This webpage introduces the collection of Ransho or Dutch books held by the Rare Books and Old Materials Room of the Tokyo Main Library.

1. Overview

These are Western books that were formerly held by offices of the Tokugawa shogunate, such as the Tenmonkata (the Shogunate’s Astronomy Bureau) and Bansho Shirabesho (the Institute for the Study of Western Books). The National Diet Library holds about 3,600 volumes in this group. Most are Dutch-language books imported from the Netherlands, but the collection also includes some books in English and French.
The NDL call numbers for these materials begin with “蘭” (e.g. 蘭-123).

2. How to search

• On the NDL Search top page, click “Refiners” to open the simple search dialog, and search by entering “蘭-*” (prefix search) in the Call number field and selecting “Tokyo Main Library > Rare Books and Old Materials Room” in the Location field. If you do not see the fields you need, you can add them by customizing the search fields.
  Search results
• About 1,100 bibliographic records for the Ransho Collection can be searched via NDL Search. To check whether there are extra copies, please refer to the “Held by the National Diet Library” section on the bibliographic record.
• For information about printed catalogs in booklet form, please refer to section “4. Catalogs.”

3. How to use

• For information on how to request these materials, please refer to the webpage for the Rare Books and Old Materials Room of the Tokyo Main Library.
• Depending on the condition of the materials, it may take time to deliver them and prepare a reading seat, or we may not be able to make them available. We therefore recommend that you make a reservation in advance when you wish to view the original materials.
  For details on reservations, please refer to “Advance reservation / Advance application to use rare books and semi-rare books.”
• Because many of the materials are damaged, they are stored in neutral-paper boxes for preservation. Please handle them with great care when viewing them.

4. Catalogs

• List of foreign books collected under the Shogunate regime = Lijst van boeken in buitenlandse talen verzameld door het Shogunaat (Institute for the study of the Netherlands books 1957　NDL Call No. 018.1-R196l)
  This is a catalog only of Ransho or Dutch books held by the National Diet Library.
• Edo jidai nichiran bunka koryu shiryoshu 2 (Historical materials concerning the cultural contacts between Japan and the Netherlands during the Edo period, vol. 2) (Japan-Netherlands Institute, 1980, NDL Call No. GB381-25).
  This is a comprehensive catalog of Ransho or Dutch books held by seven institutions, including the National Diet Library and the Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library.

5. Reference

• Akio Yasue, Discovery of the “Ransho collection” at the National Diet Library: A supplementary note, Reference service and bibliography, no. 79 (March 2018), frontispiece 10 p., pp. 91–115, NDL Call No. Z21-291 (NDL Digital Collection: frontispiece / text).