Preservation of Japanese old books inEurope:
Survey results and some remarks2014 EAJRS Conference in Leuven
Akio Yasue

EAJRS Preservation survey 2014
• 26 responses including some from outside ofEurope and some with ‘no Japanese old bookcollection’ answers.
• I talk today based on the 20 responses fromEuropean institutions that have ‘Japanese oldbook collection’.

Vocabulary
Definitions:• Preservation• Conservation• Restoration

6 Points I will discuss
1 Importance of assessment
2 Importance of planning
3 Importance of prevention
4 Conservation, and not restoration
5 Preservation and access
6 Needs of cooperation

Point 1: Importance of assessment
What to assess?:• What you have, where they are, how they are
kept.
• Is there their inventory and/or catalogue ?
• How about their use ?
• Were they microfilmed or digitized?
• Were they repaired/boxed in the past?
• Current preservation program

Your responses• About collection
7 answered needs of inventory works. (Q.7)• About the environment of your collection
6 answered improvement of storage and/or
environmental control is needed. (Q.7)

Your response (cont.)• About the condition of your collection
9 answered ‘good’ and 8 ‘fair’ while 2 ‘bad’. (Q2)
• It is essential to understand the condition of ourcollection.
• 10 have done conservation surveys. Most ofthem were carried out in recent years. (Q4)
• This reflects the growing understanding ofcollection preservation management.
• The question is what should come next,

Point 2: Importance of planning• General management cycle : PDCA (plan-docheck-action)• Simpler one is : plan-do-see• In preservation: Assess-plan-do-seeAssessment and planning• 8 have preservation plans while 11 have not(Q4) . And 9 mentioned lack of budget and 11
lack of staff time. (Q5)
• Preservation assessment will enable you to see
preservation needs and to set up their priorities.
While preservation planning enables you toallocate staff time and budget according to theneeds and the priorities, they can also facilitate toobtain internal and external funding.
• Cases of microfilm masters survey in Japan• Disaster plan
11 have disaster plans and 8 have not.
• Disaster plan is the ‘must’ for any cultural
resource institutions. Therefore think of its
planning if you have not.

• Institutions who have not preservation plancan learn from ones who have them.
• Institutions who have preservation plans also
can learn from others to see if one’s plan isworking all right.
• Share your preservation knowledge andexperience among the EAJRS members.

Point 3: Importance of prevention‘Prevention first! ’ is the maxim. And in thisregard, I will explain:• Development of phase conservation program
in US• Storage condition of Shosoin (東大寺正倉院）

Prevention and protection• There were some who answered the needs ofimprovement of storage and environmentalcontrol.
• However it is costly matter.
• But improvement of micro-environment(protective enclosures) is not so costly.

Your responses on protective enclosures• Some of you have done boxing and re-housing
projects (Q5)
“Protective boxing with acid-free cardboard”“Reboxing of 1000 itens done since 2005”“Repair and reshousing of 2 albums of surimoto
prints etc.”• And 5 answered the need of ‘protective
enclosures’ (Q6).

Phase(d) conservation• Phase conservation program was firstdeveloped at the Library of Congress in 1970by Waters, Etherington and Clarkson.
• First phase: Use of protective enclosures toprevent further damage to cope with massive
deteriorating collections• Second phase: Repair/restoration of mostvaluable or of most urgently repair-needed
itemsThe idea of protective enclosures came fromJapanese 四方帙

First phase boxes made at the Library of Congress

資料保存器材HPより

A comment in your responses. “We havedifficulty to obtain 帙 for Japanese books inEurope.”• Think the function of 帙, and not its
appearance or design.
• Ordinary acid-free board boxes do good forJapanese old books.

Shosoin case as a good example of microenvironmentAzekura style log house（校倉造り）
Secrecy of good storage / Yes, however.

Wooden chests (櫃)杉材 Japan cedar

Monitoring of Tem.
and RH in woodenchests at Shosoin

成瀬正和「正倉の温湿度環境調査」『正倉院紀要』23号,2001．

An example of Shosoin monjo : Gakkiron written by Empress Komyo（光明皇后） in 744

• From what we learn from the Shosoin case
• Protective enclosures with suitable materials
work well for document conservation.
• They should not be regarded as the first phasepractice.
• They are simple but should be understood as
ultimate conservation measures.
• This point would become still clearer with thenest topic

Point 4: Conservation, and not restoration

William Blades in his book “Enemies ofbooks” (1891) included bookbinder• We sometime hear ‘not proper’ restoration
done to Japanese books in the past in Europe.
Koyama-san would speak about theCambridge Univ. Library case in the nextsession.
• Similar restoration was done to the Dunhuangmanuscripts in Europe.

