Oldest manuscript diary among Japan proposals for UNESCO heritage

TOKYO, May 11 Kyodo -
Japan will recommend the country's oldest manuscript diary and a set of records showing ties with Europe in the 17th century for UNESCO Memory of the World heritage registration, the culture ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry said it will ask UNESCO by March 2012 to include in the heritage list the Midokampakuki diary written by high-ranking noble Fujiwara no Michinaga (966-1027) and the Keicho Ken-O Shisetsu records featuring relations with Europe shortly before Japan began closing itself to other countries in the 1630s in the Edo Era.
It will be the first time the Japanese government has made such a recommendation and the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will decide around May 2013 whether to include the Japanese national treasures in the collection, the ministry said.
Fujiwara no Michinaga exercised powerful national leadership when the country was at the height of its prosperity during the mid-Heian Era (794-1185). His handwritten diary records political and ceremonial affairs and daily life.
The other record is a set of some 50 items showing diplomatic and cultural exchanges with Europe, including a Roman citizenship certificate which Hasekura Tsunenaga brought back after traveling in Europe at Lord Date Masamune's command.
A total of 193 items from 76 countries around the world have been registered under UNESCO's Memory of the World program aiming at preservation and dissemination of valuable archive holdings and library collections. The items include the World War II diaries of Anne Frank from the Netherlands and France's 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man.