2026-03-04
2 items held by the Institute for Research in Humanities have been newly released
The Yongle Encyclopedia, compiled by imperial order of the Ming Emperor Yongle, is one of China's largest encyclopedias, consisting of 22,877 volumes with 60 volumes of indexes. Compiled by Xie Jin and Yao Guangxiao, among others, it was completed in 1407. It includes a comprehensive collection of texts dating back to the early Ming dynasty, either part by part or in their entirety. Many of these texts are already lost, making them an extremely valuable resource for passing on their contents to future generations. When compiling the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries (Siku Quanshu), Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty extracted lost texts from the Yongle Encyclopedia and restored them. The original manuscript was lost, and most copies were destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion and other events. Currently, only approximately 400 volumes remain worldwide. The materials being released this time are volumes 665 and 666. The Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive also has other images of Yongle Encyclopedia available.
永楽⼤典 巻665-666
Bukkoku Rekishohen is a treatise on Buddhist astronomy written by Entsu, a monk of the late Edo period. In this work, Entsu attempted to systematize a theory of astronomical calendar-making that remained consistent with the worldview found in Buddhist scriptures. He criticized the Western theories of a spherical Earth and heliocentrism, which were gaining popularity in Japan at the time, and instead argued for a flat earth and the existence of Mount Meru (Sumeru), the sacred mountain at the center of the Buddhist universe. This book served as the starting point for the "Bonreki (Buddhist Calendar) Movement," which continued into the early modern era.
As of March 4th, 2026, the Kyoto University Rare Materials Digital Archive has released 25,907 titles and 2,155,881 images.