ARC-iJAC Activities

The 140th International ARC Seminar will be held as a webinar on Wednesday, November 27, from 18:00 JST.

The program is as follows:

Speaker: Eiji ARAKAKI (City History Editorial Team, Cultural Division, Nanjo City Board of Education)

Topic: 沖縄県南城市におけるデジタルアーカイブ事業 (The Digital Archiving Project in Nanjo City, Okinawa)

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Date: Wednesday, November 27, 18:00 - 19:30 JST

Participation: online via Zoom, free of charge (affiliated parties only, no reservation required)

*This webinar is open to everyone, and non-ARC members are invited to participate via YouTube.

The Ritsumeikan University Saturday Seminar Series will be planned by the Art Research Center (ARC), Ritsumeikan University, in the month of November 2024.

3416th Session (Planning: Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University)

Date: November 16 (Sat), 2024, 10:00-11:30 JST
Venue: Suekawa Memorial Hall, Kinugasa Campus, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto (online streaming available via ZOOM)

Topic: 仮想空間における文化交流とデジタルアーカイブの活用例 (held in Japanese)

Speaker: Yuzu MINASE (Representative Director, Plepla General Incorporated Association)

Participation is free of charge. Advance registration is required.
　＞＞Register here.

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　＞＞Website of the Ritsumeikan University Saturday Seminar Series

The Ritsumeikan University Saturday Seminar Series will be planned by the Art Research Center (ARC), Ritsumeikan University, in the month of November 2024.

3415th Session (Planning: Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University)

Date: November 2 (Sat), 2024, 10:00-11:30 JST
Venue: Suekawa Memorial Hall, Kinugasa Campus, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto (online streaming available via ZOOM)

Topic: VR・メタバースによる現実空間の3D保存と教育利用 (held in Japanese)

Speaker: Hiroyuki YAMAUCHI (Associate Research Professor, Kinugasa Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University)

Participation is free of charge. Advance registration is required.
　＞＞Register here.

Abstract:
　近年、ヘッドマウントディスプレイで体験するVirtual Reality（VR）のコンテンツが社会に普及しつつある。これに、写真測量などで取得した三次元地理情報を組み合わせれば、仮想空間に現実空間を再現でき、実際にその場にいるような雰囲気で散策しながら対象物を観察する擬似体験ができる。さらに、オンラインのメタバースプラットフォームを活用すれば、自作の仮想空間に他者を招いて交流できる。このような特徴から、様々な分野でこの種のVRの教育利用が期待されている。なかでも、実際の場所や事象を対象とする地理教育での有用性は高い。ヘッドマウントディスプレイで体験するVRの地理教材があれば、地理学が伝統的に重視してきた現地での「地理的な見方・考え方」の教育を、距離、費用、社会的制約を超えて教室内で再現できる。さらに仮想空間の特性を活かせば、事象の観察時に崖から飛び降りたり、空を飛んだりするような現実では不可能な自由度の高い学習行動も可能となる。本講演では、自然環境、地誌、災害、文化資源などを実際にVR教材にした事例や、それを用いた教育の実践例と効果について紹介する。

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　＞＞Website of the Ritsumeikan University Saturday Seminar Series

Co-hosted with the College of Letters, Ritsumeikan University, the 139th International ARC Seminar will be held as a webinar on Wednesday, October 23, from 18:00 JST.

The program is as follows:

Speaker: Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko of Mikasa (Professor, Institute of Japanese Culture, Kyoto Sangyo University; Visiting Professor, Ritsumeikan University)

Topic: 王室と皇室のものがたり―日英交流の軌跡－(A Tale of the Royal and Imperial Households: The Trajectory of UK-Japan Relations)

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Date: Wednesday, October 23, 18:00 - 19:30 JST

Participation: Those concerned will be informed separately by e-mail.

The 138th International ARC Seminar will be held as a webinar on Wednesday, October 2, from 18:00 JST.

