Approximately 2470 titles of early Japanese books, maps, and scrolls may be found in the Japanese section of Cambridge University Library. These include four 8th century Hyakumantō darani, manuscript scrolls, maps, many woodblock-printed works books from the Edo period, Chinese-language works produced in Japan, and Meiji-period Japanese works in traditional formats. Most of these are described in Nozomu Hayashi and Peter Kornicki, Early Japanese Books in Cambridge University Library: a catalogue of the Aston, Satow and Von Siebold Collections (Cambridge University Press, 1991).
About 60 titles of early Japanese books, manuscripts, and scrolls collected by Laurence E. R. Picken and relating to traditional Japanese music may be found in the Picken Collection , within the Music Department. Within the Picken Collection, the Kikutei Collection manuscripts are particularly important. A shelf list is available online. The Picken Collection also includes photocopies and microfilms of rare texts not in the collection.
Several titles of woodblock-printed, illustrated Japanese texts are included in the Waddleton Collection , within the Department of Rare Books.
Photographs of Japan in 1882 (five box-files) may be found in F.H.H. Guillemard: Photographs within the Manuscripts Department.
Cambridge University Library also holds the Maruzen Microfilm Collection of the National Diet Library’s Collection of Books Printed in the Meiji Era, with 110,000 books on over 11,500 reels of microfilm. A catalogue of titles in the collection is shelved in the East Asian Reading Room at FD.20:16.1-25.
In addition to the collections within Cambridge University Library described here, the University of Cambridge also holds early Japanese books, prints, and other material within the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology." } , { "pname":"Material Availability for Researchers' Viewing/Examination", "pvalue":"
As of May 2020, Cambridge University Library is closed due to the coronavirus situation. The following information about access to material was true until March 2020. Please check the library’s home page to confirm the library’s status and policies online before planning a visit.
Researchers with a valid reader ticket or pass may request early Japanese books to view inside the East Asian Reading Room. Classmarks may be found in Union Catalogue of Japanese Texts or in Hayashi and Kornicki, Early Japanese Books in Cambridge University Library (shelved in the East Asian Reading Room at FD.22.28).
Researchers may register for one free one-week reader’s ticket in any twelve-month period upon presentation of two forms of identification, including one with a proof of address. One-month, six-month and twelve-month reader passes are available to researchers for fees of £8, £15 and £28 respectively. There is no fee for members of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge MAs, academic staff from UK universities, and postgraduate students from UK universities. Details on joining the library may be found here." } , { "pname":"Online Access to Relevant Bibliographic Information", "pvalue":"
Most early Japanese books within the Japanese section may be searched online within Union Catalogue of Japanese Texts. Readers may also find some material in the main library search, iDiscover.
A selection of the early Japanese books may be viewed online in the Cambridge Digital Library. Additional digital editions may be seen via the Union Catalogue of Early Japanese Books in Europe.
A shelf list of Kikutei Collection manuscripts within the Picken Collection may be found online. For other Japanese items in the Picken Collection, readers should consult a shelf list and card catalogue in the library’s Music Department.
F.H.H. Guillemard: Photographs (box list only)." } , { "pname":"Printed Catalogs of Relevant Titles", "pvalue":"
Eric Ceadel. Classified catalogue of modern Japanese books in Cambridge University Library. Cambridge: Heffer, 1961.
Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan (Japan). Kokuritsu Kokkai Toshokan shozō Meijiki kankō tosho maikuro-ban shūsei. Tōkyō: Maruzen Kabushiki Kaisha, [1992?]
Nozomu Hayashi and Peter Kornicki. Early Japanese books in Cambridge University Library: a catalogue of the Aston, Satow, and Von Siebold collections = Kenburijji Daigaku shozō Wa-Kan kosho sōgō mokuroku: Asuton, Satō, Shīboruto korekushon (Cambridge, 1991)." } , { "pname":"Possibility of Material Reproduction", "pvalue":"
In the reading room, smartphones without flash may be used to take photographs of rare material for research purposes only. If digital images are already online, please consult these before taking your own photographs.
To order high-quality photographs or to license images for reproduction, please contact the Digital Content Unit." } , { "pname":"Other Relevant Information", "pvalue":"
" } ]