The Min-On Music Library

Established in 1974, the Min-On Music Library has been contributing greatly to the development of musicology in Japan with a great number of people utilizing its facilities. As its resources grew and its collection of various musical instruments expanded, it became an authenticated museum and was registered as the Min-On Music Museum under the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 2003. Since then, the current Music Library is operated as a part of the Music Museum and is located on the first basement level of the Min-On Culture Center in Shinanomachi, Tokyo, and is open to the public.

Library

Reading room

The library contains more than 120,000 recordings on various media, including CDs, LPs, DVDs and LDs, more than 45,000 music scores, and some 33,000 Japanese and non-Japanese books, journals, newspapers and miscellaneous publications all related to music. The collection includes rare books from the early Meiji period (1868–1912), when European music was first introduced to Japan, and older recordings that are no longer available. It provides visitors with access to all these resources. Although the use of journals and recorded materials is limited to within the library, books and music scores are available to be checked out by registered members of the Music Library.