The program is as follows:

Speaker: Lani ALDEN (PhD candidate, Japanese Studies, University of California, Berkeley)

Topic: New Approaches to Digital Humanities: Large-Language Models and Large-Scale Tokenized Personal/Public Databases of Primarily Japanese Sources

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Date: Wednesday, October 2, 18:00 - 19:30 JST

Participation: online via Zoom, free of charge (affiliated parties only, no reservation required)

*This is a closed event and YouTube livestream is not available.

On September 10 and 11, 2024, the British Museum and the International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC), Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University, hosted a symposium at SOAS University of London as part of the 3-year international joint research project 'Creative Collaborations: Salons and Networks in Kyoto and Osaka 1780-1880 (上方文化サロン：人的ネットワークから解き明かす文化創造空間 1780-1880),' supported by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

The research project, led by the Principal Investigators (PI) Prof. Ryo Akama (Director of the ARC/College of Letters, Ritsumeikan University) and Dr. Akiko Yano (Curator, Department of Asia, British Museum), aims to investigate the cultural and social impact of art and literary salons and the collective creation of art (gassaku) in early modern Japan, particularly in the Kyoto-Osaka region circa 1780-1880 by analysing over 5,000 objects in collections at the British Museum and in Japan.

During the course of this project, these works have been digitally archived and their textual inscriptions transcribed into an extensive online research database--the 'Kamigata Bunkajin Sogo Database' (「上方文化人総合データベース」)--established and operated by the ARC, providing a new portal for research on early modern Japanese culture with the possibility of incorporating other collections on different themes in the future.

<ARC Virtual Institute: Salons and Networks in Kyoto and Osaka>

The symposium was held in Japanese and English, and open to the public.

The book of abstracts of all the speakers' presentations is available for download →here.

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Program
Presentations marked with (※) were held in Japanese.

	Day 1: September 10, 2024
9:00-9:10	Greetings Akiko Yano (British Museum)
9:10-11:00	Session 1: Poetry (haiku) circles and artists
	Speaker 1 Scott Johnson (Professor Emeritus, Kansai University): Notes on "A Haiku Journey to Osaka"
	Speaker 2 Yokoya Ken'ichiro (Otsu City Museum of History): 中嶋来章と俳諧摺物―義仲寺をめぐる絵師と俳壇 (※)
	Speaker 3 Ida Taro (Professor, Kindai University):『花月帖』から見える東西のサロンの交流 (※)
	Speaker 4 Sugimoto Yoshihisa (Professor, Tohoku University): 渡辺南岳と中村芳中の江戸行―俳諧と絵画の交流 (※)
	Discussant: Alfred Haft (British Museum)
11:05-12:55	Session 2: Osaka, a centre of literati culture
	Speaker 1 Nakatani Nobuo (Professor Emeritus, Kansai University; online): Kimura Kenkadō and his fellow artists
	Speaker 2 Tsukuda Ikki (Issa-an tea master; online): 煎茶サロンの仕掛け・語らいを生む絵画 (※)
	Speaker 3 Paul Berry (Professor Emeritus, Kansai University of Foreign Studies): Nature of literati world in Osaka
	Speaker 4 Akeo Keizo (Professor, Osaka University of Commerce): 文化サロンとしての蔵屋敷 (※)
	Discussant: Andrew Gerstle (Professor Emeritus, SOAS University of London)
13:00-14:00	Break
14:00-14:50	Session 3: Independent paper
	Akama Ryō (Professor, Ritsumeikan University): 幕末明治の京都・大阪における文化サロン人物ネットワークのデータアーカイブと分析システム (※) Commentator: Matsuba Ryoko (Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures)
14:50-15:10	Break
15:10-17:00	Session 4: Literary and artistic circles: publications, popularisation and commercial aspects
	Speaker 1 Xiangming Chen (PhD student, University of Oxford): Guide to literati: Kenkadō, Osaka publishing and reception of Qing art
	Speaker 2 John Carpenter (Metropolitan Museum of Art): Collaborative paintings with poetry inscriptions as records of Kyoto salon culture
	Speaker 3 Yamamoto Yoshitaka (National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL)): Court nobles among renowned masters and friends: The imperial court and albums of calligraphy and painting in the early 19th-century Kyoto-Osaka region
	Speaker 4 Jingyi Li (Assistant Professor, Occidental College in Los Angeles; online): Commercialized gatherings and commodified literati in 19th-century shogakai
	Discussant: Ellis Tinios (Professor Emeritus, University of Leeds)
	Day 2: September 11, 2024
9:30-11:20	Session 5: Connections and networks via art
	Speaker 1 Iwasa Shin'ichi (Osaka Museum of History): 江戸時代後期の京坂と近隣地域における合作書画の諸相について－制作背景と揮毫者を中心に－(※)
	Speaker 2 Yamamoto Yukari (Wako University): 春画とサロン―長崎来舶清人との関係を中心に (※)
	Speaker 3 Hirai Yoshinobu (The National Museum of Modern Art (MOMAK)): 京・大坂における長崎派風の伝播の諸相 (※)
	Speaker 4 Timothy Clark (Honorary Research Fellow, British Museum): Maruyama-Shijō art at the British Museum
	Discussant: Rosina Buckland (British Museum)
11:20-12:00	General discussion

