Selected research 4: The investigation and research into the Senda materials-Koreya Senda and contemporary plays
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Principal Researcher: Yukako Abe (Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts and Letters, Kyoritsu Women’s University)
Collaborative Researchers: Keiko Miyamoto (Part-time Lecturer, Department of Japanese Language and Literature, Shirayuri College), Terada Shima (Part-time Lecturer, Department of Japanese Language and Literature, Shirayuri College), Hirokazu Akiba (Professor, School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University)
【Research objective】
Articles that belonged to Koreya Senda were donated by his daughter Momoko Nakagawa in April 2001. She donated a huge quantity of materials. In total, there were more than 300 cardboard boxes (at the time they were received) containing old books and play-related materials. These materials have been roughly classified and arranged; in particular, materials such as books, albums, scrapbooks, and cards have been available for viewing since 2005.
At the current stage, this constitutes nothing more than a temporary arrangement of the documents. It has not yet been possible to ascertain what this enormous collection actually contains.
At the same time, the condition of the materials is deteriorating; in particular, we have reached the point in time where the photographs must be rapidly digitized and the source materials stored appropriately.
This project relates only to a small part of the collection, and the objective is to confirm the content of the album, “J: related to Michio Ito” and performance-related materials, to classify these so that they can be used for researching Michio Ito and the Ernie Pyle Theater, and begin digitizing these materials.
【Summary of the research findings】
As research was conducted during a short time period of around two months, the researchers were only able to begin reviewing the Senda materials and verifying the content of 20 photo albums related to Michio Ito. Work is underway to digitize these photo albums and assemble the data for each individual photograph. Specifically, within the Koreya Senda collection, the J classification indicates materials related to Michio Ito; among these, J1-1 to J1-20 are the photo albums. The 20 albums have been given titles, such as “MICHIO ITO 1”; captions and endorsements of authenticity have been attached to many of the photographs. The construction of a photo database seems very achievable.
At the same time, the J classification includes many different types of materials, including some related to the Hollywood Bowl in which Michio was involved, and others related to the Ernie Pyle Theater or the Olympics. If progress can be made in unifying, digitizing, and arranging the various types of artifacts (including letters, name registers, memos, sketches, and scripts), then it will be possible to horizontally relate these materials. Without question, this will enable researchers to reveal a number of new findings. To make a start on achieving this, the current objective is to closely examine J23 (materials related to the Ernie Pyle Theatre), and to clarify their connection to various materials on musical performances, photographs, and Kisaku Ito set-design images, as well as the actual circumstances of the public performances.
