Skip to 0 minutes and 19 seconds Hi everyone, I’m Takahiro Sasaki, and I research the history of Japanese books at Keio University in Japan. I’m Satoko Tokunaga, also from Keio University, and I specialise in European book history. I’m Alessandro Bianchi from Cambridge University Libraries and Archives, and I study Japanese books in relation to the graphic arts. This course explores the history of the codex. It is a collaborative project between the British Library and Keio University with contributions from colleagues at Cambridge University.
Skip to 0 minutes and 54 seconds Moving beyond East Asia and Europe, the course offers a broader perspective on the codex across various cultures. Can you guess where we are standing now? We are here at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, in northwestern China. You may have heard of the “Dunhuang documents.” This is the very place where seventy thousands of written materials were discovered in 1900. In my research I have come to realize that although Japan adopted Chinese characters, the physical form, the binding methods and even the shape of the book are sometimes different. Yet among the Dunhuang documents produced more than a thousand years ago, we find examples whose structure and form closely resemble Japanese codices.
Skip to 1 minute and 53 seconds Where, then, do these books, preserved in Dunhuang like a time capsule, have their origins? Dunhuang was one of the key oasis towns on the Silk Road, which linked China to Central Asia as well as to regions of West Asia. As a trading hub, it was a vibrant and lively place where cultural exchanges flourished. The Dunhuang documents that have been passed down to the present include texts written in a range of languages and scripts. As physical objects, they display a variety of forms —not only scrolls and folded books, but also gatherings of leaves bound together. The codex has a history of more than two thousand years and continues to be an important companion to humanity.
Skip to 2 minutes and 41 seconds Yet its origins and forms remain full of mysteries. Join us, and let’s begin our journey.
