The collection

Reference Code

maregaA23

Title

Fonds Marega File A23

Date Range
1714–1940
Primary Date Range
Edo period
Date Range Notes
1714 (Shōtoku 4) to 1940 (Shōwa 15)
Description Level

File

Quantity
410 records (237 jō 状, 70 tsuzuri 綴, 22 koyori 紙縒り/strings, 17 hōshi, 9 bags, 7 envelopes, 3 tatechō 竪帳, 1 yokochō 横帳, 2 mass-published books, 1 hand-copied book, 3 newspapers, 2 cards, 2 slips of paper). Tsuzuri were counted as single items.
Notes on Physical State

A23 had already been registered at the Vatican Library. Vat.estr.-or.129 to Vat.estr.-or.146 were inside a small brown box. They were wrapped in a July 12th, 1940 The Osaka Mainichi & The Tokyo Nichi Nichi (an English-language newspaper) and tied together with koyori. Vat.estr.-or.143 to Vat.estr.-or.146 each existed as separate groups. In our survey, Vat.estr.-or.48, 57, 94, 129 were also added. It is unclear when and why these were separated from the materials collected by Marega. In our survey they were given a new survey number (A23) while leaving their registration numbers untouched. A23.1.1 – A23.1.15 correspond to Vat.estr.-or.129 – Vat.estr.-or.142. A23.2 – A23.7 basically correspond to Vat.estr.-or.143 – Vat.estr.-or.146. Also, Vat.estr.-or.48 is equivalent to A23.8, -or.57 to A23.9, -or.94 to A23.10, and -or.128 to A23.11. When being registered at the Vatican (Vat.estr.-or.129, etc.), groups demarcated by koyori, etc., were used as units. No detailed catalogue existed.

A23.1.1 to A23.1.3, A23.1.6, and A23.1.9 to A23.1.11 were tied together with koyori. A23.1.5, A23.1.7, A23.1.8, and A23.1.15 were rolled up together. A23.1.4, A23.1.12, A23.1.13, and A23.1.14 were in hōshi.

A23.2 was comprised of seven units. It was wrapped with a page of a modern period Japanese newspaper (that appears to be from Ōita Prefecture). A23.2.1 to 7 were in a bag on which “Shōtoku 4 [1714] Daimyō Retainers Household Record Books” was written. A232.1 was tied together with koyori.

A23.3 was comprised of three units. It was wrapped in fragment of the January 15th, 1938 Hōshū shinpō 豊州新報, a newspaper. A23.3.1 and A23.3.2 were tied together with koyori. A23.4 was tied together with koyori and was comprised of nineteen sets of two items rolled up together. A23.5 was comprised of seven units. It was tied together with koyori. A23.5.1 to A23.5.5 each were tied together with koyori. A23.6 and A23.7 are only koyori. A23.8, A23.9, and A23.10 were freestanding, and A23.10 was in an envelope.

Provenance/Creation: Father Mario Marega.
Place Name
Usuki City and Ōita City (Ōita Prefecture), Chōfu City (Tōkyō-to), Himon’ya (Meguro City, Tōkyō-to)
Positions, etc
Salesians of Don Bosco missionary.
Archival History
Donated to the Vatican by Mario Marega in 1953, excluding A23.8, which was presented to Pope Pius XII in 1949 by Marega. and A23.9, which was donated to the Library in 1957 by Marega. It is unclear when A23 was taken out of Marega’s collection materials and registered at the library before other materials. The reason that this was done is also unclear.
Scope and Content

