Japanese Rare Books Collection

The Japanese rare book collection contains about 20,000 volumes of stitched-bound books, mostly published during Edo Period (early 17th century-19th century). The collection includes several individual collections such as Momoki Collection (formerly owned by a private school library in Japan, strong in Japanese Classic Literature), Nagazawa Collection (formerly owned by Nagazawa Tomoo, a Japanese scholar during Edo Period. The collection includes many of Mr. Nagazawa's manuscripts), the Ueda Collection (formerly owned by Professor Ueda Mannen and is a unique collection in colloquial literature of Edo Period). The highlights of the Japanese rare book collection fall on the many different editions of a Japanese Imperial Chronological Historical Diary called Nihon Shoki. The oldest edition of the many different editions was written in 1442 and is one of the earliest versions of this historical book. Our library users can consult with the printed catalog when need to retrieve books from this Japanese rare book collection.

Please click here for more detailed information. (In Chinese)