With the generous assistance of Academician Jen‑Kuei Li of Academia Sinica, the National Central Library (NCL), following its recent acquisition of Professor Naoyoshi Ogawa’s Austronesian linguistic manuscripts donated by Nanzan University, has now further obtained another significant donation. The Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA) at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies has contributed long‑held archival materials of eminent scholars, including Naoyoshi Ogawa, Megumi Asai, and Shigeru Tsuchida. This important addition constitutes a significant milestone in the systematic consolidation and advancement of Austronesian linguistic research resources in Taiwan.

The donation ceremony was held at ILCAA on June 19, jointly officiated by Director Nobuaki Kondo and Acting Director‑General Weng Chih‑Tsung of NCL. Distinguished guests, including Deputy Representative Chou Hsueh‑Yu of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan and Director Huang Sheng‑Ming of the Education Division, were also in attendance to witness the proceedings, while Academician Li Jen‑Kuei was present in person to bear witness to this significant historic occasion.

In his remarks, Acting Director‑General Weng noted that since 2011, NCL has actively endeavored to solicit donations of research materials from international scholars, with the aim of ensuring the continuity of academic heritage across generations both domestically and abroad. This collaboration between the National Central Library and ILCAA originated during the tenure of Director-General Tseng Shu-Hsien in 2022, when Academician Li Jen-Kuei generously donated his personal fieldwork notes, and subsequently facilitated the donation by Professor Shigeru Tsuchida in the following year. Upon assuming office, Director‑General Wang Han‑Ching, continued to engage with Director Nobuaki Kondo of ILCAA and Professor Asako Shiohara, a disciple of Professor Tsuchida. Ultimately, on March 24 this year, both parties jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding, thus culminating in the fruition through concerted efforts.

Director Kondo further stated that the materials on Taiwan’s Indigenous languages and cultures investigated by Professor Ogawa and his student Professor Asai in the early twentieth century hold immense significance in returning to the land where they were originally gathered, documented, and studied. Referred to at ILCAA as the “Asai–Ogawa Collection,” these primary source materials have, since fiscal year 2000, undergone systematic classification and organization by numerous scholars. The research have now been fully repatriated to Taiwan, where they will be properly preserved and studied by the National Central Library, thereby enabling them to realize their broader academic potential.

The types and quantities of donated collection are both extensive and diverse,  encompassing records related to the languages and cultures of Taiwan Indigenous peoples as well as those of the highly endangered “Plains Indigenous” groups.  The collection comprises approximately 400 survey notebooks and comparative vocabulary tables; around 100 land contracts from the 17th to 19th centuries known as the “Sinkang Manuscripts”(including five exceptionally rare original Siraya texts, meticulously transcribed copies, and Professor Ogawa’s own translated manuscripts); more than one thousand photographs, albums, negatives, and lantern slides vividly documenting the daily life and rituals of Indigenous communities; 40 vinyl records (including Indigenous songs recorded by Professor Asai); more than 22,000 lexical cards; scholarly correspondence; and Indigenous tribal survey records and household registers. All of these constitute invaluable primary historical sources.

The National Central Library will make this valuable collection accessible in accordance with the cooperation agreement. Through the professional preservation of the original materials and their digital dissemination, they will be made available to researchers both domestically and internationally, thereby continuing the spirit and legacy of earlier scholars, further advancing the global field of Austronesian linguistics, and contributing to academic research.

Group photo of scholars and guests at ceremony, Director Nobuaki Kondo (second from left), Deputy Representative Hsueh-Yu Chou (fourth from left), Academician Jen-Kuei Li (center), Acting Director-General Chih-Tsung Weng (fourth from right)

To further highlight the historical contributions of Japanese scholars in pioneering linguistic research on Taiwan, NCL also organized an academic symposium on the same day (June 19), titled “Japan’s Contributions to Taiwan: Perspectives from Austronesian Linguistics.” Academician Li Jen‑Kuei delivered a keynote lecture as part of the “Taiwan Sinology Lectures” series, presenting on the topic “Early Japanese Linguistic Contributions to Taiwan”. The event fostered vibrant scholarly exchange among scholars from Taiwan and Japan.