The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, which reduced a number of important libraries and several invaluable collections to ashes, made Chobei Takeda V decide to collect and preserve ancient Chinese and Japanese books on materia medica and related subjects for the benefit of future generations. He collected as many ancient medical writings as he could find, and his personal collection came to be known as Kyo-U Sho-Oku. After his death, his son, Chobei Takeda VI, followed in his father's footsteps and continued to add to the collection. The majority of the Kyo-U Sho-Oku was contributed to the Takeda Science Foundation in 1977, and on April 28, 1978, the Kyo-U Library was established with the aim of preserving valuable resources in Asian medicine and related disciplines. The library is open to the general public, and special exhibitions are held every year in the spring and fall.
