ARC-iJAC Activities

Background:
Akiko Yano studied in Japan for a BA in international relations at Tsuda College, and for a MA and PhD in Japanese art history at Keio University. She specialises in Japanese painting history. She had an opportunity to study in the UK for one year as a visiting PhD student, based at SOAS University of London, thanks to a scholarship provided by the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC). She continued working in the UK, first as a Research Assistant for the SOAS-British Museum (BM) project on Osaka actor prints 'Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage: 1780-1830' (2005), and then as a Research Fellow for the SOAS-BM project on shunga 'Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art' (2013). After joining the BM as a curator in 2015, she has been responsible, with two other colleague curators, for the Japanese collection, which holds over 40,000 objects.

Dr. Yano, thank you very much for your time today. What initially sparked your interest in Japanese art history?

Yano: I was interested in art (mainly painting) and history as a teenager, but I was not particularly looking at the discipline of art history for my BA as I was more interested in international relations through cultural communication. Thinking about my future career, however, I realised that I would feel more of a sense of mission if I could work on the preservation of the cultural heritage of Japan, and hence learnt, belatedly, about a job called a 'curator'. From that point onwards, I switched my specialty to art history with an emphasis on Japanese art history since I was in Japan and thought Japanese art would be easily accessible.

How did your connection with the Art Research Center (ARC) begin?

Yano: I learnt about the ARC's digitisation projects when I was in London as a visiting PhD student at SOAS. Prof. Akama was also based at SOAS on a sabbatical at about the same time. He was then digitising actor prints in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection, and I was fortunate enough to have a chance to help with his photography sessions once or twice. It was a revelation. For an art history student in the early 2000s, photographs (using film!) of objects served primarily as my personal records to assist my memory of what I saw in the actual objects. The idea of systematic and end-to-end digital photography of a collection, which would exist online as a digital entity of that collection, available to the widest possible users, impressed me. When I was working as a Research Assistant for the Osaka actor prints project at SOAS, I actively used the ukiyo-e database, which Prof. Akama had created at the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum at Waseda University as well as at the ARC. He collaborated with the Osaka project by digitising a large-scale private collection of Osaka actor prints in Germany.

Yano: It has been a long-time ambition within the Japanese curatorial team at the British Museum to make use of the remarkable collection of paintings, prints, and illustrated books from Kyoto and Osaka in the collection, which has been acquired by the Museum over many years since the late 19^th century. The major exhibitions at the BM featuring Kyoto and Osaka artists in the past were 'Japanese Paintings & Prints: The Maruyama/Shijō School' (1976) and 'The Schools of Ganku and Bunchō' (1977) both by the then curator Lawrence Smith, and, more recently, 'Images of Kyoto & Osaka' (1997) by Tim Clark. It has been over a quarter of a century since the last exhibition, and the curators kept/keep acquiring Kamigata materials.

The most direct incentive for me to form the research project was the large-scale acquisition of the Scott Johnson collection of Kamigata surimono (so-called Shijō surimono), consisting of over 1600 items (if we count each sheet of surimono pasted in albums and accompanying surimono wrappers, it comes to be more than 2000) in 2021. It was our predecessor Tim Clark's final major acquisition as a BM curator. Significant in terms of scale and quality, this acquisition hugely enhanced our Kyoto-Osaka collection.

The more I looked into each of the surimono, the clearer it became that artists in Kyoto and Osaka were deeply involved in the world of haikai and kyōka. Not only that, but there are also thousands of individuals in surimono who contributed poems and pictures, who appear under their pen names and are unknown today. Who were they? How did they get involved in these surimono? What was going on, culturally, in late Edo period Japan?

