The collection

File A10 is comprised of three groups: A10.1, A10.2, and A10.3. Each group consists of smaller groups wrapped in newspaper and string.

A10.1 includes a 1938 English–language newspaper and a Japanese–language one from the same year (Shōwa 13). A card (A10.1.1) is attached which provides an overview of the Marega Numbers of the documents contained therein. The A10.1.3 group, which consists of the majority of documents in A10.1, is wrapped in a Shōwa 16 (1941) newspaper. Its documents are bundled together with twine (A10.1.3.0).

A10.2 is wrapped in a 1938 English language newspaper, on top of which, like A10.1, is found a card (A10.2.1) upon which an overview of the Marega Numbers of the included documents are written. A10.2 is comprised of three groups of documents bundled together with koyori (A10.3.4 to A10.3.4.6).

Pink pieces of paper are placed between the items found in A10.3.

Each group is from the same time period and has similar content. They appear to have been originally from the Usuki Domain's Office of Religious Affairs. However, since A10.3 includes two historical documents that were reused for penmanship practice (A10.3.1.2, 3), it was probably rearranged during the modern period or later and thus is not arranged in the same way as it was when the Usuki Domain existed. It is clear that documents are divided up based on time period, type, creator, and addressee, and thus there is a high possibility that they were selected and re–organized by Marega.

File A10 is comprised of historical materials with which Usuki Domain retainers and residents reported to the domain’s Office of Religious Affairs the carrying out of religious inquisitions, and the death, birth, movement, etc. of relatives of former Christians.

A10.1 is historical materials with which domain retainers reported to the Office of Religious Affairs about the carrying out of religion inquisitions in units. They present the total number of households, workers, etc. for each domain retainer. The vast majority of them were made on the twenty-fifth day of the first month of 1691 (Genroku 4). While some were made on the first day of the second month of the same year, it appears that they were made for the same set of religious inquisitions.

Just like A10.1, A10.2 consists of religious inquisition reports. They were made on the twenty-third day of the first month of 1729 (Kyōhō 14). While A10.1 and A10.2 were made at a different time, they are both reports regarding the same set of religious inquisitions, and thus adopt the same format.

A10.3 are reports from village unit heads and town elders to the Office of Religious Affairs regarding the birth, death, movement, etc. of former Christians and their relatives in villages and towns. The vast majority of them were made on the twenty-ninth day of the first month of 1838 (Tenpō 9). While documents are included from other years—1827 (Bunsei 10), 1829 (Bunsei 12), 1834 (Tenpō 5), 1840 (Tenpō 11), 1847 (Kōka 4), and 1856 (Ansei 3)—their titles and content are basically the same. The same format being used in different time periods indicates that it was standardized throughout the Edo period.

Marega assigned numbers to the documents in his collection. Documents in A10.1 span from M245 to M247. M247 has documents sub–numbered from 1 to 46 (21 and 33 are missing) and XI to LVII. A10.1.3.1.7.2, A10.1.3.1.8.1, and A10.1.3.1.9.1 consist of multiple pasted together documents. Each document is not assigned one Marega Number. Rather, number assignment appears to have been carried out in a somewhat random fashion: some individual documents are assigned multiple numbers, and some are not assigned numbers at all. A10.2 spans from M219 to M229. M219 is subdivided into 1 to 39 and I to X, M228 into 1 to 10 and I to VIII, and M229 into 1 to 4. A10.3 spans from M247 to M500.

Based on these Marega numbers, we can see that Marega saw A10.1/2 and A10.3 as originally having been two separate groups of documents. The documents are not in the order of their Marega Numbers, and thus we can tell that the documents’ order was changed considerably after they were assigned Marega Numbers.

In other files one finds documents with the same titles and content, and it is necessary to examine this file alongside them.