Japanese Historical Text Initiative

Japanese Historical Text Initiative (JHTI) is a searchable online database of Japanese historical documents and English translations. It is part of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

Delmer M. Brown started the process of establishing JHTI in 1998. The development of JHTI involved negotiations with the University of Tokyo Press and the National Institute of Japanese Literature.

JHTI is an expanding online collection of historical texts. The original version of every paragraph is cross-linked with an English translation. The original words in Japanese and English translation are on the same screen. There are seven categories of writings, including

These works were compiled by officials of the Imperial Court at the command of the emperors.

These records, Fudoki, were compiled by provincial officials according to imperial edicts during the first half of the 8th century.

This was a compilation of religious law and civil law.

These historical tales (monogatari) were about what was said and done by the prominent historical figures in aristocratic and military clans in feudal Japan

These three histories were written in ways that mirror the religious and political interests of their authors.