I first encountered Kamigata surimono and the idea of 'salon' in the Osaka actor prints project, led by Prof. Andrew Gerstle of SOAS. The BM Japanese collection curators had been receiving generous advice from the late Prof. Nakatani Nobuo (Kansai University) about our Kyoto-Osaka painting collection. At the same time, Prof. Akama was spearheading the digitisation of the BM Japanese collection and built a system of databases at the ARC. All these threads of ideas, personal connections, academic activities, and advice converged into one as a research project. It is based on long-term working relationships among scholars in the UK and Japan, which has enabled us to embark on this 'salons' project to investigate a wide range of cultural participation of people of the late Edo period, centering in and around Kyoto and Osaka. Our scope at this stage includes any cultural activities that formed a communal space (real or virtual) for those who were interested in joining for pleasure, self-improvement, or whatever the reason, as long as there is evidence available in primary materials. In our project we call such a space a 'salon'. Primary materials are being digitised by the ARC team, and the project members are inputting relevant information - mainly about the persons involved - into the database. Our project is in a field where more traditional humanities study methods and digital technologies meet. Calling it 'digital humanities' might be easier, but our project is keeping an interesting balance between 'humanities' and 'digital.' Both benefit from each other to deepen our knowledge of the phenomenon of Japanese 'salons.'

While Edo (Tokyo) has been more comprehensively studied, the cultural history of the Kamigata region (Osaka and Kyoto) has remained relatively niche, at least in English. Did this influence your motivation to initiate this research project?

Yano: The situation is similar in Japanese as well. It was not really the original motivation to leverage the Kamigata profile, but it was and still is true that there was so much artistic material produced in the Kyoto-Osaka region that has as yet remained significantly underexplored.

The research outcomes of this collaborative project are currently being showcased in a one-year Special Display at the British Museum. Could you tell us about the unique appeal and key features of this Special Display?

Yano: The ongoing special display in the Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries at the British Museum (until 30^th March 2025) is one of the outcomes of the project. However, an academic research project and a public display each expect quite different audiences. For the general audience outside Japan who visit the British Museum, we need to start by explaining where Kyoto and Osaka are geographically, how vertically written Japanese text would be read, and so on. In addition, as the display is in the permanent collection gallery, the physical aspects of the space, such as the size and layout of the display cases, are fixed. We adopted a narrative so it would fit the objects nicely into the existing space, which sometimes posed a curatorial challenge. We also published a book to accompany the display, Salon Culture in Japan: Making Art, 1750-1900 (British Museum Press, 2024).

The display showcases in the first room representations of vibrant city life in Kyoto and Osaka, and the artistic currents of the late 18^th to the 19^th centuries mainly through paintings and illustrated books. Major Maruyama-Shijō school and other Kamigata artists' works are on display as well as some collaborative works (gassaku) among them. In the second room, the focus shifts to people's various hobby activities and cultural interests. The concept of 'salons' is introduced here as we feature group activities, such as haikai groups with surimono, sencha (infused tea) gatherings, and anthologies of poems and pictures by multiple authors. All the objects on display are from the British Museum's collection. Visitors are pleasantly surprised to learn about this rich section of our collection.

Given that part of this collaborative project was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, how did the ARC's database system and digital infrastructure support the implementation and realization of this project?

Yano: Covid-19 had a significant impact on our formation of the project. It was a time of no travelling nationally or internationally when we were planning the research grant application. It was a norm, previously, to travel between partner countries when conducting an international project.

The parallel aim of our project is to measure how it is possible to collaborate internationally without physically travelling. The ARC had already been a strong partner to the British Museum Japanese collection team. Building on that, as the core of our project, we set up an online database system, where digital images of relevant primary materials, text from transcriptions, and extracted person information can be accumulated, accessed, and searched for research by the project members from anywhere on earth. Each active member has assigned material to work on and input into the online database. Findings and work in progress can be shared in online meetings and workshops. The active use of online platforms for a meeting is a positive legacy from the era of Covid-19.

Do you have any personal favorites within the Japanese Collection at the British Museum that you would like to share?

