(23 Feb 2026)
- Thousands of early modern Japanese books and manuscripts from the libraries of UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco are being digitized to create a resource that will be accessible to scholars around the world.
- The digital archive, which could ultimately be the largest of its kind outside of Japan, will encompass rare materials from the early 1600s through 1868, including illustrated scrolls, books, maps and medical texts.
- The project, spearheaded by the Yanai Initiative at UCLA in collaboration with Japan’s Ritsumeikan University, is supported by a 2024 gift of $31 million from the Japanese executive and philanthropist Tadashi Yanai.
An expansive project led by UCLA’s Yanai Initiative is digitizing thousands of early modern Japanese books and manuscripts housed across the University of California system. The project, a collaboration with the Art Research Center at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, will create what could become the largest digital collection of its kind outside of Japan.
The digitized archive will provide access to rare Japanese materials from the early 1600s through 1868 — including illustrated scrolls, books, hand-copied manuscripts, lavishly illustrated maps and even medical texts.
When completed, the digitized assets will be made accessible through a user-friendly interface in English and Japanese, as part of the Japan Past & Present website, whose development also was funded by the Yanai gift. The Art Research Center, or ARC, will also make the materials available through its online ARC Research Space.
Find out more here.
