UBC Library has acquired several rare titles as part of its Japanese Collections, thanks in part to support provided by the David Graham Memorial Fund. Digital copies of two of these titles are now openly accessible to the public through UBC Open Collections.
Getting a glimpse of Edo period social history
Ikoku jinbutsuzu 異國人物圖 (Illustration of people from other countries), a manuscript in scroll format, was acquired by the library at auction in 2019. The illustrations in lkoku jinbutsuzu, drawn in black ink with coloured ink washes, complement a few notable items in UBC Library’s Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era Collection such as Bankoku sōzu and Gaiban yōbō zuga, Ken 1.
“The illustrations [in lkoku jinbutsuzu] allow us a glimpse into the worldview and the view of ‘the Other,’ or foreigners, in the Edo period [1600-1868], the time of national isolation. Scholarly investigations into the provenance and significance of the scrolls in the history of Japanese books will be fascinating, and [this item] will be an invaluable primary source for those scholars with an interest in premodern Japanese intellectual and social history,” says Tomoko Kitayama Yen, Japanese Studies Librarian at UBC Asian Library.
“Scholarly investigations into the provenance and significance of the scrolls in the history of Japanese books will be fascinating.”
A catalyst for new scholarly research
Nara ehon dankan 奈良絵本断簡 (Illustrated book fragments), a series of hand-painted illustrations on gold-bordered pages, was acquired along with Ikoku jinbutsuzu, and provides a valuable new primary source for UBC scholars and students of classical Japanese literature.
In February 2020, the Asian Library hosted a talk with Dr. Takahiro Sasaki, Chair and Professor at the Shidō Bunko, a library that specializes in pre-modern Japanese and Asian texts at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. During his talk, Dr. Sasaki provided expert insights on the acquired works.
Examining Nara ehon dankan, Dr. Sasaki talked about the source materials used to create and colour these illustrations.
“Japanese books use gold quite a lot. Kinpaku, very thin sheets of gold, were cut into various shapes and scattered on a glued surface. Kindei, gold paint, was also used for drawing lines and so on,” says Dr. Sasaki. “In terms of colour paints, these are metal- or mineral-based [ground stones], so, comparatively speaking, they tend not to discolour.”
Nara ehon dankan illustrations likely depict scenes from a literary classic, says Dr. Joshua Mostow, Professor in the UBC Department of Asian Studies.
“Dankan means essentially fragments, so we have a number of pictures from some larger work,” he says. “It’s very clear that some of these pictures are related to one of the most famous literary court romances of the Heian period, the Ise monogatari, translated as The Ise Stories, or The Tales of Ise.“
What’s interesting about our version of the Nara ehon dankan is how it differs from other works that illustrate the same episodes from the Ise monogatari.
“It’s those kind of different iconographic choices, even when [both works are] using the same model, that become a point of interest and potential research,” says Dr. Mostow. “Why did the artist do it this way? Was this something from the artist side or something the patron who commissioned this wanted. That’s what this work gives us an opportunity to consider.“
“Dankan means essentially fragments, so we have a number of pictures from some larger work.”
Making rare Japanese materials more accessible
By expanding the Japanese rare materials collection, UBC Library is creating a catalyst for new scholarly research.
“Thanks to donors and the support of faculty and our Japanese librarian, Tomoko, we’re able to get these amazing resources that, in addition to helping with the scholarship, research, and teaching and learning objectives of the faculty, we are able to actually open up these collections to community members,” says Shirin Eshghi Furuzawa, Head of UBC Asian Library. “It’s so important for us to see the collection used within our classrooms, through our digital digitization projects. Having classes come over to our collections to view them within the Rare Books and Special Collections Reading Room—that is what we really love to see.”
Learn more about the Japanese Special Collections at UBC Library.