Japanese National Diet Library

(国立国会図書館) The Japanese National Diet Library is the national library of Japan and contains many go (and other) materials.

Online viewing without login

You can view many of the library's Go books at their Digital Collection (English page, new interface with much better full-text search from Dec 2022).

Advanced Search by 'Available without login' and NDC (Nippon Decimal Classification)=795* (Igo) produces ~650 results, from 1875 to 1959. Excluding doubles and Renju books, ~500 old Go books are available online as of 2024. For examples, use the "Referenced by" links on the left column of this page.

Note on Copyright: Publications in this category are in the public domain (PD) except for some materials. On the material's page, click the lower-left "Metadata" and see "Use" field on the right. If the field contains the word "満了" (expiration), the material is in the PD. "許諾" (permission by the author) or "裁定" (government-licensed orphan works) means the material may not be in the PD.

Transmission Service

In 2022, the library started the "Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals/Libraries", though its use is limited to residents in Japan and registered libraries in or outside of Japan. This service adds ~1200 more Go books (up to year 2000) and ~750 old magazine issues available. Examples:

• Complete Games collections of Honinbo Dosaku, Jowa, Shuwa, Shusaku, Shuho, Shuei, Shusai; Kitani Minoru, Hashimoto Utaro and Go Seigen (older ones are without annotations).
• Selected Games collections of Takasaki Taisaku, Nozawa Chikucho, Karigane Jun'ichi, Kubomatsu Katsukiyo, Takagawa Kaku, Sakata Eio, Fujisawa Hideyuki, Otake Hideo, Rin Kaiho, Ishida Yoshio, Kato Masao, Takemiya Masaki and Cho Chikun
• Tsumego problem books by Maeda Nobuaki, Hashimoto Utaro, Fujisawa Hideyuki and Sato Sunao
• Hiseikai tournament book (1925)
• Shin Fuseki-ho (1934)
• Igo Daijiten, 3 volumes (1935, 1957 and 1980 editions)
• Oshiro Gofu, 10 volumes (1951)
• Sakata no Go?, 6 volumes (1963) and its sequel 3 volumes (1982)
• Gendai no Meikyoku, 10 volumes (1969) Hashimoto, Kitani, Go, Takagawa and Sakata
• Nihon Igo Taikei (An outline of Japanese Go), 18 volumes (1975-77)
• Gendai Igo Taikei (An outline of Modern Go), 48 volumes (1980-84)
• Joseki Encyclopaedia (1986) and other dictionaries by the Nihon Kiin
• Tournament books of 1st to 24th Meijin title matches and leagues (1976-2000).
• Memoirs of many prominent players and journalists: Shusai, Iwamoto Kaoru, Hashimoto, Kitani, Go, Yano Yoshijiro, Yasunaga Hajime, et al.
• 274 issues of Igo Shunju magazine (1947-74).

Note on Copyright: These publications are generally copyright protected, at least partly. In other words, some parts of them may be in the PD. When a work is confirmed as in the PD from cover to cover, it is transferred to the 'Available without login' pool above.

English page on the service for Librarians overseas: https://www.ndl.go.jp/en/library/dcts/index.html

In addition to more than 1,300 libraries in Japan, ten overseas libraries participate in the service (as of May 2025): see https://dl.ndl.go.jp/en/soshin_librarylist.

In these libraries, only viewing is allowed. Making hard copies on the spot is prohibited at the moment (there are plans to allow printing in the future). Meanwhile...

Photocopying Service

You may request the Diet Library for hard copies of these digitized materials by mail or e-mail. They are delivered by mail or courier services. See https://www.ndl.go.jp/en/copy/remote/overseas.html.

Others

The library contains about 300 old Go books donated by Segoe Kensaku as the "Segoe Igo Library", most of which are accessible through above services.

In addition, its website hosts an article on Go literature with many photos of books and picture scrolls. (English)

See also

• The National Diet Library at Wikipedia