Web sources
Web Sources contains links to the most useful and reliable websites with information related to news nishikie. All sources are briefly described or critically reviewed.
The list of sources is already loaded in this frame. you can jump to any category by clicking its link on the menu to the left, scroll with the bar to the right, or search for keywords (Ctrl F).
Clicking on any link to information elsewhere on this website will display the information in this frame. Clicking on a link to an outside website will open a new page in your browser.
| Museums and exhibitions |
Real and virtual museums and exhibitions related specifically to news nishikie are found here. Those related more generally to art or journalism are listed under Art or Journalism.
| The Birth of News |
Nyuusu no tanjo
Tokyo Daigaku Dijitaru Myujiamu
The Birth of News
Tokyo University Digital Museum
The Tokyo University Digital Museum hosts a number of virtual exhibitions.
Tokyo University Digital Museum Japanese
Tokyo University Digital Museum English
One of the exhibitions, in Japanese only, is Nyuusu no tanjo (The Birth of the News). It amounts to the web version of Nyuusu no tanjo, the catalog guide to the exhibition of the Ono Hideo Collection mounted at the real Tokyo University Museum in 1999.
This virtual exhibition is the most exhaustive on-line guide to the early history of news media in Japan. Chapter consists of three exhibits on news nishikie, including Tsuchiya Reiko's overview of news nishikie and their themes.
3. Shinbun nishikie no joho sekai
[The information world of news nishikie]
3.1
Shinbun nishikie to wa nani ka
[What are news nishikie?]
Tsuchiya Reiko
3.2
Bakumatsu-Meiji no ukiyoe jijo to shinbun nishikie
[The ukiyoe scene of Bakumatsu-Meiji and news nishikie]
Iwasaki Hitoshi
3.3
Meiji joho sekai no naka no "Kanpo"
[The "Official Gazette" amid the Meiji information world]
Yamamoto Takuji
| Newspark |
Nyuusupaaku
Nippon Shinbun Hakubustukan
Newspark
Japan Newspaper Museum
Newspark Japanese
Newspark English
"Everything you need to know about newspapers can be found at NEWSPARK, the Japan Newspaper Museum, opened on October 12, 2000, in Yokohama, the birthplace of Japanese daily newspapers. The museum's easy-to-understand displays of various newspaper activities, past and present, promise an unexpectedly delightful experience for visitors both young and old." [from Newspark website].
| Collections and databases |
Real collections and databases related specifically to news nishikie, and accessible on-line, are found here. Those related more generally to art or journalism are listed under Art or Journalism.
| Kanbara Bunko |
Kanbara Bunko
Kagawa Daigaku Toshokan
Kanbara Collection
Kagawa University Library
Kanbara Jinzo (1884-1954), the first president of Kagawa University, left his personal library to the school. The journalism and newspaper section of the table of contents to the holdings in Japanese and Chinese lists over 250 news nishikie representing 31 titles, beginning with Tokyo nichinichi shinbun. The nishikie images are of reasonable quality but no information other than the title and number of the series is shown -- in Japanese only.
Go directly to Japanese/Chinese Holdings (General 000) and look for "Jaanarizumu, Shinbun" (Journalism, Newspapers 070) if interested only in the news nishikie. The section is easy to spot because the image links are highlighted in blue. All the nishikie holdings are grouped at together at the very top of the journalism and newspaper list.
From the main Kanbara Bunko portal, first click "Wakansho no bu" (Japanese/Chinese holdings), then click "Soki" (General) at the top of the decimal classification menu on the left.
| Nishigaki Bunko |
Nishigaki Bunko
Waseda Daigaku Toshokan
Nishigaki Collection
Waseda University Library
Nishigaki Buichi (1901-1967), a leader in the world of advertising, was also a student of media and journalism and an avid collector of reference materials and artifacts. When Nishigaki died, his wife gave his collection, called the Nishigaki Bunko, to Waseda University, his alma mater.
Waseda University Library Japanese
Waseda University Library English
The Nishigaki Bunko contains 6712 books, 706 magazines and newspapers, and 4951 posters, handbills, and other items. In 1987 and 1988, Waseda University Library mounted an exhibition of the Nishigaki Bunko and published the following catalog.
The media of the late Edo and Meiji periods: newspapers, color prints and handbills
Old and Rare Materials Collection
The Nishigaki Bunko is part of the Old and Rare Materials Collection of Waseda University Library. The materials in the collection are generally described on the following web pages, which have links to related articles.
