The National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) was established in 2004 as a corporation to support and further develop inter-university research institutes* that promote research in the humanities.
The current constituent organizations are
- National Museum of Japanese History (REKIHAKU)
- National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL)
- National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL)
- International Research Center for Japanese Studies (NICHIBUNKEN)
- Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN)
- National Museum of Ethnology (MINPAKU)
As international centers of excellence in their respective research fields, these six institutes aim to promote basic and interdisciplinary research in collaboration with universities and other research institutes and researchers in Japan and overseas. As the only inter-university research institute corporation for humanities research, the NIHU connects institutes within the organization with universities and other external institutes, and is also engaged in comprehensive academic research and dissemination related to human culture with the aim of constructing research resources, promoting empirical and theoretical research, and creating new research areas, including collaboration with the natural sciences.
＊Inter-University Research Institutes
As Japanese centers of excellence (COE) in their respective research fields, these institutes provide universities and other research institutes in Japan and overseas with large facilities and equipment as well as vast materials and information that are difficult for any individual university to maintain, thereby facilitating effective joint research.