Iwase Bunko Library, Japanese book museum and library in Nishio, Japan.
The Iwase Bunko Library is a library and museum in Nishio, Japan, holding a large collection of rare Japanese books alongside texts from China and Korea covering history, literature, and religion. The building combines an early 20th-century brick structure with a newer extension that connects the two parts.
The institution was founded in 1908 by merchant Yasuke Iwase as a private book collection built around his passion for Japanese and East Asian literature. The original brick building survived the Great Mikawa Earthquake of 1945 and was later designated a national Important Cultural Property.
The library takes its name from its founder, Yasuke Iwase, reflecting a Japanese tradition of linking a collection closely to the person who built it. Visitors today can view handwritten manuscripts from the Muromachi period, among the rarest surviving examples of classical Japanese scholarship.
The library is within reach of nearby train stations and has parking available for visitors arriving by car. Some areas of the collection may require separate entry, so it is worth checking the conditions before your visit.
Among the holdings is a rare 19th-century volume documenting surgical procedures performed under anesthesia, one of the earliest known medical records of this kind in Japan. This document shows how advanced surgical practice had become in Japan at that time.
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