Tibetan pothi manuscripts from Dunhuang
Mogao Cave

Stein Collection at the British Library: photo around 1910

They were restored and bound after the WWIIDe-restoration was done and now they areprotected with acid-free paper and cardboard

De-restoration of lamination for Chinese manuscripts from
Dunhuang (Pelliot Collection, Bnf)

Pelliot Collection

IFLA Principles of Conservation andRestoration in Libraries (1978)• “Restoration should never be undertaken
unless it is unavoidable.”• And when restoration is unavoidable, in orderto maintain originality of documents, “ apply
most appropriate technique, use safe
conservation materials, consider reversibilityof the treatment and write treatment
records.”

Progress of conservation: In UK• BS 4971:2002 ( Repair and allied processes forthe conservation of documentsrecommendations ) says,“Minimum intervention should be used tosupport and stabilize items to ensurepreservation of the integrity of the document
and to minimize the risk of further damage
during treatment. ・・・Treatment to prolong
the life of an archival document is distinct
from the process of restoration.”

In US• Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler (NARA conservator) in
her Preserving Archives & manuscripts (3rdedition, 2010) says,• “The term restoration has a somewhat archaicring to preservation, bringing to mindworkshops perhaps more concerned withcosmetic improvement than with stabilization.
Indeed, it is not commonly used term today.
Conservation has replaced restoration ・・・.”

Diamond Sutra of 868, the world‘s oldest dated

printed document (Stein collection, BL)

Photo：1912

Photo：1978

New lining caused creases and splits

Point 5: Preservation and access• Preservation is to ensure accessibility of yourcollection at present as well as in the future.

Relation between preservation and access
Cf: Barclay Ogden (UC Berkley Library)

EnablePreservation

AccessJustifyYour responses about use• How about usage of your collections?
6 responded ‘medium’ while 9 ‘low’ and 3‘ none’, 1 other (personal use only). (Q3)
• Preservation is for use and how to makehidden collection unhidden while conserving
originals is the important preservation subject.
• Let’s think of digitization.

Your responses about digitization• 12 responded digitization as necessarypreservation measures. (Q7)
• And 12 hope to digitize their collections (Q8).
Such items as 奈良絵本、貴重書、版画、写本、地図、錦絵
等• Digitization will do much for the improvementof access of Japanese old books and also for
their conservation.
• One of your comment is: ‘We have been
digitizing our collection of pre-modern
Japanese books. Simultaneously we havemade condition records of the books and alsochanged/renewed storage boxes etc.’• Good practice of the improvement of accessand of the conservation of originals.
• We should be in full pursuit of the digitizationof the Japanese old books for theirconservation and access.
• However digitization is costly, and in manycases, Japanese old books in Europe are not ofhigh priority for digitization in each institution.
• Therefore, cooperation for digitization should
be considered and sought.

Point 6: Needs of cooperation
2 areas of cooperation for preservation in Europe.

1. Communication and cooperation
among EAJRS members• Your responses; 10 wantpreservation/conservation advice.(Q9) 8
answered the hope of preservation seminars
in Europe. (Q9)• There was a suggestion of possible expansion
of OJAMASG （在外日本古典籍研究会）forconservation issue.

In EAJRS
Sharing preservation knowledge and experience;
condition survey, preservation planning, disaster
plan, repair, boxing, digitization etc.
/Use of EAJRS homepage and OJAMASG forpreservation; mailing list, directory ofconservation experts and suppliers, referencetools, preservation manuals, etc.
Organizing preservation conservation
seminars/workshops in the EAJRS framework

2. Cooperation with Japanese partners
Your related responses: 6 wanted cooperation
on digitization, 6 training of conservation staff
in Japan, 8 funding for digitization. (Q9)• There are partners in Japan who can workwith you on these subjects.
• You can ask cooperation to Japanese partners
individually. However it would be more
effective if you do it together, for example in acountry or cross countries, or as a group such
as EAJRS.

Your important comments• ‘A support from Japan would be beneficial for
Japanese counterparts as it would contributefor the conservation of Japanese cultural
assets and for the access improvement ofJapanese collections via Internet. ’• ‘Exchange of conservators between European
and Japanese institutions would be beneficial
to both sides.’• EAJRS Conference as good occasion ofcommunication and cooperation

In summary• Assessment and planning ; keys for preservation• ‘Prevention first’ and ‘do not restore’ practices.
• Preservation is for continual use.
• Seek cooperation whenever necessary andwherever possible.

“Think globally, act locally”.
In preservation,“Think future, act now”.

Thank you for your kind attention.