National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 70 | August 2004


Asian Collections: Recent Acquisitions from Japan

The Library has recently added some significant new print holdings to its Japanese collection.

Mr Asakawa (Embassy of Japan), Jan Fullerton, Mayumi Shinozaki, Mr Kodera, (Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Japan)

Left to right: Mr Asakawa (Embassy of Japan),
Jan Fullerton, Mayumi Shinozaki (Asian Collections),
Mr Kodera (Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of
Japan)
Pictures Collection, nla.int-nl39304-gp1-v

One of these is a magnificent and scrupulously produced facsimile, in four hand-scroll volumes, of the Tale of Genji.  This work was written in old Japanese in the eleventh century by a  noblewoman, Murasaki Shikibu, and is generally considered to be the world's first ‘novel’: that is, sustained imaginary prose writing. The original text was published in the early 12th century. This limited edition is of the oldest extant 12th century original and was produced by Maruzen in Japan in 1993.

The Tale of Genji was translated into English by Arthur Waley (1935), Edward Seidensticker (1976) and most recently, by Professor Royall Tyler (2001), Emeritus Professor of Japanese, Australian National University.  The Library holds all three versions but up to now has not possessed a version of the original text.  Two copies of the Genji monogatari, from the 17th and 19th centuries, were featured in the Treasures from the World's Great Libraries exhibition.

The Library was also pleased to receive a very welcome book donation from the Embassy of Japan. On 22 March the Director-General, Jan Fullerton, met with Mr Jiro Kodera, Deputy Head of Mission at the Japanese Embassy, and his colleague Mr Asakawa. The occasion was the presentation of 15 recently published books on Japanese politics, the economy and the arts. None were held by the Library and are a welcome addition to the Japanese collection.
— Amelia McKenzie, Director, Asian Collections

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