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.