Kano Collection of old Japanese books and scrolls

April 28, 2008 4:06 AM

Tohoku University's Kano Collectionis an unparalleled collection of japanese books from the Edo period. The beautiful and grizzly Kaibou zonshinzu anatomical chart has been making the blogrounds lately but that's only one of the countless treasures the Kano Collection has to offer. Stumbling around near-blindly, like a non-Japanese reader such as myself, with only minimal help from the site, I have come across an amazing variety of beautiful objects, such as this picture book, a scroll with images of animals, city map, map of Japan, battle map, another picture book, the Kaitai shouzu anatomical chart and this picture scroll which has my favorite little scene I've come across in the collection. Whole days could be spent just surfing idly through the Kano Collection.
posted by Kattullus (9 comments total)

Wonderful!
posted by sidereal at 5:09 AM on April 28, 2008

The pictures aren't loading for me right now, anyone else having that problem? I'm pretty sure it's the work computer I'm on, but I want to be sure.

Also, damn that's an awkwardly written post... I really shouldn't post before having a cup of some caffeinated beverage, especially not after a night of minimal sleep.
posted by Kattullus at 6:10 AM on April 28, 2008

Pictures are loading fine, and damn, that's some nice stuff. Thanks for the post!
posted by languagehat at 6:38 AM on April 28, 2008

Yeah, now that I'm on a different computer everything's loading fine for me.
posted by Kattullus at 7:47 AM on April 28, 2008

It's fascinating to compare these anatomical illustrations with what was being created in the West around the same time. The brain illustrations from the Kaibou zonshinzu chart are particularly beautiful and elegant, almost decorative. Thanks for the post!
posted by Kabanos at 8:06 AM on April 28, 2008

Fabulous -- thanks!
posted by NikitaNikita at 8:29 AM on April 28, 2008

Wow. Great stuff, thanks.

P.S. Name the Nicholas Cage movie
posted by bokeh at 9:48 AM on April 28, 2008

Excellent post! I never could get past this stage.

Totally not cool that what look to be the best parts of the Scroll of Farting (放屁の巻) aren't viewable from outside the library.
posted by No-sword at 6:00 PM on April 28, 2008

Great stuff, thanks!
posted by pantufla at 9:22 AM on April 29, 2008