bunken

Bunken, written in kanji as 文献, is a Japanese term used primarily in academic and library contexts to denote literature, documents, or reference materials consulted or cited in research. The word combines 文 (bun, literature or text) with 献 (ken, to present or contribute), and it broadly covers published sources such as scholarly articles, books, reports, and other documentary materials that form the evidentiary basis of a study.

Common usages include文献検索 (bunken kensaku, literature search), 参考文献 (sankō bunken, references), 一次文献 (ichiji bunken, primary sources), 二次文献 (niji bunken, secondary sources), and 文献目録 (bunken mokuroku, bibliographic catalog). In library science and publishing, bunken data may be organized in 文献データベース (bunken dētabēsu, bibliographic databases) and integrated into catalogs for retrieval and citation management. The term is also used in contrast to 資料 (shiryō), which refers more broadly to materials or sources and can include non-textual items; 文献 specifically emphasizes written, published, or scholarly texts.

In practice, bunken underpins activities such as literature reviews, bibliographies, and citation practices in Japanese research. It plays a central role in how scholars identify, evaluate, and reference sources, and it appears prominently in academic writing, library catalogs, and information-management workflows. While largely a Japanese term, bunken is encountered in multilingual scholarly contexts when describing Japanese-language literature and reference materials.