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

8.  Inscribed copy of 1890 with additions made in 1903 of Rokuon 

nichiroku, vol. 13, for the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, year 

uncertain, but assumed to be either 1597 or 1598. Upper

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margin notes on the right comment note the condition of the text. 

Exemplar in the collection of the Historiographical Institute. Photograph 

from the collection of the Historiographical Institute.

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9.  Jōge kokyō sojō, twentieth-century inscribed copy, showing the end of the text of the 

petition, followed by the date of the entry (the twelfth month of 1818) and the signatures of 

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the leaders of each area of Kyoto City. Exemplar in the collection of the Historiographical 

Institute. Photograph from the collection of the Historiographical Institute.

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10.  Nanhō-in monjo, twentieth-century traced copy, third sheet of the scroll, showing 

a document of a commendation written by Akamatsu Mitsuhiro (fl. ca. early fifteenth 

century), dated the seventeenth day of the

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tenth month of the eighteenth year of the Ōei period (1411). Exemplar in the collection 

of the Historiographical Institute. Photograph from the collection of the Historiographical 

Institute.

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146    hiroki kikuchi

documents in order to enhance the Yale Japanese collection. In 1934 Asakawa 

donated his huge collection to the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University.

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Throughout  this  project,  copying  projects  and  exchanges  continued  between 

Asakawa and the Historiographical Institute. Three photographic reproductions 

of historical documents included in the Yale Association of Japan Collection, were 

made for the Historiographical Institute—Tōdai-ji monjo (Documents of Tōdai-ji 

Temple), Kōfukuji kaisho-mokudai saisai hikitsuke (Miscellaneous Record of the 

Meeting Hall by the Proxy in Kōfukuji Temple), and Nishi-kamogō kenchi-chō (Book 

of Land Inspection for Western Kamo Township), compiled in 1586 and 1589.

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The production date of these reproductions was 1933, and the photographs were 

taken as rectigraphs (rekuchi gurafu), the photograph system used until the early 

1940s in the Historiographical Institute.

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 It is assumed that these documents were 

copied at the Historiographical Institute before the institute shipped the originals 

to the United States. Kuroita Katsumi (1874–1946), who had been also Asakawa’s 

colleague at the Historiographical Institute, cooperated with Asakawa in the Yale 

Association of Japan Collection project. Also the Historiographical Institute now 

has an eisha titled Kuroita Katsumi-shi shozō monjo (Documents in the Possession of 

Kuroita Katsumi), which is the copy of Nanhō-in monjo (Documents of Nanhō-

in Temple) that Kuroita possessed at that time.

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 Since the original of Nanhō-in 

monjo is now shelved in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale 

University, it is possible that Kuroita donated the original of the text to Yale As-

sociation of Japan Collection after making the eisha copy at the Historiographical 

Institute. (For the traced copy, see figure 10.)

Conclusion

This essay has described aspects of the history of copying texts in Japan by exam-

ining several typical cases in each period—medieval, Edo, and modern. In spite of 

the fact that printing technology had been available since the eighth century, the 

tradition of hand copying developed throughout the medieval period. In the Edo 

period, particularly after the eighteenth century when printing culture progressed 

rapidly, the tradition of hand copying persisted. Thus, continuing prominence of 

this tradition should be discussed not only in relation to technological develop-

ments in printing, but also in light of value placed on communicating specific 

cultural information in Japan. The copying of diary records based on exclusive 

exchange within limited groups of aristocrats may have come partly from Bud-

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copying texts in japan    147

dhist traditions (particularly in the esoteric or Zen Buddhism), where Buddhist 

teachings were handed down from the master to the disciple personally. Buddhist 

clergy were obliged to spread the teachings among many people, and in fact since 

the Song dynasty, the complete Buddhist canon was periodically published in 

China. During that time in Japan hand copying was regarded as religious practice 

and therefore the preferred method for transmitting texts. The emphasis on hand 

copies can be considered one of the distinguishing characteristics of Japanese 

culture vis-à-vis other East Asian textual traditions.

 

From  the  perspective  of  the  dissemination  of  information  in  modern 

society, the tradition of hand copying texts might be regarded as unusual and 

even limiting, but it is also true that the tradition of hand copying supported 

modern Japanese scholarship in the field of historiography in a special way. As 

is evident in the case of the Historiographical Institute, hand-copying activities 

helped Japanese scholars develop fields such as shiryō-gaku (philological study) and 

organize hand copiers, who enabled Japanese scholars to collect and research a 

large number of historical documents. These activities also definitely influenced 

Japanese studies in the United States. The Asakawa collection at Yale University 

and at the Library of Congress, composed largely of hand copies, is regarded as 

equal to collections of hand-copied texts in the largest scale libraries in Japan.

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