Support Projects for Enhancing Function
Building a Digital Archive
of Kabuki and Ningyo Joruri Magazines
Fiscal 2018
This project will create a digital reading environment for the rich array of theater magazines held by the Theatre Museum, and to improve preservation of these materials for ease of reading.
In 2018, for example, we digitized 35 issues of Opera, a magazine on Asakusa opera held by the Theatre Museum. This magazine provides valuable discourse on the Asakusa opera of the time, including reviews of plays, suggestions for producers and play actors, as well as other articles and reader submissions. There are very few extant copies of the magazine and the museum holds only a small number of them. The paper quality is poor and it has been difficult in the past to view the actual magazines at the Theatre Museum. As part of this project, by taking high-quality digital photographs, we were able to make the magazines available for wide viewing within the Theatre Museum’s Japanese book reading room. This availability should help to invigorate prewar theater and music research.
Front Pages of Opera 1(1), 4(1), and 4(4),from the left