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文化資源の2D、3Dデジタルアーカイブとデジタル資料の管理・可視化に関するワークショップを開催いたします。本ワークショップでは、3日間かけて、文献・古典籍のような資料の撮影手法、データベースの登録と管理手法、写真測量による3Dモデルの作成手法、360度画像の取得・展示手法、GISを用いた地図作成手法などについて、演習形式で解説します。

日程・内容

本ワークショップは、11/22-24の3日間の日程で、次の内容・スケジュールで行います。

11/22(金)

13:00〜17:00 「文献・古典籍の撮影」

11/23(土)

9:00〜12:00  「ARCデータベース機能を用いたデジタルアーカイブ①」

13:00〜17:00 「ARCデータベース機能を用いたデジタルアーカイブ②」

11/24(日)

9:00〜10:30  「写真測量などを用いた3Dモデルの作成とデータの編集・可視化」

10:30〜12:00 「360度カメラによる全天球画像の撮影とバーチャル展示」

13:00〜15:30 「ArcGIS onlineと景観写真を活用したWeb地図の作成」

15:30〜16:00 「情報共有・意見交換」

講師:赤間 亮(文学部・教授)、山内啓之(衣笠総合研究機構・准教授)、堀池理生(衣笠総合研究機構・研究員)、平野理紗子(文学研究科・博士課程)、戸塚史織(文学研究科・博士課程)

対象者:日本文化資源デジタル・アーカイブ国際共同研究拠点(ARC-iJAC)または、「日本文化デジタル・ヒューマニティーズ拠点」プロジェクトにて活動する研究代表者および研究分担者

対面参加:10名(定員)

オンライン参加:定員なし ※演習の様子をZoomにて中継しますが、当日は会場の進行・補助が優先されることをあらかじめご理解のうえ、ご参加ください。

会場:立命館大学アートリサーチセンター 3F
アクセス:https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/j/aboutus/access.html

言語:日本語

持ち物:PC(Windowsが望ましい)を持参してください

主催:立命館大学アート・リサーチセンター 文部科学省 国際共同利用・共同研究拠点「日本文化資 源デジタル・アーカイブ国際共同研究拠点」(ARC-iJAC)

参加希望者は、→ グーグルフォームから参加登録を行なってください。申し込み期限は、2024年11月8日です(対面は定員に達し次第、募集を終了します)。

本ワークショップに関するお問い合わせは、ml-tech-support (at) ml.ritsumei.ac.jp (at を @に変えてください) までお願いいたします。

shochiku_10.18.jpg

As part of the FY 2024 ARC-iJAC project 演劇上演記録データベースを活用した、演劇資料画像検索閲覧システムの構築に関る研究 (A Study on the Construction of a Search and Browsing System for Theater Photo Materials using a Database of Theater Performance Records), as of Oct. 18, 2024, the Shochiku Otani Library has released a digital archive of Takemoto yukahon theatrical chanters' books.

Yukahon are theatrical libretto books from which Takemoto gidayu chanters, seated on stage, read and chant. They are used in gidayu kyogen and some other categories of Kabuki plays. In addition to the text to be chanted and markings for the melody, the text also includes notations indicating actors' words or actions that serve as chanters' cues, as well as notation and direction for shamisen players.

The Shochiku Otani Library holds yukahon used by Kabuki chanters from the pre-war through post-war periods, including ones used by chanters Takemoto Kagamidayu I and Toyotake Kotobukidayu I.

Takemoto performers who perform at the Kabuki-za and other theatres still refer to these materials today.

Online public access to the Shochiku Otani Library's Collection of Valuable Materials "Theater Photos Search and Browsing System" is provided by the Art Research Center (ARC), Ritsumeikan University based on an agreement with the Shochiku Otani Library.

The digital archive includes 590 yukahon books, which can be viewed online in their entirety (the copyright period has not yet expired for 48 items in the collection; the images for these are not being made public).

We hope that the preservation of the original yukahon manuscripts through digitization and publicly available online database for these materials will be beneficial not only for the needs of active Takemoto performers, but for Kabuki researchers, enthusiasts, and future generations of performers as well.