Rare Materials introduction Japanese
Rare Materials introduction English
The articles include a brief history of "Tokyo nichinichi shinbun from its beginnings in 1872, to it's affiliation under Osaka Mainichi Shinbun in 1911 (on the condition that it retrain its name), to the total merger of these two papers into simply Mainichi Shinbun in 1943.
Tokyo nichinichi shinbun history Japanese
Tokyo nichinichi shinbun history English
Introduction to Nishigaki Bunko
Nishigaki's collection, called Nishigaki Bunko, is described in greater detail on the following web pages. The Table of Contents (Mokuji e) includes an article on the history of Tokyo nichinichi shinbun.
Nishigaki Bunko introduction Japanese
Nishigaki Bunko introduction English
Call-number Index for "Old and Rare Materials Collection"
All parts of the Old and Rare Materials Collection, including the Nishigaki Bunko, are accessable from a call-number index called 請求記号別索引.
Call-number Index Japanese
The call number for Nishikigaki Bunko is "Bunko 10" [ 文庫１０(西垣文庫) ].
Keyword Search Box for "Classical Texts Database"
At the top of the call-number index is a link to the most useful feature on the website -- a keyword search box for the 古典籍総合データベース. This is read "Kotenseki sōgō deetabeesu" and means "Old texts general database". The romanization and translation on the logo are "Kotenseki Sogo Database / Japanese & Chinese Classics".
Keyword Search Box Japanese
Keyword Searching
To search for anything in the "Japanese and Chinese Classics" section of the Old and Rare Materials Collection, including the Nishigaki Bunko, (1) enter keywords in the long box to the right of the "key" sign, (2) choose the maximum number of items you want displayed in the 表示＿件 (display __ items) selection box, and click the 検索 (search) button to the right.
For best results, enter keywords in Japanese. For example, type 東京日々新聞 in the box, set number of items to 500, and click the button. Nearly 200 items will be displayed in the search-results table. Click the image of the item to display fuller particulars and links to high-resolution PDF (and in some cases also HTML-embedded) images.
Different combinations of 東京 and 日々 or 日日 and 新聞 will, of course, select other lists.
Tokyo nichinichi shinbun will also draw nearly 200 items, but Tokyo nichinichi shimbun will return no items -- because romanization generally follows New Hepburn rules. Romanized data and English information is not, in any case, nearly as complete or as reliable as Japanese data and information -- which also may be spotty or flawed (hence requires independent confirmation, as when using any database.
Here are some things to keep in mind when entering keywords.
(1) The search is not case-sensitive.
"Tokyo nichinichi shinbun" and "Tokyo nichinichi shinbun" get the same results.
(2) An AND condition automatically applies to all words.
Type "shinbun" and select "500" and you will get 500 records that have "shinbun" in them, most of them nishikie shinbun.
(3) In principle, the database uses New Hepburn romanization.
Type "shimbun" (Old Hepburn) or "sinbun" (Kunreishiki) and you will get nothing.
Nishigaki Bunko Holdings
The common portal for the Old and Rare Materials Collection has an index to the call-numbers. The index divides smaller collections into Japanese Books, Japanese Magazines, Bunko, Overseas Books, and Other Collections. The Nishikigaki Bunko is "Bunko 10", and clicking the "Bunko 10" link will produce a complete list of holdings in the Nishigaki Bunko, in order of call number.
All call numbers of of Nishigaki Bunko holdings begin with "b10-", after which comes other numbers which generally represent categories of holdings within the Nishigaki Bunko. For example, most holdings for Tokyo nichinichi shinbun are cataloged under 8089. Most holdings for Yubin hochi shinbun are cataloged under 8090. Call number b10_8089_1 happens to be TNS-50, and call number b10_8089_72 is TNS-1060.
Nishigaki Bunko versus Ono Collection
Directory
The directory of the Ono database is superior, because it has a table of contents that allows one to select lists of news nishikie by name, and the lists include the issue number next to the record (call) number. The Nishigaki directory consists of a list of call numbers, but there is no key to what items they refer to.
Searchability
While the Nishigaki Bunko is in principle fully searchable, the value of this capability is limited by the paucity and inconsistency of information in the records.
Information
All Ono Collection records have a full transcription, with furigana shown in parentheses, of every item. Some Nishigaki Bunko records have romanizizations of the names of the drawer and writer, but very few contain a summary of the story in any language, muchless the original text.
