This archive contains old Japanese books, maps, and other items from the Kotani Collection, a mountain-related archive owned by the Shinshu University Library.

The Kotani Collection, donated to Shinshu University Library in 2002 by Ryuichi Kotani, an alumnus of the old Matsumoto High School, consists of about 8,000 mountain-related books and journals from various times and places. It is one of Japan's most prominent mountain-related collections.

This archive was created to support research and study by making Japanese old books, maps, and other items in the collection widely accessible via the Internet, and to improve the preservation of the original materials.