International Research Center for Japanese Studies

The nihongo|International Research Center for Japanese Studies|国際日本文化研究センター|Kokusai Nihon Bunka Kenkyū Sentā, or Nichibunken (日文研), is an inter-university research institute in Kyoto. Along with the National Institute of Japanese Literature, the National Museum of Japanese History, and the National Museum of Ethnology, it is one of the National Institutes for the Humanities. The center is devoted to research related to Japanese culture.

History of the Center

The official origins of the institute are traced to an early study carried out by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture in 1982 on "methods of comprehensive research on Japanese culture". After surveying the field of Japanese studies for several years, the ministry, under the administration of Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro, established the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in 1987 in Kyoto with the prominent philosopher Umehara Takeshi as its first Director-General. Prominent Kyoto academics Umesao Nobuo and Kuwabara Tetsuo also played key roles in the founding of the center.

In 1990 the center moved to its current site in Oeyama-chō, Nishikyō-ku. In 1995 Kawai Hayao, a Jungian analyst of Japanese psychology and religion, was inaugurated as the second director-general of Nichibunken. In 2001, Yamaori Tetsuo, professor of Japanese religion and folklore, became the center's third director-general. The current director-general, Katakura Motoko, was inaugurated in 2005. She is Nichibunken's first female director-general and, as a cultural-anthropologist who specializes in Middle-Eastern Studies, she is also the center's first director-general who is not a Japan specialist.

Criticisms of the Center

Nichibunken was established against the backdrop of an increasing trade surplus with the United States in the 1980s. One of the ostensible impulses behind the founding of the center was a desire to change overseas perceptions of Japan that viewed the country as a faceless economic power. The cultural-anthropologist Ueno Chizuko sharply criticized the center as a calculated attempt at national branding. Ueno claimed that, despite the center's academic pretensions, the real purpose of Nichibunken was to improve the image of Japan in order to prevent criticism of Japanese trading practices and improve sales of Japanese goods abroad. The distinguished Anglo-Dutch writer and Japan-expert, Ian Buruma, caused considerable outrage at the time for arguing in influential newspapers abroad that the establishment of the Center was part of a project designed to revamp the kind of nationalist ideology current in pre-war Japan. The center has also been criticized for promoting theories of Japanese particularism.

The appointment of Katakura Motoko as Nichibunken's fourth director-general may be seen as an attempt by the center to revamp its conservative image and distance itself from associations with theories of Japanese particularism. Katakura, a specialist in the anthropology of the Middle-East, is a relative outsider to the field of Japanese studies.

The Nichibunken Library

A library of Japanese Studies is attached to the center. The collection primarily consists of books and bibliographic materials pertinent to the academic study of Japan. As of August 2004, the library contains approximately 252,000 volumes of books in Japanese and 97,000 volumes in other languages. It also houses approximately 4,400 Japanese periodicals and about 1,000 foreign language periodicals.

Publications

Nichibunken publishes two periodicals in the field of Japanese Studies, Nihon Kenkyū (in Japanese) and Nichibunken Japan Review. Nihon Kenkyū is published biannually and Nichibunken Japan Review is published once a year. Both periodicals showcase the research of Nichibunken scholars although they are open to outside researchers. Both publications have featured articles from well-known Japan scholars from overseas, including Donald Keene and Royall Tyler.

Databases

The following databases are accessible from the [http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/welcome_e.htm Nichibunken webpage] . Some of the databases require you to register and obtain a password.

*Rare BooksThis is a database of images of all rare books in Nichibunken's collection. It primarily consists of books treating Japan in Western languages published before the opening of the country to foreign commerce in the 1850s. In addition to graphic images of all pages of these rare books, the database contains searchable text with bibliographic information, tables of contents of the books, and captions of the illustrations in the books.

