Editing National Diet Library (section)

==Important special collections==
The NDL also has eight major specialized collections:  Modern Political and Constitutional History; Materials Concerning the Postwar Occupation of Japan; Laws and Preliminary Records; Science and Technology; Maps; Music; Foreign Books About Japan; and Rare Books.

===Modern political and constitutional history===
The Modern Political and Constitutional History Collection comprises some 300,000 items related to Japan's political and legal modernization in the 19th century, including the original document archives of important Japanese statesmen from the latter half of the 19th century and the early 20th century like [[Itō Hirobumi]], [[Iwakura Tomomi]], [[Sanjō Sanetomi]], [[Mutsu Munemitsu]], [[Terauchi Masatake]], and other influential figures from the [[Meiji period|Meiji]] (1868–1912) and [[Taishō period|Taishō]] (1912–1926) periods.

===Materials concerning the postwar occupation of Japan===
The NDL has an extensive microform collection of some 30 million pages of documents relating to the [[Occupation of Japan]] after World War II.  This collection include the documents prepared by [[Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers|General Headquarters]] (GHQ) and the [[Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers]] (SCAP), the [[Far Eastern Commission]] (FEC), and the [[United States Strategic Bombing Survey Team]].  (The originals of these documents are in the possession of the United States [[National Archives]].)

===Laws and preliminary records===
The Laws and Preliminary Records Collection consists of some 170,000 Japanese and 200,000 foreign-language documents concerning proceedings of the National Diet and the legislatures of some 70 foreign countries, and the official gazettes, statutes, judicial opinions, and international treaties pertaining to some 150 foreign countries.

===Science and technology===
The NDL maintains a collection of some 530,000 books and booklets and 2 million microform titles relating to the sciences.  These materials include, among other things, foreign doctoral dissertations in the sciences, the proceedings and reports of academic societies, catalogues of technical standards, etc.

===Maps===
The NDL has a collection of approximately 440,000 maps of Japan and other countries, including the topographical, geological, and hydrological maps and charts dating back to the early [[Meiji period]] (1868–1912) and topographical maps of foreign countries.

===Music===
The NDL collects all phonographic recordings made in Japan, and presently holds a collection comprising 300,000 vinyl records and 200,000 compact disks.

===Foreign books about Japan===
Following the tradition established by the Imperial Library, the NDL collects foreign-language materials about Japan, including rare and ancient documents, such as reports of European missionaries visiting Japan in the 16th century.

===Rare books and old materials===
[[File:The Analects of Confucius WDL11844.pdf|thumb|''The Analects of Confucius'' in the collection of the National Diet Library has a back flyleaf with Nobukata's autograph provenance notes dated November of the 16th year of the [[Tenbun|Tenmon era]] (1547) and is clearly printed; therefore this seems to be a rare first edition. A sumptuous cover made of [[Nishijin-ori|Nishijin brocade]] was put on the book in the [[Edo period]].]]

The NDL houses the former Imperial Library's collection of Japanese language materials from the [[Edo period]] (1603–1867) and earlier periods.  The major catalogues in this collection include: (1) some 6,000 documents relating to the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] (1603–1867), such as records of town magistrates, the shogunal Supreme Court, and the [[Jisha-bugyō]] (Commissioners of Shrines and Temples), as well as documents concerning the succession of ''[[shōgun]]s''; (2) the [[Itō Bunko]] and [[Shirai Bunko]], consisting of 8,000 handwritten and woodblock printed books dating from the Edo and Meiji periods and concerning Japanese medicine; and (3) the [[Shinjo Bunko]], consisting of 11,000 examples of pre-modern writings on astronomy and calendars, in addition to ancient Chinese works on the [[Qing dynasty]], genealogy, and local history.