We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Shahon Mokuroku 写本目録/Manuscripts (Bibliographic) Database, which includes over 3,400 bibliographic records for Japanese handwritten manuscripts held by the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley. This database is now available through the Library's Japanese Special Collections portal, provided by the Art Research Center (ARC), Ritsumeikan University.

For the convenience of users, the same bibliographic records have also been added to the Kotenseki 古典籍/Old and Rare Books database within the same portal. UC Berkeley's Japanese Manuscripts Collection comprises approximately 7,800 volumes and 4,200 single sheets, dating from the 14th to the 20th century, and was originally part of the Mitsui Bunko collection.

Japanese Special Collections at the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley
https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/lib/vm/UCB/A0/

As most of these volumes have not yet been cataloged in OCLC WorldCat, scholars interested in this collection previously needed to consult three separate title lists provided by the National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL): 「カリフォルニア大学バークレー校旧三井文庫写本目録稿」,「カリフォルニア大学バークレー校旧三井文庫写本目録稿追加」, and 「カリフォルニア大学バークレー校旧三井文庫御会関係資料細目稿」. Now, an additional tool is offered to facilitate the discovery of items of interest, with each record providing much more detailed information, including titles and creator names in romanization, as well as Naikaku Bunko classification terminology. To browse these titles in the Kotenseki 古典籍/Old and Rare Books database, please enter "ms" in the "object no." or "資料番号" box and click the "search" button.

The bibliographic information for these records was collected through careful examination of each manuscript by many researchers who participated in an extensive research project led by Prof. Motoi Katsumata of Meisei University, with generous funding from the Mitsubishi Foundation (2015), Meisei University (2016), KAKEN grants (2017-2021), and the International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC), Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University (2023). Frequent participants in the onsite visits to the library over the years included Prof. Takahiro Sasaki of Shidō Bunko, Keiō University, and Prof. Atsushi Satō of Nihon University.

Prof. Katsumata received an honorable mention from NCC's Comprehensive Digitization and Discoverability Program Award in 2021 for his video presentation, "Connecting Books through Stamps." His project of examining seals stamped on these manuscripts has been completed, and the transcribed seal texts are now searchable in these databases (please use the "用語/other term" box for searching).

The integration of the bibliographic data for the Japanese Manuscripts Collection into the "Old and Rare Books" database has been realized through a long-standing collaboration between Prof. Motoi Katsumata (Meisei University), Toshie Marra (University of California, Berkeley), and Prof. Ryo Akama (Ritsumeikan University/Director of the ARC).