Commentary on the Book of Li, Volume 59

A Window into Lost Chinese Scholarship

The Liji (礼記, Raiki in Japanese, or "Book of Rites") is one of the Five Classics of Confucianism, a compilation of ancient ritual and ethical writings that shaped East Asian civilization for two thousand years. During China's Southern and Northern Dynasties period (5th–6th centuries), scholars produced detailed sub-commentaries on such classics, known as yishu (義疏 or 疏義, gisho in Japanese). These were the cutting-edge academic works of their era — meticulous line-by-line explanations of classical texts.

The Raiki Shihon Sogi was compiled primarily by the scholar Huang Kan (皇侃, 488–545), with annotations added by his disciple Zheng Zhuo (鄭灼, 514–581). It once spanned one hundred volumes. In China, however, the entire work perished. Not a single volume survives on Chinese soil. The sole fragment known to exist anywhere in the world is this Volume 59, held at Waseda University. It preserves part of a chapter called "Sangfu Xiaoji" (喪服小記), which deals with the ritual rules of mourning attire.

Why This Scroll Became a National Treasure

The designation rests on several converging reasons, each remarkable in its own right.

Unique survival. The scroll is the only known physical witness to a body of Chinese classical scholarship that has otherwise been entirely lost. Surviving yishu works from the Southern and Northern Dynasties are exceedingly few — scholars count perhaps only a handful of examples worldwide. This makes the scroll an irreplaceable primary source for the study of early Chinese exegetical tradition.

Direct influence on later classics. The authoritative Tang-dynasty commentary on the Liji, the Liji Zhengyi (礼記正義) — part of the state-sanctioned Five Classics Correct Meanings — is believed to have been built upon the Raiki Shihon Sogi. In other words, this scroll represents an intellectual wellspring whose waters flowed into every subsequent reading of the Book of Rites across East Asia.

Imperial provenance. At the end of the scroll appears a red seal reading "Naika Shiin" (内家私印, "private seal of the inner household"). This is traditionally identified as the personal library seal of Empress Kōmyō (光明皇后, 701–760), consort of Emperor Shōmu and one of the most culturally influential women of Japan's Nara period. If the identification is correct, the scroll was once held in her personal collection — a direct material link to the imperial court of 8th-century Nara.

A Tang-dynasty manuscript. The scroll itself is a hand-copied manuscript produced during China's Tang dynasty (618–907). Tang-era manuscripts of any kind are museum-grade treasures; a Tang manuscript of a lost text that also bears an ancient Japanese imperial seal is essentially unique.

A Thousand-Year Journey

The scroll's passage through history reads like an adventure across dynasties. The full work was already in Japan by the Nara period — the 9th-century catalogue Nihon-koku Genzai Shomokuroku (日本国見在書目録), compiled by the courtier-scholar Fujiwara no Sukeyo around 891, lists "Liji Zibenshuyi, 100 volumes." After that, the work vanishes from the Japanese record for nearly a thousand years.

Volume 59 resurfaced only at the close of the 19th century. In 1890, the Meiji-era statesman Tanaka Mitsuaki (田中光顕) purchased the scroll from the scholar Shimada Banne. In 1904, Shimada Kan introduced the scroll to the academic world in his book Kobun Kyūsho-kō. The following year, in 1905, Tanaka donated the scroll to Waseda University Library, reportedly after a personal appeal from the university's first library director, Ichishima Shunjō.

Word quickly spread internationally. In 1909 the eminent Chinese scholar Luo Zhenyu (羅振玉) visited Waseda to examine the scroll, and later produced a high-quality lithographic facsimile that circulated widely among Chinese and Japanese scholars. The scroll received National Treasure designation in 1931 under the pre-war cultural property law, and was redesignated a National Treasure under the postwar framework on November 22, 1952.

Highlights for the Visitor

For the traveler, the chance to see the scroll in person is precious — it is not on permanent display, and its fragile paper requires strict limitations on light exposure. However, Waseda University offers several ways to experience this extraordinary heritage.

The Aizu Yaichi Memorial Museum, located in Building 2 of the Waseda Campus, occasionally features the scroll in special exhibitions. The museum itself is free to enter and houses more than twenty thousand works across East Asian art, modern Japanese art, and archaeology — a rewarding visit in its own right.

The Kotenseki Sōgō Database (古典籍総合データベース), Waseda's online archive, publishes full high-resolution images of the entire scroll. Visitors can examine every brushstroke, every taboo-character substitution, and the famous "Naika Shiin" seal at leisure. For scholars and curious travelers alike, it is a remarkable way to engage with a National Treasure before or after the journey to Tokyo.

The Waseda Campus itself, which the scroll has called home for over a century, is an atmospheric place. The late-Meiji architecture of the Ōkuma Auditorium and the serene Ōkuma Garden provide a beautiful setting for contemplating the long reach of Japan's engagement with Chinese classical learning.

Surrounding Attractions

The scroll's home, the Waseda Campus, sits in a historic corner of Tokyo full of literary and cultural associations. A short walk east leads to Kagurazaka, a district of narrow cobblestone lanes, traditional restaurants, and small shrines that preserves something of the feel of old Edo. To the south lies the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, a vast park combining Japanese, English, and French garden traditions.

For visitors drawn to the scroll's theme of classical scholarship, a short subway ride to Yushima Seidō — the Confucian temple established in the 17th century as the center of Edo-period Neo-Confucian learning — offers a powerful continuation of the story. Nearby stands Kanda Myōjin, one of Tokyo's most famous shrines, with more than 1,200 years of history.