ARC-iJAC Activities

On January 6, 2025, an article in the newspaper "San-in Chuo Shimpo" introduced the initiative led by Prof. Ryo Akama (College of Letters/Director of the ARC) to make the digitized materials in the collection of the Tsukiji Sugoroku Museum available to the public through the ARC database system,.

The database, containing 650 Sugoroku items, representing about 500 different kinds of Sugoroku game boards, dating from the Edo period to the early 1950s, has been collected by Osamu Yoshida, President of the Tsukiji Sugoroku Museum (https://sugoroku.net/).

Tsukiji Sugoroku Museum Database:
■ URL：https://www.dh-jac.net/db/nishikie/search_tkjSG.php

Related article: https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/j/news/pc/023655.html

The Art Research Center (ARC) at Ritsumeikan University is pleased to announce that illustrated books, ukiyo-e painting manuals, and other early modern Japanese books in the collection of the Royal Museums of Art and History of Belgium (MRAH) have been made available online, complete with images for each page:
https://www.dh-jac.net/db1/books/search_belgium.php.

These works can also be found by searching for "MRAH" in the "Owner" field in the ARC Early Japanese Books Portal Database: https://www.dh-jac.net/db1/books/search_portal.php.

Takagi Yoko previously conducted a survey of the Museums' collection of early modern Japanese books, and published a simple listing of works in the collection in: "Berugii oritsu bijutsu rekishi hakubutsukan shozo wakan kosho ni tsuite," Bunka joshi daigaku kiyo: jinbun / shakai kagaku kenkyu, vol. 9 (2001 Jan), pp. 187-206. Click here to view or download the article: https://bunka.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/686.

The ARC has collaborated with the MRAH to digitize its extensive ukiyo-e collection since 2007, making 8,750 ukiyo-e prints accessible through the ARC Japanese Prints (Ukiyo-e) and Paintings Portal Database: https://www.dh-jac.net/db/nishikie/search_belgium.php.

Following the digitization of ukiyo-e prints, the digitization of early modern books also began, although the project faced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The project was restarted in 2023, and 572 books, with images for each page, have now been released online in a single batch.

Plese note: While the size of the images made publicly available in the ARC databases are provided at a limited resolution, researchers seeking higher-resolution images of these works are advised to contact the Image Studio at the Royal Museums of Art and History of Belgium directly.

The 145th International ARC Seminar will be held as a webinar on Wednesday, January 15, from 18:00 JST.

The program is as follows:

Speakers: Kiichi SUGANUMA (JSPS Post-doctoral Fellow, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University)

Topic: 'The Possibilities of Digital Collection in Western Medieval-Renaissance Study'

Date: Wednesday, January 15, 2025, 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 144th International ARC Seminar will be held as a webinar on Wednesday, January 8, from 18:00 JST.

The program is as follows:

Speakers:
Naomi KAWASUMI (Professor, Area Studies Program, College of Letters, Ritsumeikan University)
Masahiro KATO (Professor, Area Studies Program, College of Letters, Ritsumeikan University)

Topic: 'The Society and Landscape of 1950s Okinawa as seen in Photographs'

Date: Wednesday, January 8, 2025, 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 143rd International ARC Seminar will be held as a webinar on Wednesday, December 25, from 18:00 JST.

The program is as follows:

Speakers:
Takashi NUMAGUCHI (Associate Professor, Department of Musicology, Tokyo University of the Arts)
Chiaki SAWADA (Associate Professor, Department of Performance & Composition, Kunitachi College of Music)
Akemi TSUKADA (Librarian, Kunitachi College of Music Library)

Topic: 'The Collection of Early Printed Music of Beethoven in the Kunitachi College of Music Library: The Significance and Pleasure of Chamber Music'

Date: Wednesday, December 25, 18:00 - 19:30 JST

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

The Call for Applications for FY 2025 International Joint Research with Research Fund is open until January 20 (Mon), 2025, 12:00 noon (JST). Successful projects will receive research funds from the International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC), Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University.

Learn more about the application here.

• Guidelines
• Application Form

The 142nd International ARC Seminar will be held as a webinar on Wednesday, December 11, from 18:00 JST.

The program is as follows:

Speaker: Dr. Akiko YANO (Mitsubishi Corporation Curator (Japanese Collections), Department of Asia, British Museum)

Topic: 'Creative Collaborations: Salons and Networks in Kyoto and Osaka, 1780-1880'

Date: Wednesday, December 11, 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.

Roughly 1,200 items of digitized audio from roughly 600 78rpm Kabuki records in the collection of Onishi Hidenori have been made available to listen to online.

It goes without saying that these 78rpm "standard playing" (SP) records, capturing the unamplified natural voices of Kabuki actors of the late 19^th to early 20^th centuries, are extremely valuable resources for Kabuki research. However, institutions which hold such records in their collections are limited, and since particular equipment is required for playing the records, up until now they have not been widely accessible.

Roughly 650 such Kabuki SP records have been identified as having been produced between 1907 and 1955. Of those, approximately 85% are included in this digitized collection and are made available to be listened to at any time online.

The Onishi Record Collection database is available here:
https://www.dh-jac.net/db2/video/search_onishi.php

Please click the "ArtTube" button next to items in the search results to listen to the audio.　

One can also listen to these recordings in the ARC Audio-Video Portal Database:
https://www.dh-jac.net/db2/video/search_portal.php?lang=en

Among archives of vinyl records, the National Diet Library's Historical Recordings Collection (Rekion) is well-known. Currently, roughly 110 Kabuki records are available in that database to the general public. The added publication of the Onishi Record Collection dramatically expands the number of recordings available.

This online archive also includes features unavailable in others.

Jackets, envelopes, lyrics listings, and other associated materials can also be viewed. Further, images of the entire surface of the record, not only of the label, are viewable, so one can see the condition of the record itself. The database also includes links to banzuke cast listings and other materials, so one can enjoy a multi-dimensional listening experience.

On December 6, 2024, a group of faculty members and students of Korea University, led by Prof. Byeong-Ho Jeong (Department of Japanese Language and Literature, College of Liberal Arts, Korea University), visited the Art Research Center (ARC).

Besides a tour of the ARC building and facilities, discussions and an exchange of opinions on collaboration in digital humanities took place with Prof. Satoshi Tanaka (College of Information Science and Engineering) and Dr. Travis Seifman (Kinugasa Research Organization/ARC Research Manager).

The 141th 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)

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.