*Catalogue of the pre-1900 printed books on Japan in European languages housed in the library of NichibunkenThis online catalogue is a database of the bibliographical details of pre-1900 European books housed in Nichibunken's library which contain references to Japan. A total of 1,057 items are listed here
*Foreign Images of JapanNichibunken's collection of 51,805 photographs, illustrations, and other visual images of Japan or Japan-related subjects from around the world. Users must register with Nichibunken in order to view the photos in this database.

*Early Photographs 5,431 hand-colored photographs of Japan and accompanying text dating from the end of the Edo Period through the beginning of the Meiji Period. This database also requires users to register with Nichibunken.

*Japanese Art in Overseas CollectionsImages and textual information on Japanese art in foreign collections. The collection includes paintings, prints, ceramics, and lacquerware. Registration required.

*"Heian jinbutsushi" InformationThe "Heian jinbutsushi" is a Who's Who of Kyoto in the Edo period. It brings together information on literati and connoisseurs of various arts from all parts of the city and its environs. The first edition appeared in 1768 and the ninth and last edition in 1867. Between those dates, revised and expanded editions of the directory were published approximately once a decade, in 1775, 1783, 1813, 1822, 1830, 1838, and 1852. This database is constructed on the basis of original works that are all in Nichibunken's collection.

*"Heian jinbutsushi tanzaku" InformationThe "Heian jinbutsushi tanzakuchō" is a collection of rectangular cards (tanzaku) on which poems were written by persons whose names appear in the "Heian jinbutsushi". The originals are holograph brush-written poems. This database is constructed on the basis of tanzaku that are all in Nichibunken's collection. For some poems in the database (those originally written in Chinese, or kanshi), annotated English translations are included.

*SODA Collection: Pictorial and Miscellaneous Materials,Rare BooksThe SODA Collection, originally the collection of the medical historian Soda Hajime, contains books and prints related to the history of medicine. The major portion of digitized resources here is pictorial.

*"Miyako nenjū gyōji gajō"The "Miyako nenjū gyōji gajō" is a two-volume album of hand painted pictures on silk by Nakajima Sōyō. It depicts the annual festivals and customs of Kyoto at the beginning of the Showa period. These paintings are accompanied by explanatory texts written by the folklorist and Kyoto scholar Ema Tsutomu.

*Space in Historical Perspective This is a collection of historical map images. It is not possible to zoom into these maps unless you are connected to the Nichibunken Intranet.

*"Zuroku Bei-Ō kairan jikki"The "Zuroku Bei-Ō kairan jikki" (translated as “The illustrated true account of the observations of the ambassadors plenipotentiary of America and Europe”) is a collection of illustrations and descriptive passages related to the Iwakura Mission. It was published in 1878.

*"Kinsei kijinden"This contains the digitized full text and prints of the "Kinsei kijinden", a collection of biographies of eccentrics from the Edo period.

*Illustrations of Historic Places in KyotoThis contains digitized images of Edo-era and Meiji-era guidebooks to historic sites in Kyoto.

*Folk tale Data of Strange Phenomena and YōkaiThis database contains bibliographic information related to folklore research in Japan.

*Old Maps of Nagasaki A database of 221 color photographic images of historical maps from the Nagasaki Municipal Museum's collection. Registration is required.

*Mysterious Stories of Kannon Bodhisattva in UkiyoeA database of illustrations from the "Kannon reigenki", a collection of legends pertaining to the Kannon Bodhisattva.

References

*Ueno Chizuko, "'Nihongaku' to NI senryaku'. "Asahi shinbun", 22 April 1986
*"Ima naze nihon bunka kenkyu ka". "Asahi shinbun", 15 July 1986
*"'Senta' no arikata saguru". "Asahi shinbun", 15 July 1986
*Ian Buruma, "The Right Argument." in "The Far Eastern Economic Review" Feb.19, 1987 pp.82-5;
*"A New Japanese Nationalism." in "The New York Times Magazine", April 12, 1987 pp.24-29,38

External links

* [http://www.nichibun.ac.jp/welcome_e.htm Nichibunken]