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Symposium 'Creative Collaborations in Kyoto, Osaka and Beyond, 1770-1900'
Date: September 10, 9:00-17:00 & September 11, 9:30-12:00 (BST)
Venue: RG01, SOAS University of London
Organizer (UK): British Museum
Organizer (Japan): International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC), Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University

Header image credit: Tanida Sukenaga (artist, 1748-1825) and six haiku poets, Six poets (imitating the theme of 'Six Immortal Poets'). Surimono, colour woodblock print, 1808. British Museum, 1987,0729,0.2. 

This course will be held online, using the ARC's AI Kuzushiji Transcription Support System and databases of early Japanese books, ukiyo-e, and old documents. Users can practice reading kuzushiji anytime, anywhere, and at their own pace. Japanese Studies researchers who wish to learn to decipher kuzushiji are encouraged to apply, whether they are based in Japan or overseas.

The key features of this course include:

1. Receiving corrections and guidance for your transcriptions from expert tutors

2. The usage of the ARC's AI system to suggest correct transcriptions

3. The ability to select works from the ARC's extensive online databases on which to practice one's skills

4. The ability to upload and work with materials not already in the ARC databases

Differing from one-off courses or systems designed simply for transcription itself, the ARC Transcription System and Training Course is designed to allow researchers to practice their skills and develop their abilities at their own pace, working with the materials they choose.

We welcome applications from beginners as well as intermediate-level participants.

The miwo system, which uses OCR to transcribe text one full page at a time, is also integrated into the ARC system. Transcription projects can be advanced quickly by using the ARC's system to review and correct transcriptions produced by miwo.
Researchers engaged in projects transcribing a particular set of materials, whether working individually or as a research group, are also encouraged to apply.

Participation is free of charge. This training course is supported by the Consortium for Global Japanese Studies FY 2024.

If you would like to apply to participate, please submit the form linked below.
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Registration Form

Application deadline: Friday, Oct 4, 2024 (12pm Japan Standard Time)

Course Details:

Dates: Oct 14, 2024 - March 15, 2025

Course will be conducted in Japanese. (Japanese language ability is required for learning to transcribe Japanese paleographic texts.)

Modes of participation:

1. Researchers from beginner to intermediate level seeking to decipher works written in kuzushiji. (Participants will receive guidance and corrections from expert tutors; max. 25 participants)

2. Individuals or research groups seeking to use the miwo and ARC transcription support systems to advance their own transcription projects. (Guidance or corrections from expert tutors is not provided.)

