Publication of IMAIZUMI Yusaku’s “Kijishu” on the Web
Photography is an effective tool for investigating cultural properties, because it can record objects in an instant. However, before photography became widespread, the only way to record subjects was through handwritten notes and sketches. Notes and sketches, which take more time than photographs, are often records of only some elements or characteristics of the subject. It may be said that they are incomplete records. However, records in which only selected elements are characterized are useful for understanding what characteristics of a cultural property the recorder found to be of value, or in other words, why that cultural property has been preserved to this day. Such records can be said to be valuable resources.
We have already reported the details of IMAIZUMI Yusaku’s (1850-1931) “Kijishu,” which is one of such handwritten research records (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/ekatudo/216397.html), and the first volume has been published on the website of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (今泉雄作『記事珠』 :: 東文研アーカイブデータベース (tobunken.go.jp)). For publication, the full text was transcribed as text data for search functionality. In addition, since things that were obvious to IMAIZUMI are not described, we have added annotations to the extent possible and have also provided links to related information published on the Internet.
The transcribed text has been set to be displayed vertically on the user’s browser so that it can be easily compared with the original text. We have made every effort to ensure that the image and vertically written text can be viewed at the same time, but some line breaks may be misaligned. We will continue to conduct layout and technical verification in preparation for the release of vertically displayed documents.