This essay is an academic consideration and does not advocate any particular historical view.
1. What Is History?
History is not simply "past events."
The Recorded Past
Not everything that happened in the past becomes history. Only events that are recorded, transmitted, and studied remain as "history." Unrecorded pasts might as well not have existed.
The Discipline of History
History is the discipline that collects, interprets, and narrates records of the past. Historians reconstruct the past from traces—documents, artifacts, testimonies. But this reconstruction is always incomplete and selective.
History of the Victors
There's a saying: "History is written by the victors." Those with power leave records; the voices of the defeated are silenced. History is not a neutral record of the past but a selection reflecting power relations.
2. Making History = Proof of Existence
"Making a name in history" is the ultimate proof of existence.
Great Figures and Anonymous Masses
Those in textbooks are a tiny fraction of historical figures. Kings, generals, inventors, artists—their names are inscribed in history. But the countless anonymous people who supported them leave no record.
Epitaphs as Records
Epitaphs are attempts to inscribe individual proof of existence in history. Name, birth and death dates, achievements—information carved in stone conveys that person's existence to posterity. Yet gravestones also weather and become unreadable.
Inequality of Recording
There is striking inequality in whose existence is recorded. Women more than men, poor more than rich, margins more than center—some people are harder to record. Historical records reflect social inequality.
"Those who didn't make history still existed. Their proof of existence must be excavated by us."
3. The Invention of Writing and the Beginning of History
Writing was the invention that made history possible.
Prehistory and History
Eras without written records are called "prehistory," those with them "history." This distinction itself shows that the presence or absence of records determines proof of existence. Without writing, proving specific individuals' existence is difficult.
Evolution of Recording Media
Clay tablets, papyrus, parchment, paper—recording media have evolved. Each medium has a lifespan, and many records have been lost. Most ancient world literature no longer exists.
What Remained and What Disappeared
The fire at the Library of Alexandria, the Mongol destruction of Baghdad—throughout history, vast records have been lost. Surviving records are merely a fraction of what disappeared. The history we know is the tip of the iceberg.
4. The Power of Archives
Archives are repositories of proof of existence.
What to Preserve
Archives cannot preserve everything. Decisions must be made about what to keep and what to discard. This judgment is a power that determines whose proof of existence to preserve.
Access Issues
Even preserved records aren't accessible to everyone. Classified documents, personal information, access restrictions—archives appear open but are closed. There are disparities in access to proof of existence itself.
Digital Archives
Digitization has improved archive access. But digital data has different vulnerabilities. Format obsolescence, server failures, service termination. Digital archives are not eternal either.
Archives are not neutral repositories. They are power structures determining what remains and who has access. Democratizing proof of existence requires democratizing archives.
5. Oral Tradition and History
Writing is not the only way to transmit history.
Oral Traditions
Even in societies without writing, history has been transmitted through oral tradition. Myths, legends, storytellers—history passed from mouth to mouth across generations. Oral tradition is also a form of proof of existence.
Oral History
In historical studies, the value of oral history has come to be recognized. Voices of common people not in documents, women's voices, marginalized people's voices. Recording technology has made these proofs of existence possible.
Memory's Fragility
But human memory is fragile. Forgetting, distortion, idealization—oral tradition transforms easily. Whether orally transmitted history is "true" is always questioned. Yet without oral tradition, some proofs of existence would have disappeared.
6. Rewriting History
History is rewritten.
Politics and History
Those in power rewrite history. In Stalin's Soviet Union, disgraced figures were erased from photographs and deleted from history books. Rewriting history is erasure of proof of existence.
Historical Revisionism
There are movements to change interpretations of past events. Holocaust denial, justification of colonial rule—historical revisionism threatens victims' proof of existence.
Rediscovery and Rehabilitation
Conversely, forgotten history is sometimes rediscovered. Women's history, minority history, colonial perspectives—once marginalized people's proof of existence is being rehabilitated through historical scholarship's progress.
7. Private History and Public History
History has both public and private dimensions.