We request those looking to only transcribe small sections for the purposes of inserting quotations into a doctoral dissertation or other academic papers to please refrain from applying.

Course Schedule:

Oct 14 (tentative): Participants will be informed of acceptance into the program.

Oct 17 (20:00 JST), Oct 18 (9:00 JST): Overview and introduction to the course and transcription systems (held online; live-streaming at those times, or on-demand afterward)

Nov / Dec : Lectures on early Japanese books (some lectures in English, some in Japanese), and training sessions for the transcription systems (held in Japanese)

Late Mar: Closing meeting.

For questions, please contact:

Office of the International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC)
Art Research Center (ARC), Ritsumeikan University
E-mail: r-darc@st.ritsumei.ac.jp
Tel.: +81 75-465-8476

We are pleased to announce that a symposium will be held as part of the international joint research project 'Creative Collaborations: Salons and Networks in Kyoto and Osaka 1780-1880 (上方文化サロン：人的ネットワークから解き明かす文化創造空間 1780-1880),' supported by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

Date: September 10, 9:00-17:00 & September 11, 9:30-12:00 (BST)
Venue: RG01, SOAS University of London
Organizer (UK): British Museum
Organizer (Japan): International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC), Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University

This symposium is open to the public and will be held both online and in person. It will be held in Japanese and English. Interpretation will be available during the Q&A session.

Registration: Please contact Sophie Gong at (YGong@britishmuseum.org).

Program (tentative)
Presentations marked with (※) are held in Japanese.

	Day 1: September 10, 2024
9:00-9:10	Greetings Akiko Yano (British Museum)
9:10-11:00	Session 1: Poetry (haiku) circles and artists
	Speaker 1 Scott Johnson (Professor Emeritus, Kansai University): Notes on "A Haiku Journey to Osaka"
	Speaker 2 Yokoya Ken'ichiro (Otsu City Museum of History): 中嶋来章と俳諧摺物―義仲寺をめぐる絵師と俳壇 (※)
	Speaker 3 Ida Taro (Professor, Kindai University):『花月帖』から見える東西のサロンの交流 (※)
	Speaker 4 Sugimoto Yoshihisa (Professor, Tohoku University): 渡辺南岳と中村芳中の江戸行―俳諧と絵画の交流 (※)
	Discussant: Alfred Haft (British Museum)
11:05-12:55	Session 2: Osaka, a centre of literati culture
	Speaker 1 Nakatani Nobuo (Professor Emeritus, Kansai University; online): Kimura Kenkadō and his fellow artists
	Speaker 2 Tsukuda Ikki (Issa-an tea master; online): 煎茶サロンの仕掛け・語らいを生む絵画 (※)
	Speaker 3 Paul Berry (Professor Emeritus, Kansai University of Foreign Studies): Nature of literati world in Osaka
	Speaker 4 Akeo Keizo (Professor, Osaka University of Commerce): 文化サロンとしての蔵屋敷 (※)
	Discussant: Andrew Gerstle (Professor Emeritus, SOAS University of London)
13:00-14:00	Break
14:00-14:50	Session 3: Independent paper
	Akama Ryō (Professor, Ritsumeikan University): 幕末明治の京都・大阪における文化サロン人物ネットワークのデータアーカイブと分析システム (※) Commentator: Matsuba Ryoko (Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures)
14:50-15:10	Break
15:10-17:00	Session 4: Literary and artistic circles: publications, popularisation and commercial aspects
	Speaker 1 Xiangming Chen (PhD student, University of Oxford): Guide to literati: Kenkadō, Osaka publishing and reception of Qing art
	Speaker 2 John Carpenter (Metropolitan Museum of Art): Collaborative paintings with poetry inscriptions as records of Kyoto salon culture
	Speaker 3 Yamamoto Yoshitaka (National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL)): Court nobles among renowned masters and friends: The imperial court and albums of calligraphy and painting in the early 19th-century Kyoto-Osaka region
	Speaker 4 Jingyi Li (Assistant Professor, Occidental College in Los Angeles; online): Commercialized gatherings and commodified literati in 19th-century shogakai
	Discussant: Ellis Tinios (Professor Emeritus, University of Leeds)
	Day 2: September 11, 2024
9:30-11:20	Session 5: Connections and networks via art
	Speaker 1 Iwasa Shin'ichi (Osaka Museum of History): 江戸時代後期の京坂と近隣地域における合作書画の諸相について－制作背景と揮毫者を中心に－(※)
	Speaker 2 Yamamoto Yukari (Wako University): 春画とサロン―長崎来舶清人との関係を中心に (※)
	Speaker 3 Hirai Yoshinobu (The National Museum of Modern Art (MOMAK)): 京・大坂における長崎派風の伝播の諸相 (※)
	Speaker 4 Timothy Clark (Honorary Research Fellow, British Museum): Maruyama-Shijō art at the British Museum
	Discussant: Rosina Buckland (British Museum)
11:20-12:00	General discussion

