# Textual heritage and digital archives – the case of the Hyakugo Archive in Kyoto

## TL;DR

The paper explores the significance of heritage archives through the Hyakugo Archive in Kyoto, examining how digitization and heritage status affect preservation and understanding of historical documents.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a definition of 'textual heritage' and analyzes its implications using the Hyakugo Archive as a case study.

## Key findings

- The Hyakugo Archive's heritage status and digitization have enhanced its preservation and accessibility.
- A historical event in the 17th century marked a re-birth of the archive as cultural heritage.
- Heritage status can influence how historical archives are understood and used today.

## Abstract

What are the effects and significance of inscribing an archive or group of documents in a heritage list? In light of the positive effects of digital technology on archival science, should all archives and past documents be considered “heritage,” or are some more significant than others? What are the implications and benefits of a heritage archive? Is creating a digital database of a specific archive considered part of heritage conservation? Is the term "heritagization" or "heritage making" a synonym for preservation or conservation?

In this article, I will attempt to answer some of these questions from the point of view of premodern literature, drawing on recent researches in heritage studies, specifically in the subfield of "critical heritage studies. After briefly introducing the current state of heritage scholarship, I will present the definition of "textual heritage" that I developed during my most recent project. Secondly, to reflect on how the concept of textual heritage can affect our understanding of historical archives, I will present the case of the Hyakugo Archive of Toji Temple (Kyoto, Japan), a collection of 19,000 documents dating from the eight to the eighteenth century, which was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World List in 2005 and has been fully digitized and made available to the public via the Internet. I will examine a particular historical event that occurred during the 17th century, which can be viewed as a re-birth of this archive as a cultural heritage and reflect on the implications of this event for the survival of the archive itself and its use today.