You can read the Shochiku Otani Library's official press release (in Japanese) → here.

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


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.

image 2.jpg

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.


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

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. 

kuzushiji.png

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.
↓↓↓
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

[イベント情報]
September 10, 2024(Tue)

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

[イベント情報]
September 10, 2024(Tue)

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).

[イベント情報]
August 9, 2024(Fri)

With the establishment of the International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC) in 2019, the Art Research Center strives to push the internationalization of research activities that transcend disciplines and geographic boundaries.

NEWS

Toshie Marra introduces the outcomes of the nearly twenty years of research cooperation in digital archiving between the ARC and the C.V. Starr East Asian Library (EAL), UC Berkeley, which boasts one the world's largest collections of Japanese cultural resources. >> Read more.
The colloquium comprised presentations from graduate students associated with each of the two Centers, with some presenting in English and some in Japanese.

The papers explored a range of topics in Japanese Studies related to performing arts, including performing arts in geisha districts (kagai), gender identity among onnagata performers, and the representation of historical figures as heroes or villains in prewar modern theatre, as well as "new approaches to cultural studies," with one using the example of mango production in Miyazaki prefecture in a broader discussion of the establishment of tropical fruit cultivation in Japan. >> Read more.
The outcomes of this research project, supported by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and JSPS, are currently showcased at the British Museum as part of a Special Display.

The research project, led by Prof. Ryo Akama (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.

As part of this project, the 'Kamigata Bunkajin Sogo Database' (「上方文化人総合データベース」) has been established by the ARC, providing a new portal for research on early modern Japanese culture. >> Read more.
To support international joint research, we provide free accounts for ArcGIS Online, a web-based mapping software of Esri, Inc., to members of the International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC). >> Read more.
Database News! The Shuichi Kato Collection held by the Ritsumeikan University Library is available

Shuichi Kato (1919-2008) was one of the leading international intellectuals in post-war Japan. Established in 2015, Ritsumeikan University's Research Center for Shuichi Kato and the Japanese Contemporary Thoughts aims to research the vast number of books and manuscripts in the Shuichi Kato Collection of the university library.
The ARC is pleased to announce the release of the digitally archived collection as follows:
We were delighted to welcome Prof. Giovanni Molari (Rector, Bologna University) and Prof. Raffaella Campaner (Vice Rector for International Relations, Bologna University) to the ARC.
Dr. Travis Seifman (ARC Research Manager) gave a tour of the ARC facilities to a group of faculty and students of National Chengchi University, Taiwan.
Upcoming Events

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Notice of Office Closure during Obon Summer Holiday 2024

The Art Research Center will be closed from August 9 (Fri) to August 19 (Mon), 2024 due to the Obon summer holiday break.

We will not be able to respond to your inquiries or visits during this period.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Thank you very much for your kind understanding.

Office of the Art Research Center

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Background:
Toshie Marra joined the C. V. Starr East Asian Library (EAL), University of California, Berkeley in 2012 as the Librarian for the Japanese Collection. Her areas of responsibilities include developing EAL's Japanese language collections and providing instruction and reference services for Japanese studies. Previously, she worked at the Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for 22 years. She holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from UCLA with specialization in cataloging and preservation.

ToshieMarra.jpg

Thank you very much for your time today. What sparked your interest in becoming a librarian?

Marra: Marrying a scholar of Japanese literature brought me to UCLA in the late 1980s. At that time, UCLA East Asian Library had just begun cataloging Chinese, Japanese, and Korean materials in the OCLC CJK system. I was hired as their first copy-cataloger for Japanese materials. Soon I discovered a shortage of librarians in North America with expertise in the Japanese language, especially those knowledgeable about handling Japanese pre-modern books, or kotenseki. As a result, many unique holdings remained uncatalogued in library storages. This unfortunate situation motivated me to pursue a career as Japanese Studies librarian in the U. S.

UC Berkeley's C.V. Starr East Asian Library (EAL) boasts one of the world's largest collections of Japanese cultural resources. Could you tell us about the significance of your collection?

