Hiroki Kikuchi, "Letting the Copy out of the Window: a history of Copying Texts in Japan", The East Asian Library Journal 4, no. (2010): 120-157

7.   Rokuon nichiroku, fragment of the original manuscript, sheet 3, showing a letter to the Zen 

monk Zuikei Shūhō (1392–1473), dated second day of the sixth month of 1460. Five volumes 

of the original manuscript are in the

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collection of the main library of the University of Tokyo and fragments, among them this 

document, are in the collection of the Historiographical Institute. Photograph from the 

collection of the Historiographical Institute.

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138    hiroki kikuchi

 

In 1906 soon after the start of publication at the Historiographical Institute, 

Asakawa Kan’ichi came to Japan with a plan to collect Japanese documents in order 

to develop Japanese studies in the United States.

31

 The materials that Asakawa col-

lected eventually were divided and kept in two libraries, the East Asian section at 

the Sterling Memorial Library of Yale University and at the Library of Congress.

32

 

Through the collection project Asakawa established a scholarly friendship with 

Mikami Sanji (1865–1939), who had been the director of the Historiographical 

Institute between 1899 and 1919, and with other scholars in the Historiographi-

cal Institute.

33

 Mikami helped Asakawa greatly with his collection project. The 

bulk of Asakawa’s collection was hand copies since he avoided bringing valuable 

rare books out of Japan. Therefore, the goal of this collection project was not to 

establish a rare book library, but rather to make historical documents available for 

academic research in the United States. Fortunately, in the early twentieth century 

when he worked on the collection project, a number of copyists were engaged in 

copying historical documents in the Historiographical Institute. Though I have 

not yet researched the entire collection at Yale University, I assume that copyists in 

the Historiographical Institute produced several of the hand copies that Asakawa 

brought to the United States.

34

 

For example, in 1890 the Historiographical Institute copyists handcopied 

Rokuon nichiroku (Daily Record of Rokuon [Temple]), a diary that Keijo Shūrin 

(1440–1518)  and  other  Zen  abbots  at  the  Rokuon-in Temple  in  Kyoto  kept 

between  1487–1651.

35

  (See  figure  7.)  In  1903  supplementary  research  results 

were added to the copy. Though this copy was in tōsha style, that is, copied for 

the contents of the text rather than being an exact copy of the original, the re-

searcher used red ink to record in detail the condition of the diary and the results 

of philological investigation. (See figure 8.) Since the Rokuon-in Temple had 

been the head of the official hierarchical Zen system in the Muromachi period 

(1393–1573), Rokuon nichiroku was regarded as one of the most significant and basic 

historical documents. In 1905, two years after the additional research, the Univer-

sity of Tokyo Library, through the good offices of Miura Hiroyuki (1871–1931), 

who was a professor at the Historiographical Institute at that time, purchased the 

Rokuon nichiroku manuscripts. It was the next year that Asakawa came back to 

Japan to gather materials for the collection project. Because Miura and Asakawa 

were close colleagues, Asakawa is thought to have recognized the significance 

of Rokuon nichiroku.

36

 In fact, Rokuon nichiroku in the Asakawa Collection at Yale 

was a precise hand copy done at the Historiographical Institute, including the 

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copying texts in japan    139

philological investigation in red ink and the copier’s or researcher’s signature and 

red seal.

37

 Today, these two copies—i.e. the copy in the Yale University Collection 

and the one in the Historical Institute—are by far the most valuable ones. Tragi-

cally, in 1923 all of the 157 volumes of Rokuon Nichiroku manuscripts preserved 

in the University of Tokyo Library were destroyed by fire with the collapse of 

the buildings in the Kantō earthquake. However, five volumes and some frag-

ments, which fortunately had been borrowed by the Historiographical Institute 

for research use, escaped that conflagration.

38

 Because no photographic records 

remain of Rokuon nichiroku manuscripts, these two copies are the only ones that 

give us visual evidence of the appearance and the content of the original with 

philological information. Later, when Rokuon nichiroku was published in a typeset 

edition, the Historiographical Institute’s copy was used as an original text.

39

 

In this way the Historiographical Institute helped Asakawa’s collection 

project by offering high-quality hand copies to him. In exchange, Asakawa also 

helped  the  Historiographical  Institute  add  titles  to  its  document  project.  For 

example, today in the Historiographical Institute library, one can find copies of 

three historical documents that were formerly owned by Asakawa. In 1907 when 

Asakawa was in Japan building his collection, two of the documents in question 

were copied by the Historiographical Institute.

40

 One is Jōge kokyō sojō [a peti-

tion (compiled in 1818 by ward leaders of) the old Kyoto area], which was a tōsha 

style copy.

41

 (See figure 9.) It may have been the original that was donated to the 

Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University later as a part of Kyōto komonjo (Old 

Documents of Kyoto), but I have not yet been able to inspect the acquisition 

records to confirm this.

42

 The other is Asakawa monjo (Documents of Asakawa 

[Kan’ichi]), which was an eisha style copy of Shimogyō-chū deiri no chō (Account 

Book of Income and Expenditures of Lower Kyoto Township.)

43

 The original is 

now lost, though the copy made with a fountain pen is included in the Asakawa 

collection.

44

 Asakawa might have had the original of the text in his possession and 

made this copy for the Yale library in his own hand. During his two-year stay in 

Japan between 1907 and 1909, and even a couple of years after his return to the 

United States, he was affiliated with the Historiographical Institute as a junior 

faculty member.

45

 In 1917 Asakawa returned to Japan again for the last time and 

worked mainly on his own personal projects. In 1918 the Historiographical In-

stitute made an eisha copy of Ōi monjo (Documents of Ōi), the original of which 

was owned by Asakawa.

46

 

Later Asakawa suggested to Yale Japanese alumni that they purchase Japan 

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