This unique collection of sources contains handwritten lecture notes, internship reports and diaries, etc. from the early days of Japanese engineering education in Japan (1878–1884).

They were written by Ōhara Junnosuke, one of the earliest graduates of the Imperial College of Engineering (Kōbu-dai-gakkō), the predecessor institution of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tokyo.

Together with later sources on his professional career, these documents provide a representative example of the development of technical education and its reception at the individual level.