Japanese Collections
Hokiichi Hanawa (1746–1821), the blind scholar who published the authoritative collection of Japanese classics and historical records known as Gunsho ruiju. From the copy of Gunsho ruiju presented to the Library in 1922 by the Showa Emperor, during his visit to Cambridge to receive an honorary doctorate. FJ.84:09.1–666
Cambridge University Library is one of the five major Japanese library collections in Britain. The collections at Cambridge started in the late 1940s. There are just under 90,000 volumes of Japanese books, including around 10,000 early Japanese books and a substantial number of bound periodicals, at the University Library. The University Library also subscribes to about 380 current titles of Japanese periodicals. All Japanese language publications are housed at the University Library’s Aoi Pavilion, together with the Chinese and Korean collections.
Most of the early books were collected by Ernest Satow (a diplomat who was a pioneer of Japanese studies) just after the Meiji Restoration (1868), which was the beginning of Japan’s modern period. Eventually, those books were transferred to his colleague, W.G. Aston. When Aston, who was another pioneer of Japanese studies, died in 1911, Cambridge acquired his collection. At the same time, Satow added some more of his remaining books to Cambridge’s collection. The modern Japanese books were purchased in Japan a few years after World War II. Cambridge purchased Japanese books, and acquired 13,653 volumes in 1949 and 1950. Those modern Japanese books became the foundation of the Japanese Collections at the University Library.