On September 8, 2024, Prof. Changgong Meng (President, Dalian University) visited the Art Research Center (ARC).

Besides a tour of the ARC building and digital archiving facilities, Dr. Travis Seifman (ARC Research Manager/Associate Professor, Kinugasa Research Organization, Ritsumeikan University) gave an introductory presentation on the DH research activities of the Center.

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Shahon Mokuroku 写本目録/Manuscripts (Bibliographic) Database, which includes over 3,400 bibliographic records for Japanese handwritten manuscripts held by the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley. This database is now available through the Library's Japanese Special Collections portal, provided by the Art Research Center (ARC), Ritsumeikan University.

For the convenience of users, the same bibliographic records have also been added to the Kotenseki 古典籍/Old and Rare Books database within the same portal. UC Berkeley's Japanese Manuscripts Collection comprises approximately 7,800 volumes and 4,200 single sheets, dating from the 14th to the 20th century, and was originally part of the Mitsui Bunko collection.

Japanese Special Collections at the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley
https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/lib/vm/UCB/A0/

As most of these volumes have not yet been cataloged in OCLC WorldCat, scholars interested in this collection previously needed to consult three separate title lists provided by the National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL): 「カリフォルニア大学バークレー校旧三井文庫写本目録稿」,「カリフォルニア大学バークレー校旧三井文庫写本目録稿追加」, and 「カリフォルニア大学バークレー校旧三井文庫御会関係資料細目稿」. Now, an additional tool is offered to facilitate the discovery of items of interest, with each record providing much more detailed information, including titles and creator names in romanization, as well as Naikaku Bunko classification terminology. To browse these titles in the Kotenseki 古典籍/Old and Rare Books database, please enter "ms" in the "object no." or "資料番号" box and click the "search" button.

The bibliographic information for these records was collected through careful examination of each manuscript by many researchers who participated in an extensive research project led by Prof. Motoi Katsumata of Meisei University, with generous funding from the Mitsubishi Foundation (2015), Meisei University (2016), KAKEN grants (2017-2021), and the International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC), Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University (2023). Frequent participants in the onsite visits to the library over the years included Prof. Takahiro Sasaki of Shidō Bunko, Keiō University, and Prof. Atsushi Satō of Nihon University.

Prof. Katsumata received an honorable mention from NCC's Comprehensive Digitization and Discoverability Program Award in 2021 for his video presentation, "Connecting Books through Stamps." His project of examining seals stamped on these manuscripts has been completed, and the transcribed seal texts are now searchable in these databases (please use the "用語/other term" box for searching).

The integration of the bibliographic data for the Japanese Manuscripts Collection into the "Old and Rare Books" database has been realized through a long-standing collaboration between Prof. Motoi Katsumata (Meisei University), Toshie Marra (University of California, Berkeley), and Prof. Ryo Akama (Ritsumeikan University/Director of the ARC).