Course: Japanese Culture Through Rare Books

Although most literary works made between the late-Heian and Muromachi periods were bound in the tetsuyōsō (multisection) style, there was some variation in shape and size. How many different sizes …

The way the title is positioned in traditional Japanese books is rather distinctive. First, read the following article, and then, watch Prof. Sasaki explaining in more details by showing you …

Although the scroll is the most prestigious binding style, not all were bound as scroll. How did people choose the binding styles ? Is there any rules ? We discussed …

In this week, we will take a closer look at the relationship between binding style and content, as well as the practice of rebinding and reformatting. Then we will explore …

The name Nara ehon (Nara picture books) is usually given to handwritten illustrated books produced between the late-Muromachi and early-Edo periods. Learn about the different types of binding, size, and …

The second half of the 17th century saw the appearance of illustrated books also began to be made in the more prestigious tetsuyōsō format. They stand out for their beauty …

Starting from the 16th century, it became common to insert illustrations in book-style formats. All illustrated books were in the so-called “pouch” binding (fukurotoji). First, read the following article, and …

The illustrated books were tremendously popular in pre-modern Japan as they are now. We can trace back their origin to 8th century. In this step, Prof. Sasaki introduces “emaki” (illustrated …

Now let us look at the case of fictional tales (monogatari). The overwhelming majority of them were bound in mutsuhan-bon (sixth) format. Let us examine a few items in Keio …

Looking at the kinds of texts that were bound as tetsuyōsō, we notice patterns in how the two main sizes (yotsuhan and mutsuhan) were used. We have already noted that …

Watch Prof. Sasaki explain the basic method to change the format of books. He will introduce some elaborate processes that require a lot of effort, such as kansusō (scroll) to …

There are three other commonly used types of conversion, i.e. tetsuyōsō to scroll, fukurotoji to scroll and fukurotoji to tetsuyōsō. In this step, read about these three cases in the …

Here is the second major type of conversion. Accordion-type book to scroll Procedure: The cover is removed and the book is stretched open. The roller is applied at the end …