Love Letter from Brussels
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Symbol of Friendship (Don’t miss it！) (No.42)
22/09/2016
Even in the autumn, the 150 Years Anniversary Events keep on coming, and today I would like to present 2 of them.
Precious Japanese books donated to the Library of the University of Louvain (Open for a limited time at the UCL, from September 20 until October 8!)
About 25 kilometres east of Brussels stands the old city of Leuven. There, the University of Leuven (KUL) has been founded in the year 1425 by the pope of that time which makes it the oldest existing catholic university in the world. Even today it is considered the most famous university of Belgium. The KUL also has a beautiful library with a medieval appearance, even though the building is actually a reconstruction because the old library was almost completely destroyed in both World Wars.
Less than a month after the outbreak of World War I, during the German attack on 25-26 August 1914, many precious centuries-old manuscripts were lost. After the war, the Belgian government asked for donations of books all around the world. One of the countries that donated literary works was Japan, a victorious country of World War I. In response to the request of the Belgian government, Mr. Mineichiro Adachi, stationed as a Minister in Belgium at the time and the future first ambassador of Japan in Belgium, proactively started working on this. As a result, a Book Donations Committee was founded in which all major conglomerates of the time participated and an amount of 60.000 yen (equivalent of about 1.2 billion yen today) was collected for a donation of more than 13.000 precious Japanese books. By the way, symbols of the countries that donated books were placed on the reconstructed library. For Japan, a 'Koma-inu' and a chrysanthemum crest can still be seen on the building of the university’s library.
Thereafter, during the Second World War, those books escaped from destruction because they were stored in another place. Even today, the books are kept in very good condition. However, for the particular reason in Belgium, the books are not stored at the library of the KUL. In Belgium, the official languages are Flemish (Dutch), French and German, and at present, universities are divided into Flemish-speaking universities and French-speaking universities. The KUL is not an exception to this: the French part of the KUL ended up splitting in 1968 and a new university town was built in Louvain-La-Neuve, about 30 km southeast of Brussels, where the French-speaking University of Louvain (UCL) was established.
At the time, there was a considerable discussion between the two universities about how to divide the books as well, amongst other things. It has been said that books in certain fields were divided according to even and odd shelf mark numbers. However, according to a staff member, considering the historical value of the donated works from Japan, the idea of splitting those up was immediately abandoned. After many discussions, it was decided that the French-speaking UCL would store all of them and they are now kept in the library of the UCL.
Currently Open to the Public! Don’t Miss it!
According to the university, most of the donated books date back to the Edo-Period (1603 - 1868) and some are even older, from the beginning of the Muromachi-Period (1336 - 1573). It is a magnificent collection that covers a wide range of subjects such as arts and science, culture, daily life, etcetera. I even have the feeling that, in terms of old books covering different subjects, this collection could not be outdone by other collections in Japan.
These books are usually not open to the public for safekeeping, but in celebration of the 150 Years of Friendship between Japan and Belgium, a part of the collection is exhibited from 20 September until 8 October. (Monday till Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on Sunday.) I paid a visit on the first day and even though the number of exhibited works was limited, I thought the collection was magnificent and well preserved. Do not miss this rare opportunity and please go and have a look.
On a side note, I was told that the UCL is constructing a new museum at the moment, which is planned to open next year in spring. In the event of this museum’s opening, I heard they are thinking of putting part of the Japanese books on display in a permanent exhibition. I do believe that these precious books are a symbol of the friendship between Japan and Belgium and should be seen by as many people as possible.
Julianske
One more thing to finish, on the symbol of friendship, the annual folklore festival of Brussels called “Folklorissimo” was held on 17 and 18 September and on the occasion of the 150 years anniversary, the symbol of Brussels Manneken Pis (nicknamed “Julianske”) received a new costume: the Japanese ‘Hitatare’.
During the donation ceremony on 17 September at the Brussels City Hall, in the presence of the association "The Friends of Manneken-Pis", I donated a small ‘Hitatare’ to the deputy-mayor of Brussels, while wearing a ‘Hitatare’ myself. This ‘Hitatare’ was designed by the Japanese designer Ms. Izumi Hongo, who works in Antwerp. Then, following a model of Manneken Pis vigorously spraying water just like the real one, we paraded from the City Hall all the way to Julianske, for the traditional unveiling ceremony. Once there, the group sang the “Manneken Pis song” and pictures were taken. I do believe that the many tourists had a good time.
Furthermore, for the record, with regard to all the costumes Julianske received through the years from different parts in the world, this was his 955th costume. And more than 10 of those were donated by Japan. This too, is a symbol of our great friendship.