Gunshi documents contain information on the history, natural environment and culture―from antiquity up to the date of publication―of the gun (counties), local communities that have served as the smallest administrative units of Japan's government since Meiji centralization of authority in the state. Gunshi are valuable sources of data not only for the study of modern Japanese history, but also economic history, the history of government administration, transport, social history, educational history, folklore, and dialects. As many as possible of these publications, compiled by gun offices and published from the end of the 19th century, by which time Gunshi were well-established and comprehensive, to 1945, have been included.