Discover a captivating history of the books that moved between Europe and Japan
Both Europe and Japan have a long history of books, probably exerting little influence on each other until the 15th century. However, this changed in the mid-16th century when movable-type printing was first introduced to Japan by Jesuit missionaries (though in a limited area). On this course, you will develop an understanding of the history of the book with the help of the specialists in this fascinating field. You will then be taken on a guided tour of how books from Japan and Europe travelled and promoted cultural exchanges over hundreds of years. Books are cultural artefacts that can be transported and transmitted over time and space, and this course will show you how fascinating it is to unlock history from the traces readers and book collectors left in these travelling books. By the end of this course, you will understand why the physicality of books still matters in the digital age.
In Collaboration with the British Library
This course has been jointly created by Keio University and the British Library using their extensive Japanese and European collections. Specialists from Keio University, the British Library and the Bodleian Japanese Library will offer valuable insights into how history/stories are embedded in books that travelled between Europe and Japan.
Educators: Takami Matsuda, Toru Ishikawa, Satoko Tokunaga (Faculty of Letters), Takahiro Sasaki (Institute of Oriental Classics)
Japanese-English Translation: Daichi Ishikawa (Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Foreign Languages and Liberal Arts)
Guest Speakers:
Kristian Jensen (Former Head of Collections and Curation, the British Library; Chair of the Consortium of European Research Libraries)
Karen Limper-Herz (Lead Curator, Incunabula & Sixteenth Century Printed Books, Western Heritage Collections, the British Library)
Hamish Todd (Head of East Asian Collections, the British Library)
Alessandro Bianchi (Bodleian Japanese Librarian, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)
Portal page for "Travel Books: History in Europe and Japan"
Trailer (YouTube)
*What is FutureLearn?
Founded by The Open University in 2012, FutureLearn is a leading social learning platform, enabling online learning through conversation―with over 17 million learners. Keio University is a partner of FutureLearn, and has been offering online courses since 2016. 9 courses are available online (as of May 2022).
Keio University FutureLearn page