Transcripts of Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933), a famous Iwate-born poet and author of children's literature, have recently been found at Hanamaki Elementary School in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, where he was enrolled.

Miyazawa received the grade of "ko," the highest in the three-level system, in all subjects with perfect attendance in the fifth and sixth grades, according to his transcripts, suggesting he was an excellent and healthy student.

The grading system used at the school consisted of three levels: "ko" "otsu" and "hei."

The transcripts found at Hanamaki Elementary School, which Miyazawa graduated from in 1909, include information on the achievements of students who graduated between 1909 and 1918.

The contents of Miyazawa's transcripts were previously published in a 1977 book by Chikuma Shobo Publishing Co. However, the original records were thought lost.

The transcripts will go on display at the Miyazawa Kenji Museum in Hanamaki in August, in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of his death.

Mitsumasa Konno, who became the principal of the school this spring, found the records in a box in his office safe in early April. The records, which included students' grades, class attendance, as well as other information, such as the student's physique, were written on white sheets of Japanese "washi" paper.

The records of his first two years of education were apparently lost in a school fire, so the recently found records only contain information from his third to sixth years at the school.

In the third and fourth grade, Kenji received "ko" in five subjects, including "shushin" moral training education introduced in the early Meiji Era, Japanese language, arithmetic, gymnastics, as well as in behavior.

In his last two years of elementary school, Miyazawa received "ko" in 10 subjects, including Japanese history, geography and science.