Documents of the So clan

• Japanese: 宗家文書 (Sôke monjo)

The Documents of the Sô clan, or Sôke monjo, is the aggregate name for a number of collections of documents related to the Sô clan, samurai lords of Tsushima Island. Documents originally created and/or held at the Tsushima han government offices on Tsushima, the Sô clan's family temple Banshô-in (also on Tsushima), the domain's mansions in Edo and other cities, and the "Japan Hall" (J: Wakan/ K: Waegwan) in Pusan, are today held in seven locations (museums, university archives, etc.) in Seoul, Tsushima, Kyushu (Dazaifu), and Tokyo.

History of the Collections

Calls for efforts to organize and preserve these documents grew in the aftermath of World War II, and in 1975 the Izuhara Town Board of Education (Izuhara-chô kyôiku iinkai) began formal surveys of the materials. Over the course of the next 35 years, the group surveyed more than 80,000 items and produced twelve volumes of catalogs and research proceedings.

References

• Gallery labels, Tsushima Museum.[1]