The Museum of Modern Japanese Literature, the first literature museum in our country, was established in 1963, but already in the prewar period efforts were sporadically made for the preservation of literary heritage. Indeed a prototype of literature museum can be traced back to Shiki-an and Sōseki-sanbō, the writers' houses transformed into archives of their works in the Meiji Period. They were born in the contexts of writers' demand for the advancement of their social status, the government's cultural policy of architectural conservation, and other historical factors.