形態論、出版文化史、表象文化論からみた縮緬本の統合的研究

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  • ケイタイロン 、 シュッパン ブンカシ 、 ヒョウショウ ブンカロン カラ ミタ チリメンホン ノ トウゴウテキ ケンキュウ
  • A Synthetic Study of Crêpe-Paper Books in Modern Japan: Morphology, Publication, and Cultural Contexts

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to report the academic results of the three-year joint research project (funded by the Institute for Comparative Studies of Culture, Tokyo Womanʼs Christian University, from 2013 to 2015) about a synthetic study of crêpe-paper books in modern Japan. The authors of this paper discuss the unique publication of crêpe-paper books in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century from the three points of view that were taken in the research: morphological features of the crêpe-paper books, their significance in the history of printing and publication in modern Japan, and their remarkable aspects in cultural contexts. In addition to reporting the results of the study at the Institute for Comparative Studies of Culture at Tokyo Womanʼs Christian University, the paper proposes some of the possible steps for further research in this field.Although the publication of the crêpe-paper books we have focused on is mainly owed to the superb capacity of a single publisher, Takejiro Hasegawa (1853-1936), the publication has great cultural importance and global influence worthy of special attention. Making full use of the traditional techniques of wood-block printing on Japanese paper and its effective pressing, Hasegawa successively published Japanese fairy tales and numerous guides for Japanese culture in English and other European languages. Some excellent Japanese-style artists and illustrators who were trying to harmonize their works with the newly introduced European style participated in Hasegawaʼs project and they successfully demonstrated the happy blending of texts and illustrations in the type pages. Many overseas scholars, diplomats, and their families such as Julia D. Carrothers, B. H. Chamberlain, David Thompson, J. C. Hepburn, Lafcadio Hearn, E. F. Fenollosa, Kate James (Mrs. T. H. James), K. A. Florenz, Jules Adam and Joseph Dautremer, who all stayed in Japan from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, helped Hasegawa to realize his project and his network of those people well substantiated his enterprising publication of wood-block-illustrated crêpe-paper books.The uniqueness of Hasegawaʼs project can be observed in its mixture of tradition and innovation. He actively used traditional techniques of Japanese wood-block-illustrated printing, old tales in Japan, and many retrospective scenes of Japanese society; at the same time, however, he adopted the texts in English and other European languages for his books, and actively opened up the routes for sales network in Europe and America. His crêpe-paper books are also unique in the history of language education in modern Japan. It is certain that Hasegawaʼs project did not follow the trend of the times―mass production of Japanese books by newly introduced movable-type printing―and the governmental principle of the use of Japanese in the education of foreign languages gradually narrowed the Japanese market for Hasegawaʼs books. But his project at the beginning of modern Japan still radiates its brilliance in the cultural contexts of modern Japan and, in fact, his beautiful crêpe-paper books have been highly valued in Western countries. For the evaluation of this project and its production, this paper claims the necessity of some actual steps for further research. Among them are: making an integral bibliography based on large collections in and outside Japan; synthetic examinations of traditional techniques, visual images, complicated processes of the formation of texts, and cultural influences; and research in the contemporary and global reputation of Hasegawaʼs project and its heritage.

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