March 6, 2024
The New Tateuchi East Asia Library: A Celebration of Culture, Community and Collections
Re-opening celebration of the Tateuchi East Asia Library brings campus and community partners together
Event performers included Amy Sun (far left) and Annie Yao (far right) of UW’s Traditional Chinese Dance Club; UW Taekwondo Club (middle images), UW Taiko Kai (middle right, drumming), UW Judo Club and UW Kendo Club (not pictured)
On Wednesday Feb 21, 2024, over 175 students, faculty, staff, community members and distinguished guests came together to celebrate the official grand re-opening and renovation of the Tateuchi East Asia Library.
Hyokyoung Yi, Lucy Li, Azusa Tanaka, Consul General Iyori of Japan, Daniel Chen, Director General of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), Zev Handel, Dan Asher, Consul General Seo of Korea, Simon Neame, Tricia Serio, Danny Hoffman and Sheryl Stiefel
The program was officiated by Simon Neame, Dean of UW Libraries, and guest speakers included Daniel Asher of the Atsuhiko and Ina Goodwin Tateuchi Foundation; Consul General Seo of the Republic of Korea; Consul General Iyori of Japan; Daniel Chen, Director General of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO); and–all the way from Tokyo Keio University–librarians Ms. Mutsumi Hosaka and Mr. Takashi Kuramochi. UW Provost Tricia Serio attended and shared celebratory remarks along with Danny Hoffman, Director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and Zev Handel, Chair of the Department of the Asian Language and Literature. In addition to hearing from these distinguished guests, attendees also enjoyed refreshments and live performances from seven different student interest groups, including traditional Chinese dance, martial arts and The Libraries Singers.
“This library is a vibrant hub of intellectual exchange and collaboration. It is a place where ideas are born, where minds are opened, and where friendships are forged across continents and cultures.” – Consulate General Iyori
Dan Asher of the Tateuchi Foundation and Sheryl Stiefel, Assistant Dean of University Libraries for Advancement
Daniel Asher, Administrator of the Tateuchi East Asia Foundation spoke on behalf of the Tateuchi Foundation, whose $6 million gift in 2020 provided essential funding for the renovation.
“I’m especially grateful for the outstanding attendance here today and for all the hard work that went into transforming the East Asia Library into the Tateuchi East Asia Library,” said Asher. “On behalf of the Tateuchi Foundation, I’d like to express our gratitude and for continuing to make the library a nationally-recognized resource for years to come.”
The event slideshow offered a great historical overview of the library–from its earliest days as a single collection housed in Suzzallo Library– to current day, as one of the region’s premiere East Asia libraries:
Several of the speakers noted the importance of the library as a cultural hub and connector for the East Asian community. Consul General Seo of the Republic of Korea commented on the import of the library and its extensive Korean collections.
“The Tateuchi East Asia Library is a testament to the UW’s enduring commitment to promoting cross-cultural understanding and diversity. I must commend UW’s (Tateuchi) East Asia Library, UW’s Korea Center and Jackson School of International Studies for having one of the most extensive Korean collections of history, art, and politics in North America, and it is a source of great pride of the Korean-American community here in Washington.”
Danny Hoffman, Director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and Jackson School of International Studies and Zev Handel, Chair of the Department of the Asian Language and Literature also gave high praise to the library and noted its important role at UW.
“For the faculty, students who work within East Asian studies and languages, this library is a precious jewel,” said Handel. “We deeply value the strong relationship that our department has with the libraries and we’re really looking forward to this new chapter in this wonderful space.”
Student employees greet guests: Sophomore student Yilin Liu and Senior student Victor Yin (see the new map and program Victor designed at the end of this post!)
Director Hoffman expressed his appreciation as well.
“On behalf of the Jackson School, congratulations and thank you for being an extraordinary resource on this campus,” said Hoffman. Hoffman also commented on the Libraries’ role in attracting first-rate students and federal funding.
UW graduate students, Hannah Wampler, Juan Felipe Arroyave and Intaek Hong spoke about their experience and appreciation for the library, and Youkyung Sung, a visiting librarian from the Korea Foundation, read a special poem titled Ch’uksi that she wrote to commemorate the occasion.
Image: a view of the tapestries in the original space (2020)
In his speech, Zev Handel, Chair of the Department of the Asian Language and Literature gave a brief history and explanation of the large calligraphy banners above the library’s front door, a source of wonder for many library users.
“The tapestries were created by Gasei Komai, a Japanese calligrapher who was an artist in residence in 1977, a year after the library moved to this space, and the two kanji together represent “heigei” in Japanese, “pi ni” in Mandarin, “pai ngai” in Cantonese and “pi ye” in Korean.
The dictionary definition is “to look askance at”, a kind of negative connotation, but the calligrapher intended a different meaning. The meaning he wanted to express was seeing into the very heart of a space.
Sometimes it is the indirect or the unexpected way of looking at something that reveals the truth about it. A fitting message for this library, which has for many decades, been offering all of us the chance to look at things from a new perspective.”
a view of the tapestries from February 2024
During the renovation, the panels were removed and had the opportunity to be professionally treated and cleaned by UW Libraries’ Preservation and Conservation team. Now, newly refurbished, the panels remain in their original location, but are seen in a new light amidst a more open entryway.
The Tateuchi East Asia Library underwent extensive renovations last year, starting in June, the first renovation of the space since 1976. While the library officially reopened at the end of summer quarter 2023, Libraries staff and student employees have been hard at work to prepare the space for a more formal re-opening celebration. In addition to a much more open and collaborative environment and new staff reference desk, the renovation provided many new display cases to showcase the libraries’ unique special collections.
For the event, several items from the libraries special collections were on display, including:
- a calligraphy poem about Spring done by the first prime minister of Japan, Ito Hirobumi (1841-1909)
- Late 16th to early 17th century movable type imprints (extremely rare from pre-modern Japan, they tested the movable type printing for a few decades and gave up because the amount of the letters to prepare are countless, unlike alphabets)
- 1658 Daimyo, local governors, annual registories
- a manuscript map from the late 18th century Korea that was recently digitized and professionally treated by experts in library’s preservation and conservation team
- Chinese collected works published in the Ming dynasty; its original work was created over 1,000 years ago by a Tang dynasty scholar.
Tateuchi East Asia Library staff: Hyokyoung Yi and Interim Director and Korea Studies Librarian; Azusa Tanaka, Japan Studies Librarian, Lucy Li, Interim China Studies Librarian, and Youkyung Sung, a visiting librarian from The Korea Foundation who will be working at the library through July 2024
Through the words and performances of the speakers and performers, the grand re-opening event was a great expression of the diversity of cultures and studies represented at the University and within the library itself, a resource that will continue to thrive through the dedication of its expert staff and the incredible generosity of The Tateuchi Foundation and all those who support UW Libraries.
Learn More:
- TEAL Grand Reopening Program with full list of speakers and performers
- New Map of the Library
- UW’s Tateuchi East Asian Library celebrates recent renovations, reopening
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