Public History: Textbook History
Textbook history is history sanctioned by state or society. Political decisions, economic development, war and peace—history as grand narrative. But individual faces are hard to see there.
Private History: Family History
There is also history passed down within families. Grandparents' war experiences, immigrant stories, family business origins—not in textbooks but precious proof of existence for families.
Value of Private History
Private history tends to be dismissed as "small history." But accumulated private histories reveal historical realities invisible in public history. The collection of individual proofs of existence becomes testimony of an era.
Grand history is made up of countless small histories. Each person's proof of existence weaves history.
8. History in the Digital Age
Digital technology is changing the relationship between history and proof of existence.
Explosion of Records
SNS, blogs, digital photos—modern people leave vast records. More individuals than ever can leave their proof of existence. Future historians may drown in seas of data.
Digital Fragility
But digital records are fragile. Platform closures, account deletions, format obsolescence. Whether today's records will be readable in 100 years, no one knows.
Who Writes History
In the digital age, historians aren't the only ones writing history. Wikipedia, citizen journalism, personal blogs—anyone can become a recorder of history. This is democratization, but also a quality issue.
9. To Future Historians
The records we leave are gifts to future historians.
What to Leave
What should we living today record and leave? Not just official records but private ones. Not just rulers but common voices. Not just the center but marginal perspectives. Leaving diverse proofs of existence leads to richer history.
Sustainable Records
Records won't remain unless the medium endures. Paper burns, digital disappears. Choosing recording media that last 100 years, 1,000 years is the condition for delivering proof of existence to the future.
Responsibility to History
We have a responsibility to record the past. And a responsibility to pass records to future generations. History doesn't remain automatically. It remains only through intentional preservation efforts.
History is the intentionally preserved past. What we record and how we preserve it determines future history.
10. TokiStorage and History
Considering TokiStorage's significance from a historical perspective.
1,000-Year Preservation
Quartz glass can be preserved for over 1,000 years. This far exceeds ordinary recording media's durability. Today's records can reach historians 1,000 years from now.
Perpetuating Personal History
Personal histories that won't make textbooks—family stories, personal diaries, private records—can be perpetuated. A means of delivering proof of existence for those who won't make public history to the future.
Democratizing Archives
Traditionally, permanent record preservation was a privilege of states and major institutions. TokiStorage enables individuals to permanently preserve their own proof of existence. A step toward democratizing archives.
Gifts to the Future
Records engraved in quartz glass are gifts to future historians. Clues for people 1,000 years hence to learn how 21st-century humans lived, thought, and what they valued.
Conclusion — The Responsibility to Leave History
History is the recorded past. Without records, existence might as well not have been.
History has determined whose existence to record and whom to forget. Rulers' history, victors' history, central history—traditional history was biased. But now women's history, minority history, private history—marginalized people's proof of existence is being rehabilitated.
In the digital age, anyone can leave records. But digital records are fragile. Platforms close, formats become obsolete, data disappears. Leaving records and preserving records are different problems.
We have a responsibility to leave history. Not just our own proof of existence, but that of those around us, those easily overlooked. And a responsibility to deliver it to the future in sustainable form.
TokiStorage is one means of fulfilling that responsibility. Records engraved in quartz glass become gifts to historians 1,000 years hence. Reliably delivering the proof that "this person existed" to the future.
History doesn't remain automatically. It remains only through intentional recording and preservation. Participating in that endeavor is our responsibility to history.
References
- Carr, E.H. (1961). What Is History? Cambridge University Press.
- Foucault, M. (1969). The Archaeology of Knowledge.
- Derrida, J. (1995). Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression.
- Thompson, P. (1978). The Voice of the Past: Oral History. Oxford University Press.
- Amino, Y. (1991). Rereading Japanese History. Chikuma Shobō. [Japanese]
- Endo, S. (1966). Silence. Shinchōsha. [Japanese]
- Carr, E.H. (1962). What Is History? Iwanami Shinsho. [Japanese translation]