Tenri University Library

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The Tenri University Library ( Japanese 天理 大学 附属 天理 図 書館 , Tenri Daigaku fuzoku Tenri Toshokan , English Tenri Central Library ) is a well-known library in Tenri in Nara Prefecture , which belongs to the private Tenri University of the Shinto Tenrikyō movement. Although it is the university library of a private university, it is in principle publicly accessible to all persons aged 15 and over. It was founded in 1925 and owns around two million media, including six national treasures , many important cultural assets , objects declared as important works of art ( 重要 美術品 , Jūyō Bijutsuhin ), valuable manuscripts and old manuscripts. Notices are published in the library's own magazine “Biblia”.

overview

The forerunner of Tenri University was the "Tenri Foreign Language School", which opened in 1925. It was founded by the Tenrikyō in order to train people for proselytizing abroad in the necessary foreign languages. After the Second World War in 1949, the foreign language school became a private university. The library was also established in August 1925; By November 1926, 26,000 carefully selected books from all of the Tenrikyō's libraries were collected in the new Tenri library, which was housed in a room on the third floor of the school building. In 1930 a new building for the library was built. At the suggestion of Masaharu Anesaki , director of Tokyo University Library, the Tenri Library was built according to plans for the University of Minnesota library . The architect Ban Shizuo was responsible for drawing up the construction plans .

In 1930 an information center belonging to the university ( 天理 参考 館 , Tenri Sankōkan ) was opened. It is a cultural institution that collects ethnological and archaeological materials from all over the world and makes them accessible to the public in a museum. In particular under the second Shimbashira or head of the Tenri community Nakayama Shōzen (1905-1967), the great-grandson of the founder Miki Nakayama, the number of collections, especially rarities, could be expanded. Shōzen's idea was not only to equip the members of the Tenrikyō with foreign language skills for missionary work abroad, but also to give them an understanding of the culture, which led to a revival of collecting activities. In 1941, Shōzen bought the estate of the Itō family including the documents and books of the Confucian scholar Itō Jinsai , his son Itō Tōgai and the Kōgidō school ( 古 義 堂 ), in which the two had taught in Kyoto. In 1963 the total area was increased to 10,722 m² by expanding the library and reading room.

Collections

The approximately 1.8 million books in inventories are in addition to six national treasures many old manuscripts, prints of the Jesuit Mission ( キリシタン版 , Kirishitan-ban ), Western incunabula from the 15th century such as Vita et Fabulae of Aesop and old maps . In addition, a large number of treasures of Japanese literature , such as manuscripts of the Genji , Ise or Taketori Monogatari , materials on the Haikai and Renga poetry, on Ihara Saikaku and Matsuo Bashō , but also on modern writers such as Higuchi Ichiyō , Natsume Sōseki , Akutagawa Ryūnosuke , Mori Ōgai or Nagai Kafū .

In addition to the declared and awarded works, there are also rare documents by well-known personalities such as a world map by the Dutch cartographer Abraham Ortelius , a globe by the German Caspar Vopelius and also a manuscript from the Yongle encyclopedia from the Ming period.

selection

The main areas of focus are: religion, language, history, geography, literature, Chinese and Korean studies.

  • China
  1. Liu Mengde wen ji (劉夢 得 文集): Edition from the Song Dynasty , declared a national treasure
  2. Mao shi yao yi (毛詩 要 義): declared as an important cultural asset
  • Japan
    • Prints of the Jesuit mission to Japan, the so-called Kirishitan-ban: first known prints from Japan, nine of 31 prints, including " Contemptus Mundi from 1610" declared as an important cultural asset
    • Manuscripts:
  1. Wamyōshō ( 和 名 抄 ): Handwriting of a lexicon with Japanese personal and proper names from the 14th century, compiled by Minamoto no Shitagau
  2. Meigetsu-ki ( 明月 記 ): Original manuscript of the diary of Fujiwara no Teika
  3. Kaiōi ( 貝 お ほ ひ ): Original by Matsuo Bashō , the author of Oku no Hosomichi
  4. Bakin Nikki ( 馬 琴 日記 ): Diary of Kyokutei Bakin , the author of the Nansō Satomi Hakkenden ( 南 総 里 見 八 犬 伝 , "The story of the eight dogs from the house of Satomi in Nansō")
  5. Jichū Hyakuin Emaki ( 自 註 百 韻 絵 巻 ): Scroll with 100 haiku poems, illustrated and annotated by Ihara Saikaku
  • Wood printing plates:
  1. Jōruri (figure or puppet theater) ( 江 戸 時代 浄 瑠 璃 本 ): 15,000 wood printing plates
  2. Teisei Kokun Kojiki ( 訂正 古訓 古 事 記 ): 170 wood printing plates of the "Teisei Kokun Kojiki " by Motoori Norinaga
  3. Works of the Kogidō School ( 古 義 堂 ): 2000 wood printing plates made in the 17th century by Itō Jinsai and his family

Basic data

  • Opening: 1925
  • Address: 1050 Soma-no-uchi, Tenri, Nara Prefecture
  • Area of ​​the library building: 10,722 m²
  • Building: built in 1930 as the library of the Tenri Foreign Language School and expanded in 1963

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Only middle school students are excluded.
  2. ↑ The declaration of an art object goes back to the "Law for the Conservation of Important Art Objects " ( 重要 美術品 等 ノ 保存 ニ 関 ス ル 法律 , Jūyō bijutsuhin tōno hozon ni kansuru hōritsu ) from 1933. The law was a forerunner of the Cultural Property Protection Act of 1950, which was intended to prevent the export of works of art from Japan through the declaration.
  3. ↑ Thereof 5000 western books.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tenri Central Library 天理 大学 附属 天理 図 書館 . Tenri Central Library, accessed December 30, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Tenri Central Library ( 天理 大学 附属 天理 図 書館 ). North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources, 2014, accessed December 31, 2014 .

Coordinates: 34 ° 35 ′ 40.9 ″  N , 135 ° 50 ′ 46.6 ″  E