Yano: I think that Banka jinmei roku (Who's Who from Myriad Houses, 1813, 1991,1112,0.75.1-5) is one of the key works for the project, and I am never bored by looking at each page. It is a who's who of haikai poets across Japan, complied by the Osaka poet and shipping agent Shime Chōsai (1757-1824). He called for applications from haiku poets in Japan's south and north, east and west, and put together more than 400 individuals' information. Each entry has a standardised format: a portrait of the poet, a haiku of their composition, their pen name, and a short biography. The entry order was, according to the hanrei (note at the beginning of the book), organised on a first-come-first-served basis, rather than based on skill or social status. This approach demonstrates the ethos of 'salon culture'. Based on the poets' biographies provided, we find courtiers, samurai, merchants, farmers, priests, scholars, artists, doctors, men and women, old and young, in one book. It is fascinating.

Is there anything else you would like to comment on or highlight?

Yano: The ARC has digitised almost all the prints and books (both out of copyright) in the British Museum Japanese collection under their international digital humanities scheme. Thanks to their work, an incredible number of images - hundreds of thousands - of prints and pages of books can be viewed through our Collection Online by anyone interested all over the world. This serves specialists and general users alike. The impact of this visual presence is massive; Japanese art objects can be viewed and appreciated, stimulating interest in Japanese culture more broadly. We are most grateful to the ARC, and hope to continue working with the ARC in the future.

Photo courtesy of the British Museum/Dr. Akiko Yano.

(This interview was conducted by Yinzi Emily Li)

立命館大学アート・リサーチセンターの赤間亮教授（文学部）らの築地双六館（https://sugoroku.net/）の館長吉田修氏が蒐集した江戸時代から昭和30年代前半までの双六、約500種、650枚をデジタル保存しWeb公開する取り組みが、2025年1月6日の山陰中央新報で紹介されました。

築地双六館　双六データベース
■ URL：https://www.dh-jac.net/db/nishikie/search_tkjSG.php

関連記事はこちら＞＞https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/j/news/pc/023655.html

ベルギー王立美術歴史博物館が所蔵する絵本や絵入本、浮世絵画帖などの古典籍が画像付きで閲覧できるようになりました。
https://www.dh-jac.net/db1/books/search_belgium.php

ポータルデータベースからも、所蔵者に「MRAH」と入れることで閲覧できます。
https://www.dh-jac.net/db1/books/search_portal.php

当該博物館の古典籍については、すでに高木陽子氏によって調査されており、2001年には「ベルギー王立美術歴史博物館所蔵和漢古書について」（文化女子大学紀要. 人文・社会科学研究, Vol.9, 2001.01),pp.187-206）に簡易目録が掲載させれています。
https://bunka.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/686

ARCでは、2007年以降、当該博物館の浮世絵のデジタルアーカイブを実施し、8750点もの浮世絵作品を、やはりアート・リサーチセンターの浮世絵・日本絵画データベースで公開しています。
https://www.dh-jac.net/db/nishikie/search_belgium.php

それ以降もプロジェクトは継続し、古典籍のデジタルアーカイブを進めてきましたが、途中コロナ禍もあり、公開が遅れていました。
2023年からプロジェクトが再開され、今回、572件の古典籍とそのページ画像が一気に公開されました。

公開画像の大きさには制限がありますが、大きな画像の利用を希望する場合は、直接博物館のImage Studioにお問い合わせください。

2025年1月15日（水）18:00より、Web配信にて第145回国際ＡＲＣセミナーを開催いたします。

プログラムは下記となります。

講師：菅沼 起一氏（京都大学 人間・環境学研究科 日本学術振興会特別研究員（PD））

タイトル：「古きを知るため、活用するテクノロジー—西洋中世・ルネサンス音楽研究におけるデジタル・アーカイヴ利用の事例報告—」

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日時：2025年1月15日（水）18:00～19：30

参加：Zoom配信（関係者のみ・予約不要）

※ARCメンバー以外の方は Youtubeよりご参加いただけます。こちらからご覧下さい。

2025年1月8日（水）18:00より、Web配信にて第144回国際ＡＲＣセミナーを開催いたします。

プログラムは下記となります。

講師：
河角 直美氏（立命館大学 文学部 地域研究学域 教授）
加藤 政洋氏 (立命館大学 文学部 地域研究学域 教授)