A23.1 consists of towns’ notifications from 1820–1821 (Bunsei 3 to Bunsei 4) regarding travelers passing through (the towns are as follows: Hon, Shin, Ta, Tatamiya, Tōjin, and Kake). A23.1.1 is six groups tied together with koyori. Each group was in a bag. They are notifications regarding travelers passing through from the eighth and ninth month of 1820 (Bunsei 3). (Including their hōshi, 31 records). A23.1.2 is eleven groups tied together with koyori. They are notifications regarding travelers passing through from the sixth month of 1821 (Bunsei 4). (Including their hōshi, 18 records). A23.1.3 consists of six groups tied together with koyori. They are notifications regarding travelers passing through from the tenth and eleventh month of 1820 (Bunsei 3). (Including their hōshi, 39 records.) A23.1.4 is a single notification regarding travelers passing through from the twelfth month of 1820 (Bunsei 3). A23.1.5 consists of two sets of rolled-up items (eleven in total). They are notifications regarding travelers passing through from the ninth month of Bunsei 3 (1820) (11 records). A23.1.6 consists of four groups tied together with koyori. They are notifications regarding travelers passing through from the ninth to eleventh month of 1820 (Bunsei 3) (20 records). A23.1.7 consists of notifications regarding travelers passing through from the ninth to the twelfth month of 1820 (Bunsei 3) (13 records including the bag). A23.1.8 consists of two sets of rolled-up items. They are notifications regarding travelers passing through from the ninth to the eleventh month of 1820 (Bunsei 3) (19 records). A23.1.9 consists of five groups tied together with koyori. They are notifications regarding travelers passing through from the sixth and seventh month of 1820 (Bunsei 4) (28 records). A23.1.10 consists of eight groups tied together with koyori string. They are notifications regarding travelers passing through from the third and fourth month of 1821 (Bunsei 4) (13 records). A23.1.11 consists of three groups tied together with koyori. They are notifications regarding travelers passing through from the fifth, sixth, and eleventh month of 1821 (Bunsei 4) (21 records). A23.1.12 consists of notifications regarding travelers passing through from the twelfth month of 1820 (Bunsei 3) to the 1st month of 1821 (Bunsei 4). Each was in hōshi (12 records). A23.1.13 consists of notifications regarding travelers passing through from the twelfth month of Bunsei 3 (12 records). They were in a Kake town bag with the following written on it: “Twelfth month of the dragon notifications regarding travelers passing through.” A23.1.14 consists of notifications regarding travelers and servants from Hon Town and Tatamiya Town from the twelfth month of Bunsei 3. Each was in hōshi (including hōshi, 6 records). A23.1.15 consists of three sets of rolled-up items. They are notifications from Tatamiya Town regarding travelers passing through from the twelfth month of 1820 (Bunsei 3) (17 records).

A23.2 consists of reports on the number of members in domain retainer and temple households from the first month of 1714 (Shōtoku 4 ). A23.2.1 consists of twenty-one groups tied together with koyori. Two of the groups are reports on the number of domain retainer household members (Iinuma Hachizaemon, Mizutani Masachika) and nineteen reports on the number of temple household members. A23.2.2 to A23.2.6 are also reports on the number of members in domain retainer and temple households.

A23.3 consists of notifications from the Kansei era (1789–1801) regarding the movement of village residents and new temple head priests. A23.3.1 consists of eight groups tied together with koyori. They are notifications regarding residents’ moving and adoption from 1801 (Kansei 13 /Kyōwa 1). A23.3.2 consists of nine groups tied together with koyori. They are notifications regarding new temple head priests from 1794–1799 (Kansei 6 to 11). A23.3.3 is also notifications regarding new temple head priests. It may have been grouped with A23.3.2.

A23.4 is thirty-eight groups of two corpse inspection certificates tied together with koyori. Each is entitled “Okakimono no koto” 御書物之事 (“Document). One is from a village official (murakata 村方) and another is from a temple. Both were for the domain. The village official ones were rolled up inside the temple ones.

A23.5 consists of reports regarding village residents from 1856 (Ansei 3). All of them are from villages. Their recipients are Taneda Kankurō, Shibasaki Tachū, and Ishii Yoshichirō.

A23.8 “Kirishitan shūmon no mono oazukarichō” 切支丹宗門之者御預帳 was presented by Marega in 1949 to Pope Pius XII, after which it made its way to the Vatican Library. This has a different archival history than most of the Marega materials that were donated by Marega in 1953.

Languages Used
Japanese - 409, Italian - 1 English - 1, other - 1
Date Description Written
2019/12/01
Description Author
Nishimura Shintarō
Reference Images