ART RESEARCH CENTER

   

August 2025: Prof. Ryo Akama and his team continued the digital archiving of the Japanese Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London. 
We are truly grateful to Masami Yamada and Dr. Mary Redfern, Curators in the Asia Department at the V&A, for their generous support throughout the project.


 

Database News! Over 2,600 Ukiyo-e Prints from the Collection of the Tobacco & Salt Museum have been released
 

In addition to its world-renowned ukiyo-e collection, the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London also houses a long-overlooked collection of Japanese illustrated books (ehon), comprising over 1,700 volumes from the 17th to 20th centuries.

Previously only partially catalogued, this collection has now been the focus of a collaborative research and digitization project between the V&A's Asia Department, the Sainsbury Institute (SISJAC), and the ARC. Learn more in the V&A blog post "Revealing the V&A's Japanese Illustrated Book Collection" by Caroline Gill.

The Shinsō Culture Digital Archive, an ARC-iJAC joint research project, has been featured on the blog of the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC).

The Shinsō Culture Digital Archive explores Japan's modern clothing culture through the concept of shinsō--the integration of body and clothing. Developed as part of the Minpaku Costume Database Project (MCD), the archive is led by Dr. Haruko Takahashi (National Museum of Ethnology) in collaboration with Dr. Keiko Suzuki (Ritsumeikan University/ARC), alongside an interdisciplinary research team.

The NCC blog post highlights two key databases--Chronology of Japanese Clothing Culture in the Modern Age Database and Image Database of Japanese Clothing Culture in the Modern Age.

A dedicated portal site for the Shinsō Culture Digital Archive is available through the ARC Virtual Institute.