The ‘Documents of Hōzawa’ collection has been designated as a Sendai City Important Cultural Property by the city. The designation was conferred on 19 August 2025. The set of documents belongs to the Department of Japanese History at the Graduate School/Faculty of Arts and Letters. 

 

The collection is a set of premodern    documents handed down through successive generations of the Hōzawa family, spanning the Middle Ages and part of the early modern Japanese period. Given the scarcity of sources that grant us insight into Sendai during this time frame, the collection is considered a highly valuable cultural property that offers us a glimpse of the city and its surrounding regions during the Kamakura and Nanbokuchō periods. 

 

To celebrate the designation, the Department of Japanese History in conjunction with the Tohoku University Library and the Center for Integrated Japanese Studies (CIJS), plans to hold a special exhibition from 29 September 2025 until 5 October 2025. The exhibition is titled “Translating Japan’s Premodern History: new research on the Ruijū Sandaikyaku and a full translation of the Documents of Hōzawa – An Exhibition Commemorating the Designation of Historical Materials Held at Tohoku University as Important Cultural Properties –“ and will be available to visit for free. 

 

This exhibition is part of this year’s CIJS collaborative research project “Translating, Digitizing, and Publicizing Medieval Japanese Documents” (Primary Researcher: Toshiaki Yanagihara, professor at the Graduate School of Arts and Letters). The translation of the documents from Japanese to English was overseen by John D’Amico, assistant professor at the CIJS.

More details will be posted to the event page in the coming days. 

For more information:
https://www.city.sendai.jp/bunkazai-kanri/hoozawamonzyo.html