書群5579点，白木本・長持本，それ以外の鹿児島藩行政文書など約１万２千点余の文書を指し，広義には写本類約6500点，《旧記雑録》362巻を含む約２万5000点の島津家および鹿児島藩関係史料群の総称である。南九州の歴史研究のみならず，平安時代から明治維新にいたる歴史研究の重要史料。本宗家に相伝した文書は，戦国期島津忠兼（勝久）が伊作相州家島津氏に追われて鹿児島を退去した際散逸したが，その後島津義久・義弘・家久・光久の代を通じて逐次回収された。また近世初期以来，文書奉行・記録奉行らが任命されて史料の収集，家史編纂が進められ，併せて文書の整理・補修なども行われた。1877年の西南戦争の際六ヶ所蔵に収納されていた重要文書は，家令東郷重持らが危険を冒して搬出したことにより，焼失を免れた。質・量とも日本における第一級の武家文書として，一部が国の重要文化財に指定されている。

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