Okinawan Studies: Okinawa Special Collection / 沖縄特殊文庫

About the Okinawa Studies and Okinawa Special Collection

The resources on Okinawa/Ryukyus at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) Library have been developed with the assistance from notable scholars such as Shunzō Sakamaki, Robert Sakai, Mitsugu Sakihara, William Lebra, and Masato Matsui since 1960s.  From the very beginning, strong support from the local Okinawa community in Hawai‘i has contributed to the collection development efforts. In 2007 and 2008, a great number of materials on Okinawa/Ryukyus were donated by local Okinawa community leaders, such as Mr. Robert Nakasone and the late Mr. Takenobu Higa. These resources are being processed and added into the collection, and some are searchable via the UH Library’s Online Publicly Accessible Catalog (OPAC) called OneSearch.

History of Okinawa Studies at UHM

The Center for Okinawan Studies (COS) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa tells us the history and development of the Okinawa Studies.

The Asia Department at the UHM Library has a story of the development of its Asia Collection, including the Okinawa Collection at UHM.

Okinawa Special Collection

The UHM Okinawa Collection has several important special collections. The world-renowned Sakamaki/Hawley Collection obtained in 1964 and the Hawaii Karate Museum Collection established in 2008 are two named collections. The press translations produced by the U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR) are available on request and some materials will soon be available as PDF files.Other USCAR documents on microfilm can be found here. 

• Sakamaki/Hawley Collection 
• Hawaii Karate Collection 



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Email: asiaref@hawaii.edu 

Phone: (808) 956-8116

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