タイトル：「写真資料にみる1950年代沖縄の社会と景観」

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日時：2025年1月8日（水）18:00～19：30

参加：Zoom配信（関係者のみ・予約不要）

※ARCメンバー以外の方は Youtubeよりご参加いただけます。こちらからご覧下さい。

2024年12月25日（水）18:00より、Web配信にて第142回国際ＡＲＣセミナーを開催いたします。

プログラムは下記となります。

講師：
沼口 隆氏（東京藝術大学 音楽学部楽理科 准教授）
沢田 千秋氏（国立音楽大学 演奏・創作学科 准教授）
柄田 明美氏（国立音楽大学附属図書館 司書）

タイトル：「国立音楽大学附属図書館所蔵ベートーヴェン初期印刷楽譜コレクション―室内楽編曲の意義と愉しみ―」

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日時：2024年12月25日（水）18:00～19：30

参加：Zoom配信（関係者のみ・予約不要）

立命館大学アート・リサーチセンター「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）では、2024年度に本拠点から研究に必要な経費の配分を受けて共同研究を行う、国際共同研究課題〔研究費配分型〕を公募しています。申請締切は2025年1月20日（月）正午です。

国際共同研究課題〔研究費配分型〕の公募要項・申請書はこちら

• 国際共同研究公募要項〔研究費配分型〕
• 申請書

続きを読む>>

2024年12月11日（水）18:00より、Web配信にて第142回国際ＡＲＣセミナーを開催いたします。

プログラムは下記となります。

講師：矢野明子博士（大英博物館アジア部・三菱商事キュレイター（日本コレクション））

タイトル：「京坂文化サロンとネットワーク 1780-1880年」

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日時：2024年12月11日（水）18:00～19：30

参加：Zoom配信（関係者のみ・予約不要）

※ARCメンバー以外の方は Youtubeよりご参加いただけます。こちらからご覧下さい。

　大西秀紀氏所蔵の歌舞伎SPレコード、約600枚からデジタル化した約1200件がオンラインで視聴可能になりました。

　近代に活躍した歌舞伎役者の肉声を記録したＳＰレコードは、歌舞伎研究にとって第一級の資料であることはいうまでもありません。しかし、レコードの所蔵機関は限られ、その再生には専用の機材が必要であるため、これまで誰もが手軽に聴ける状況にはありませんでした。

　歌舞伎ＳＰレコードは明治40年（1907）から昭和30年（1955）の間に約650枚が発売されたことが判明していますが、本アーカイブにはその約85パーセントのデジタル化された音源が収められており、しかもWebからいつでも視聴することが可能となりました。

　次のURLからアクセスしてください。
　https://www.dh-jac.net/db2/video/search_onishi.php

　検索して一覧を表示したら、「ArtTube」ボタンで、音声が再生されます。

（なお、ARC　映像・音声ポータルデータベース　
　https://www.dh-jac.net/db2/video/search_portal.php
　からも視聴できます。）

　レコードアーカイブでは国会図書館の「歴史的音源」がよく知られています。そこでは、現在110件の歌舞伎レコードの音源が一般公開されています。これに加え、大西コレクションが公開されたことにより、その視聴可能な音源が格段に増えました。

　本アーカイブには、他のアーカイブにはない機能もあります。

　ジャケットやエンべロップ、歌詞集などの付属資料も閲覧できるようになっています。またレーベル画像だけでなく、盤面全体を表示しているため、盤面の状態も詳細に確認することができます。さらに言えば、番付などの関連資料ともリンクできるようになっており、視聴にあたって、立体的な鑑賞が可能となります。

　今後の活用が期待されるところです。

2024年12月6日、高麗大学・鄭炳浩教授を団長とする高麗大学の教員と学生の一団が、アート・リサーチセンター（ARC）を見学されました。

ARCの建物や施設を見学されたほか、田中覚教授（情報理工学部・教授）とTravis Seifman氏（立命館大学衣笠総合研究機構・准教授／現ARCリサーチマネージャー）とデジタル人文学に関する相互連携について意見交換を行いました。