National Institute of Japanese Literature

The National Institute of Japanese Literature (国文学研究資料館, Kokubungaku Kenkyū Shiryōkan), or NIJL, was established in May 1972.

The NIJL provides several useful tools for the scholar of Japanese literature, including a compilation of research published yearly in the journal Kokubungaku Nenkan (国文学年刊).

It publishes several series of scholarly journals, copies of its microfilm archives, and many multi-volume compendiums of historical and contemporary Japanese literature, such as the Nihon koten bungaku taikei or NKBT.

Several of these are open to the public, others (particularly the full-text databases such as the Nihon koten bungaku taikei) are only available to scholars who must apply through the NIJL website for a username and password.

Full-text databases can be used to search for specific words and passages in historical works of literature, however they are not suitable for reading large sections of text.