Japanese Historical Text Initiative

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April 4, 2017

To the JHTI Community:

We are saddened to announce the passing of Professor OKETANI Ikuo, JHTI's Co‑Principal Investigator and Technical Advisor. Oketani Sensei was Professor of Communications at Osaka International University.

Oketani Sensei was part of JHTI from the beginning. He worked with Professor Delmer Brown, JHTI's founder, to create the software that makes it possible to present searchable texts in both Japanese and English. This was a labor of love that he performed with energy and enthusiasm. We will miss him greatly.

Andrew Barshay
Principal Investigator, JHTI



Japanese books

The Japanese Historical Text Initiative (JHTI) is an electronic research database hosted by the Center for Japanese Studies of the University of California, Berkeley that is designed to aid research in Japanese history and literature in two ways:

  1. It enables a researcher to search through a vast amount of source material very rapidly; and
  2. It enables a researcher to see on the same screen both the Japanese original and the English translation of any word or string of words, or any character or string of characters, being studied.

The texts currently included in the JHTI database are:

  • Kojiki (712)
  • Nihon Shoki (720)
  • Izumo Fudoki (733)
  • Shoku Nihongi (covering the years 697 to 791)
  • Kogoshui (807)
  • Engi Shiki (submitted to the Imperial Court in 927)
  • Yamato Monogatari (completed around 950)
  • Okagami (covering the years 866 to 1027)
  • Eiga Monogatari (covering the years 794 to 1185)
  • Gukansho (completed in 1219)
  • Jinno Shotoki (completed around 1339)
  • Taiheiki (covering the years 1318 to 1368)
  • Tokushi Yoron (completed in 1712)
  • Meiji Iko Jinja Kankei Horei Shiryo [Governmental Orders Concerning Shinto Shrines After the First Year of Meiji] (Japanese text only)
  • Kokutai no Hongi [Cardinal Principles of the National Polity] (1937)

The JHTI also provides digitized Japanese texts and links to English translations of Kuga Katsunan, Kinji Seironko [Thoughts on Recent Political Discourse] (1890), with other texts to be added soon.

We are always happy to hear from you regarding the content on the JHTI website, or about materials you'd like to see added to the collection. Please contact JHTI at jhti@berkeley.edu.