About the Images (Tiger Story)

The images on the right side of the East Asia Library home page illustrate the beginning of a heroic story in which a young man fights a tiger threatening his life. This "tiger story" was well known in East Asia. The illustrations were taken from an Edo-period Japanese book Suiko Gaden (水滸畫傳), authored by Tanekiyo Ryusuitei with illustrations by Hokkei Totoya. The story first originated from a Chinese fiction Shui hu zhuan and was also popular in Korea. So, these images were chosen to highlight the shared tradition of East Asian cultures.

Furthermore, how this copy of Suiko Gaden came into the Yale collection demonstrates the historical connections of Yale and its library with East Asia. The bookplate shows this book was a gift from Addison Van Name (1835-1922), a librarian and linguist. Addison Van Name graduated from Yale College in 1858 and was the librarian of Yale for 40 years (1865-1905). According to the Dictionary of American Biography, Mr. Van Name helped build up the Yale collection of Asian literature during his tenure and gave his own books from East Asia to the library in 1920.