テーマ別セレクション (Thematic Selections)
- Title
- テーマ別セレクション (Thematic Selections)
- Description
- ja 図書館員がテーマ別にセレクトした資料をご確認いただけます。
- en You can browse items selected by librarians based on themes.
Special Exhibition 2025 "Grief and Laughter in Disasters―Japanese Memories and the Heart―"
For centuries, people in Japan have lived with a range of disasters—earthquakes, floods, fires, and more. At times they were plunged into deep sorrow; at others they sought to overcome hardship with humor and satire. This exhibition introduces the thoughts and ingenuity of people in response to disasters, as well as the emotional interplay of 'grief' and 'laughter,' through Edo-period disaster records and materials such as namazu-e (catfish prints).
These are hand-copied illustrated manuscripts produced from the late Muromachi through the early Edo period. Their illustrations employ vivid colors such as vermilion and green, enriched with gold and silver leaf and metallic pigments. Common subjects include otogizōshi tales and works of classical literature. Our library’s ”住吉物語絵巻” presents the Sumiyoshi Monogatari in handscroll format and is a rare early example.
"Great Confucian Masters and Sages" is a set of portraits of Confucian scholars painted by Kanō Sansetsu in 1632 (Kan’ei 9). The six hanging scrolls held by the University of Tsukuba—Zhu Xi, Shao Kang-jie, Cheng I-chuan, Cheng Ming-tao, Chou Lien-chi, and Chang Heng-chu—were used for the Confucius memorial ceremony (Sekiten) at Yushima Seidō. Restoration work was carried out from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2021, and you can view images before and after the restoration.
You can view Byobu-e (folding screen paintings) such as "野外奏楽・猿曳図" by Kano Tanyu, a brilliant painter who helped set the tone of Edo-period Japanese painting; "李白観瀑・剡渓訪戴図" by his younger brother, Kano Naonobu; and "架鷹図" by Tamura Chokuo, an artist said to have been a pupil of Soga Chokuan. For the works by Tanyu and Chokuo, you can also view images before and after the restoration..
You can view images of stras (buddist scriptures) held by our library, beginning with our oldest manuscript (copied in 734) — "大智度論" bearing the black seal of "石山寺一切経"—along with other scriptural materials in our collection.
Namazu-e are nishiki-e that attribute earthquakes to a giant catfish dwelling underground and depict deities and people punishing it; they were published in the aftermath of the Ansei Edo earthquake (1855). You can view 23 namazu-e from our library’s collection.