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Toyo Bunko, founded by Iwasaki Hisaya and located in Bunkyo Ward in Tokyo, is within a short walk of the Edo-era Rikugien Garden which is a famous for its weeping cherry blossoms in the Spring and beautiful maple trees in the Fall. Hisaya, who was deeply involved in the development of Japanese modern industry, also had a deep interest in culture and learning. He was not only a bibliophile. He eagerly sought the advice of scholars who assisted in building a collection of important Chinese, Japanese and Korean classic works. His collection, starting from the acquisition of the library of George Ernest Morrison also included works on Asia written in Western languages. In 1924 he founded the Toyo Bunko, opening the collection to use by the scholarly community, with the vision of encouraging scholarship on Asia. In subsequent years, others who shared his vision donated their collections to the library, making Toyo Bunko today the largest research library in Japan for Asian studies, and one of the outstanding collections in the world.

When the main building was rebuilt in 2011, Toyo Bunko added on a museum, and today it draws visitors from school children to senior citizens, introducing Asian scholarship to the world.

In 2024 Toyo Bunko is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding. The centennial celebrations offer an occasion to consider the accomplishments of the first one hundred years, and to look to the future, in which the digitization of the collection offers opportunities for greater sharing of the valuable resources and prospects for new styles of research.
We look forward to welcoming you to Toyo Bunko.

MIYANAGA Shunichi, Chairman of the Board
Toyo Bunko