Marra: EAL's Japanese collection focuses on the humanities and social sciences. It includes a wide range of materials such as full-text electronic databases, books, periodicals, woodblock-printed maps and prints, and manuscripts. One of EAL's most noteworthy special collections from Japan is the Mitsui acquisition in 1950, which comprises over 100,000 items in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean languages. This includes the Gakken (Dohi Keizō), Motoori (Motoori Ōhira family), Sōshin (Mitsui Takatatsu), Sōken/Teihyōkaku (Mitsui Takakata), Imazeki (Imazaki Tenpō), and Asami (Asami Rintarō) collections, spanning from the pre-modern era to modern times. Other significant special collections include the Ho-Chiang collection, which contains over 110 Buddhist sutras in manuscript and print from the 8th to the 19th century, documenting the development of Buddhism in China, Japan, and Korea. Additionally, the Murakami Collection, acquired by the EAL in 1948, consists of approximately 9,100 volumes. This collection features many first editions of literary works from the Meiji through early Showa periods, some with illustrative kuchie frontispieces.

The research cooperation between the C.V. Starr East Asian Library (EAL) and the ARC in the field of digital archiving started in 2006 and has been ongoing for almost two decades. How did you first connect with the Art Research Center (ARC)?

Marra: In 2006 my predecessor Hisayuki Ishimatsu contacted Professor Ryo Akama of the ARC to digitize the Sugoroku collection, a part of the Mitsui acquisition, consisting of 155 sheets. After I joined UC Berkeley, the EAL Director, Peter X. Zhou, and I visited the ARC in December 2013 to discuss potential collaborations for creating more digital archives using EAL's Japanese special collections. Starting in the summer of 2014, the ARC began making regular visits to EAL to digitize our materials.

The ARC has digitized and created online databases of old and rare books, copperplate prints, sugoroku sheets, fine art auction catalogs and others in the Japanese Special Collections of the EAL. What is the significance of each of these collections?

Marra: Currently, the portal "Japanese Special Collections at the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley" contains five distinct databases:

1) Old and Rare Books: Includes printed books mostly from the Edo period (1603-1867) and manuscripts from the pre-modern to modern times

2) Copperplate Prints: Features over 2,400 images of individual prints from the copperplate prints collection, consisting of 472 physical items

3) Sugoroku Sheets: Contains 155 images, primarily from the Edo through the Meiji periods, with a few from the Taisho and early Showa periods

4) Fine Art Auction Catalogs: From the EAL's collection of approximately 800 volumes of art auction catalogs, mostly published between 1912 and 1941

5) Illustrations Surrounding Japanese Modern Books: From the Murakami Collection.

Among these, the first four databases are related to the Mitsui acquisition, though the "Old and Rare Books" database also includes a small number of Edo printed books from more recent donations, such as those collected by the late Prof. Ichiei Kishi and Dr. Frederic J. Kotas. This database also contains links to images converted from microfilm, provided by the National Institute of Japanese Literature through its Union Catalogue Database of Japanese Texts (Kokusho dētabēsu), allowing researchers to find digital images of the EAL's rare book holdings in a single database.

While the Copperplate Prints and Sugoroku Sheets databases are complete, the other digital archives are still growing as new materials are being digitized. The Copperplate Prints database resulted from the first digitization project that I sought assistance for from Prof. Akama, who tirelessly created metadata for each image after photographing them. The Illustrations Surrounding Japanese Modern Books database was designed by Dr. Kana Tsuneki, an ARC graduate currently teaching at the National Institute of Technology, Kurume College, and features kuchie frontispieces and other physical characteristics of bookmaking from the Meiji through early Showa periods.

Can you share your thoughts on how these digitized collections may facilitate research in Japanese art history, and provide an example or two of how researchers at UC Berkeley or elsewhere have utilized these digital archives, including the digital tools provided by the ARC, such as the Kuzushiji Transcription Support and Archiving System?

Marra: We owe a great deal to Prof. Akama and the ARC for enabling us to share EAL's digitized collections with researchers worldwide through the portal "Japanese Special Collections at the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley." However, the benefits of this portal extend beyond mere accessibility. It allows researchers to create their own databases for specific research purposes. Examples include the Copperplate Prints and the Illustrations Surrounding Japanese Modern Books databases. For the Copperplate Prints collection, EAL's online catalog provides a single collection-level record, whereas the Copperplate Prints database offers over 2,400 individual image records with corresponding metadata. This makes it easier for researchers to find specific images by searching the database, enabling them to create personalized research tools for analysis.

