Asian Research Library series, 5 A catalog of the materials donated by Prof. Yanagihashi Hiroyuki to the Asian Research Library

This book is a catalog of materials donated to the Asian Research Library of the University of Tokyo by Professor Emeritus Hiroyuki Yanagihashi, a leading scholar of Islamic law in Japan.
 
The collection consists of 371 items, primarily comprising 346 works in Arabic, along with 24 items in Western languages, and one Japanese publication authored by Professor Yanagihashi himself. More than 90% of the collection focuses on Islamic studies, particularly Hadith studies (187 items) and Islamic law (153 items). The remainder spans diverse fields, including history, biography, economic history, and folklore. Notably, the collection includes more than 100 items not held by any other institution in Japan.
 
These materials complement the library’s existing holdings by providing classical works in Islamic jurisprudence and Hadith studies that were previously missing, thereby strengthening the foundation for further research. In particular, the local research materials collected by Professor Yanagihashi during his overseas fieldwork are invaluable for analyzing the evolution of Islamic legal interpretation in the Arabic-speaking world. This unique group of materials provides a cross-sectional overview of various legal schools within specific fields of Islamic law.
 
The significance of this collection extends beyond the study of the Arabic-speaking world. Historically, Arabic has served as the lingua franca of Islamic scholarship, and Islamic law has profoundly influenced legal systems and daily cultures in non-Arabic-speaking regions. Consequently, these materials also serve as vital resources for studying the broader Islamic cultural sphere, including West, Central, South, and Southeast Asia.
 
Once the donation was offered in 2021, the library decided to accept the collection because of its high academic value. Although the creation of bibliographic data for Arabic materials often poses challenges in terms of budget and specialized expertise, the process, from selection to data entry, proceeded exceptionally smoothly thanks to the cooperation of Professor Yanagihashi and Mr. Yuta Hayashi (then a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology). All materials became available for public use in June 2023. This instance serves as a rare example in which the registration of materials in Asian languages was completed swiftly and efficiently through dedicated donor efforts.
 
In Japanese university libraries, systems for processing materials in Asian languages (such as those using the Arabic script) have often reached their limits. Consequently, there is a constant risk that valuable collections, painstakingly gathered over many years, may be dispersed upon a researcher’s retirement or the conclusion of an academic project. To resolve such issues, close cooperation between researchers and libraries is essential from the very initial stages of material collection.
 
Despite limits to what a single library can achieve on its own, we remain committed to protecting precious research materials from dispersal, supporting the accumulation and development of knowledge in Asian studies, and ensuring that this intellectual heritage is passed on to the next generation.
 

(Written by KAWAHARA Yayoi, Associate Professor, The University of Tokyo Library System / 2026)