Description

This is a rare Quran printed in Tokyo, a part of the largest printing project of the Tokyo Islamic press in 1934.

The text was based on the 1913 edition of Quran, printed in Kazan, and was partly printed from the type, imported from Istanbul. In 1929 Atatürk changed the Turkish script from the Arabic characters to Latin, and the Tatar press in Tokyo could buy the old types for a reasonable price. The press was also using the photo-reproductions for multiplying the older texts, issued in Kazan.

The Tatar community in Japan was founded after the Russian Revolution by the immigrants, fleeing the Bolsheviks through Siberia and Vladivostok, under the leadership of imam MuhammedGabdulkhay Kurbangaliev (1889-1972). In 1936, they founded the first school in Kobe, which was followed by a school in Tokyo two years later. In the same year, n 1938, the Tatars founded the first mosque in Tokyo. The Tokyo Mohammedan Press was founded in 1929. It was publishing books and a journal in Tatar language.

Japanese welcomed Tatars in their country, especially on the eve and during the war, when the Tatars sided with the Axis Powers in hope to defeat the Bolsheviks and return to their homeland.