Harimaze Byōbu: The latest chapter
in exploring Yale’s Japanesetreasures.

September 17, 2014Timeline: The early stage of Japanese Collections, andthe “Harimaze” Folding Screens at Yale
1906-1907
Funded by LC and Yale, Asakawa traveled to Japan collecting Japanesemanuscripts that later became the Japanese Manuscript Collections at Yale.
1907
Asakawa takes up a joint position at Yale as a lecturer in Japanese history
and curator of the Chinese and Japanese collections in the library.
1917-1919
Asakawa is on leave in Japan, to meet with Yale Association of Japan (YAJ)
members in Tokyo and solicit donations for the library collection.
1934
The Yale Association of Japan (YAJ) Collection, consisting of over 300 items
from Japan, China, and Korea – many of them now considered rare cultural
treasures - is donated to Yale.

eventKonshi ginji Kegonkyō 紺紙銀字華厳経 (8th century).
Yale Association of Japan Collection,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Konoe Nobutada (1565-1614). Konoe Nobutada hitsu waka shikishi jō
近衛信尹筆和歌色紙帖 (n.d. late 16th to early 17th century).
Yale Association of Japan Collection,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Taketori monogatari 竹取物語 (n.d.).
Yale Association of Japan Collection,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

午後はSugita Genpaku (1733-1817), et al. Kaitai shinsho 解体新書 (1826).
Yale Association of Japan Collection,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

大般若波羅蜜多經. 存卷第五百八十二
Da bo re bo lo mi duo jing. Volume 582
Dynasty (1127-1279)]
Yale Association of Japan Collection,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript
Library, Yale University
南宋[1228-1232]刻蹟砂藏本
Printed between 1228-1232, Southern SongThe original block print from the Southern
Song Dynasty (1127-1279).

요화노인회근첩 澆花老人回巹帖
Yohwa noin hoegeuncheop, Prose and verse by relatives and friends in 1848 incommemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the marriage of Yi Yohwa andhis wife. Yale Association of Japan Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

the circumstances of these gifts should lift them above all
suspicion of being political propaganda. At the time of theraising of the fund, both the United States and Japan wereinvolved in the World War on the same side; and theManchurian venture and the naval conferences were in the lapsof the gods. The earliest gift was entirely Chinese in contents;
and the present one, when completed, will also probably include
manuscripts and books of both China and Korea. The gifts wereinspired purely by the devotion of the alumni to their Alma
Mater, and by their desire to introduce her to hitherto little know
phases of the history of the national culture.
--Yale University Library Gazette, October 1934)

Kondō, Shigekazu 近藤成一. "Yēru Daigaku Shozō Harima noKuni Ōbe no Shō Kankei Monjo ni Tsuite" イェール大学所蔵
播磨国大部庄関係文書について [On Harima no Kuni Ōbe noShō Kankei Monjo at Yale University Collection]. TokyōDaigaku Shiryō Hensanjo Kenkyū Kiyō 東京大学史料編纂所研究紀要 23 (2013) : 1-22.

The process of restoration
1. The inks were tested for possible bleeding during wet treatment, specificallythe red ink which is mercuric sulfide.
2. The screen was dismantled and the manuscript documents were separated
one by one and the lining papers from the mounting on the screen wereremoved.
3. Each manuscript was surface cleaned, washed and pressed dried.
4. Papers were analyzed in order to select the most appropriate papers forrepair.
(The analysis was conducted using non-destructive methods which included microscopic
examination, measurement of the bamboo lines, measurement of the density anddocumentation of brush and wooden board marks within a 3cm square area.)

5. Losses were filled and some manuscripts were lined. The manuscripts werethen either dried under light pressure or on the “karibari” board.
6. Each document was placed in a paper folder and groups of documents werehoused in specially made boxes (chitsu) to be returned to Yale.

Special Thanks to:
Historiographical Institute of University of Tokyo

Kondo Shigekazu, ProfessorandTakashima Akihiko, Conservator
Preservation Dept. Yale University Library

Christine McCarthy, Chief ConservatorandMarie-France Lemay, Paper Conservator

JapaneseKomonjo / Kuzushiji
Workshop

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscripts
Library / East Asia Library

Yale University(July 15-Aug. 11, 2007)

Analyzing EdoPeriod Books
Lecture by Jun Suzuki
National Institute ofJapanese Literature
Introduction by William Fleming
East Asian Languages and Literatures
and Theater Studies, Yale University
August 27th and 28th, 2012
Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript
LibraryTekagamijō 手鑑帖
Yale Association of Japan Collection,
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library,
Yale University