The National Central Library (NCL) has long been committed to collecting research materials donated by international scholars and has widely recognized for the established reputation for its sustained contributions to Taiwan Sinology studies. Through the cross-border facilitation of Academician Li Jen-Kuei of Academia Sinica, NCL and the Anthropological Institute of Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by correspondence in late March 2026. Under this agreement, the fieldwork manuscripts and related documents of Professor Naoyoshi Ogawa (1869–1947) were donated to NCL; a formal handover ceremony was jointed held on June 16, 2026, marked by a solemn yet warm atmosphere, adding another notable chapter to Taiwan–Japan cultural exchange.

According to the analysis of Academician Jen-Kuei Li, the Austronesian languages of Taiwan have preserved numerous archaic linguistic features, therefore highly likely to represent the point of origin for Austronesian dispersal. The research on Taiwan’s Austronesian languages was first established an enduring foundation during the Japanese colonial period by Professor Naoyoshi Ogawa, for which he is also honored as the “Pioneer of Taiwanese Linguistics”.

Professor Ogawa arrived in Taiwan in 1896 and conducted extensive investigations of Minnan and Hakka languages. He subsequently carried out research on various Austronesian languages and dialects. Professor Ogawa’s research career in Taiwan spanned four decades, culminating in his retirement in 1936 from Taihoku Imperial University (now National Taiwan University). During this period, he completed the Taiwan–Japanese Dictionary (published in 1931 and 1932) and, together with his disciple Megumi Asai, compiled The Myths and Traditions of the Formosan Native Tribes (Texts and Notes) (original title による臺灣高砂族傳說集, published in 1935), works that established the scholarly standing of Taiwan Austronesian linguistic studies in the international academic community.

After Professor Ogawa’s passing, the unpublished notes that remained in his office at Taihoku Imperial University were taken to Japan by Professor Megumi Asai. These materials were not discovered until 1997, at the Anthropological Institute of Nanzan University. In 1999, Academician Li and linguist Professor Shigeru Tsuchida conducted an on-site appraisal, confirming them to be Ogawa’s original research manuscripts and archival documentation. Additional materials are also preserved at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

Acting Director-General Chih-Tsung Weng of NCL stated that, to ensure the valuable collection held by the Institute of Anthropology at Nanzan University is properly preserved and brought into closer connection with the land—Taiwan—where they were collected, documented, and studied, with the assistance of Academician Li and the support of Director Moriya Watanabe, approval for the donation was ultimately secured from both the university and the institute.

In the future, these repatriated overseas cultural treasures will be organized together with NCL’s existing collections of Taiwan Austronesian linguistic materials donated by Academician Jen-Kuei Li, Professor Shigeru Tsuchida, and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. The combined resources will be made available for academic use, thereby continuing to nourish Austronesian linguistic research worldwide.