The Institut des hautes études japonaises (IHEJ), which became the Centre d'études japonaises in 2022, was founded in 1959 at what was then the University of Paris (Sorbonne) by Charles Haguenauer (1896-1976), the father of French Japonology, to provide a documentation center for the growing number of researchers devoted to the study of Japan. Attached to the Collège de France since 1973, the IHEJ has been enriched by major holdings bequeathed by Ch. Haguenauer himself, as well as other scholars such as the great jurist and historian Frédéric Joüon des Longrais (1892-1975). Initially transferred to the Maison de l'Asie (22, av. du Président Wilson, Paris XVIe), it moved to its present location in the early 1990's, where it reopened to the public after several years of renovation.
Most of the collection is devoted to premodern Japan, although a significant part also concerns the literature and history of the Meiji, Taishô and Shôwa periods. The collection is particularly rich in classical literature, history, the history of science, religion (Buddhism and Shinto) and linguistics. With almost 50 000 volumes, the library, which is the raison d'être of the Center for Japanese Studies, is one of the richest in its field outside Japan.
This eminent position has led to remarkable donations and deposits of documentary collections. These include the collection of Japanese religious imagery, the ofuda bequeathed by Bernard Frank, the first holder of the Chair of Japanese Studies at the Collège de France, the Kreitmann collection, collected by a French officer who instructed the Japanese army from 1876 to 1878, and the Mitsui collection, the only economic and commercial documentation from a Japanese establishment active from the 17th to 18th centuries . The latest addition is the religious collection donated by an American researcher, Mr. James Kemp, which is currently being catalogued.
The Center oversees the activities of the Japanese Studies Library, maintains a publications program in the " Bibliothèque de l'Institut des hautes études japonaises " collection, and carries out ongoing academic activities with Japanese institutions, notably the National Institute of Japanese Literature (Kokubungaku kenkyû shiryôkan). The director is assisted by a scientific board comprising between ten and twelve members active in Japanese and Asian studies.
Permanent members :
- Kaoru Baba (IE CNRS)
- Nathalie Cazal (IE Collège de France)
Director :
- Jean-Noël Robert, Professor Emeritus, Collège de France
Illustration : excerpt from the Hie Sannô matsuri scroll (Hie Shrine Festival), circa 17th century . Kreitmann Collection, Institut des hautes études japonaises, Collège de France.