The portal also features the Kuzushiji Transcription Support and Archiving System, which allows researchers to attach transcription texts to associated images, facilitating full-text search. Several members of the UCB community and beyond have shown interest in using the portal for transcription. During the 16-month closure of EAL due to the COVID-19 pandemic between March 2020 and July 2021, I began to collaborate with Prof. Shinji Konno of Seisen University. He wanted to use the digital images of EAL's Japanese rare book holdings for his online instruction. Even after in-person classes resumed, he continued using the portal for his teaching and provided transcribed texts prepared by his students. We acknowledge the contributions of Prof. Konno and his collaborators by creating the Seisen University Transcription Project page within the portal.

Can you share your thoughts on the importance of digitally archiving library collections and how it may play a part in the overall long-term goals of the EAL?

Marra: Digital archives have made it easier to access rare Japanese holdings in libraries worldwide and have opened up new avenues for research. With thousands of volumes of pre-modern Japanese books and manuscripts not yet digitized, EAL, along with many other libraries, should continue striving to make as many of these holdings digitally accessible to researchers globally. To this end, we have collaborated with many researchers from Japan in various ways.

Regarding the Japanese materials included in the Mitsui acquisition, I would like to clarify that some items remain uncatalogued due to a lack of expertise among EAL staff. This includes most of the Japanese Manuscripts Collection, which consists of approximately 7,800 volumes and 4,200 single sheets from the 14th to the 20th century. Thanks to the enormous efforts of Prof. Motoi Katsumata (Meisei University) and Prof. Akama, over 3,400 bibliographic records for items in this collection have recently been added to the Old and Rare Books database in the aforementioned portal. This will help numerous scholars worldwide discover what EAL has to offer, as these records contain titles and creator names in romanization, in addition to those in Japanese.

This achievement was the result of a multi-year research project led by Prof. Katsumata, with many collaborators, funded by the Mitsubishi Foundation, Meisei University, and JSPS's KAKENHI, in addition to ARC's support. Including these bibliographic records in this database will facilitate the process of adding images from this collection as they become available.

Finally, could you share a few of your personal favorites within the EAL collection?

Marra: One of my favorite items in the collection is the Kadenshū manuscripts, which consists of 146 volumes of kaden, or genealogical records of 135 kuge families from the mid-19th century. Although these volumes are shelved at different locations in the Japanese Manuscripts Collection according to their family names, they were virtually compiled into a single collection, when digitized with funding support from the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources in 2018. After digitization, we enhanced the usability of the collection by creating a search tool for over 3,100 nobles' names listed in the manuscripts. This work was documented in the poster co-presented with Prof. Akama at the Jinmonkon conference in 2019. The Kadenshū collection is highlighted in the Online Exhibitions section of the aforementioned portal.

Other favorite items of mine include the manuscripts of literary works and essays by well-known modern writers, which seem to be holographs and allow readers to trace the authors' process of refining their texts. Examples include:

・Genkō monogatari, by Fukuchi Ōchi (1841-1906)

Giwaku, by Chikamatsu Shūkō (1876-1944)

Haha, by Akutagawa Ryūnosuke (1892-1927)

Kabukigeki no hozon ni tsuite, by Tsubouchi Shōyō (1859-1935)

Nara o tatsu mae, by Mushanokōji Saneatsu (1885-1976)

Sōka ni tsuite, by Kōda Rohan (1867-1947)

Yoakemae, Osanai Kaoru (1881-1928)

Is there anything else you would like to comment on or any other aspect you would like to address in this interview?

Marra: I would like to highlight that Prof. Akama and the ARC also helped digitize the Ukiyo-e prints collection held by the Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive. The images of these materials are accessible through a separate database, which is linked from the portal "Japanese Special Collections at the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley." I express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Akama and the ARC students for their support over the years. I look forward to working more closely with them in the coming years.

(This interview was conducted by Yinzi Emily Li)

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