Images
Records in both the Nishigaki Bunko and the Ono Collection have smaller images that can be clicked to display a larger image. The larger, publicly viewable scans of the Ono Collection are a little larger, but their colors are somewhat darker and perhaps too red, while the Nishigaki Bunko images are smaller but lighter and perhaps too blue. The Nishigaki Bunko images may also be generally clearer, though clarity also depends on the quality and condition of the original print. Nishigaki Bunko database records have links to PDF versions of the images that are said to be of higher resolution, but what this means is not clear, as the PDF files are accessible only from on-campus terminals.
Ideally
In an ideal world, the people who manage the Nishigaki Bunko and Ono Collection databases would first standardize the design of their database records, with the same fields, then complete all fields in every record, in such a way that the quality of the information were similar. Both databases would have easily navigatable tables of contents, and be fully searchable across all fields of all records. The joint database could then be expanded to include information about holdings in other collections.
| Ono Collection |
Ono Hideo Korekushon
Ono Korekushon Deetabeesu
Ono Hideo Collection
Ono Collection Database
News nishikie in the Ono Collection are now most completely viewable on line as the 新聞錦絵 [news nishikie] archive in 東京大学大学院情報学環 デジタルアーカイブ (The University of Tokyo, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, Digital Archives).
The to the news nishikie section has search box that includes the texts of the nishikie stories and, when known, source stories in newspapers.
The archive is copyrighted by "iii" -- 東京大学大学院・情報学環・学際情報学府 (The University of Tokyo, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies).
Ono Hideo
Ono Hideo (1885-1977), a former employee of Tokyo nichinichi shinbun, pioneered jounalism studies in Japan and eventually became a professor of journalism in the Sociology Department of Tokyo Imperial University. Ono, an ardent collector and archiver of materials related to the history of news media in Japan, left the university his personal collection of about 400 news nishikie (28 categories) from the early Meiji period, and around 600 kawaraban (22 categories) from the Edo period, to the Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies, which he had founded at the University of Tokyo in 1949.
In 1992, the institute was renamed the Institute of Socio-Information and Communication Studies (ISICS). In 2000, ISICS was merged into a new group called the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies (III), Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, University of Tokyo (Tokyo Daigaku, Daigakuin, Joho Gakkan / Gakusai Johogaku Fu).
Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies (III)
Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies Japanese
Introduction and link to Ono Collection Database Japanese
Direct link to Ono Collection Database Japanese
Directory to Ono Hideo Collection Japanese
The directory is essentially a table-of-contents showing the categories (folders) into which the holdings (files) of the collection have been divided.
Clicking the folder for Tokyo nichinichi shinbun (Item 7 of Shinbun Nishikie), for example, will open a list of all holdings of this paper's nishikie in the Ono Hideo Collection. The list shows that the collection contains 99 nishikie (including a couple of duplicates) of the roughly 300 that were published by Tokyo nichinichi shinbun over the course of about one year spanning 1874 and 1875.
Clicking the file for No. 428 (Item 13), for example, will display a half-screen image of the nishikie bearing this number, and a complete transcription of its story, about a woman who was prevented from jumping off a bridge by a male passerby. Clicking on the image will display a higher resolution full-screen image of the nishikie.
The Ono Hideo Collection was publicly displayed at the University of Tokyo Museum in a 1999 exhibition called Nyuusu no tanjo (The Birth of News). A catalog guide to this exhibition was published as a book by the Tokyo University Digital Museum, which has also hosted an HTML version on its website. Several editions of a Nyuusu no tanjo CD-ROM have been released.
Nyuusu no tanjo Book
Nyuusu no tanjo Website
Nyuusu no tanjo CD-ROMs
| Other links |
Links to a selection of other websites that the compilers have found useful and reliable are found here.
| Art |
| Websites related to art and art history, with a focus on mid-19th-century Japan, are found here. |
Bond Collection Treasures of Keio University, Keio HUMI Project
"The HUMI (HUmanities Media Interface) Project is an inter-faculty initiative launched at Keio University in 1996 in order to pursue research in the field of digital bibliography and to construct a research environment for that purpose. HUMI - read as "fumi" (letters), a Japanese word that can mean documents, literature, and history - is conducting wide-ranging research into the non-destructive analysis of rare books, the creation of image databases and a library management system, and issues relating to intellectual property rights. Given especial priority so far has been the digitisation of major rare books and manuscripts, Western and Oriental (CJK), in the Keio collection, including the Keio Gutenberg Bible (olim Dyson Perrins; Estelle Doheny) acquired in 1996." (From HUMI website)
Keio HUMI Project Japanese
Keio HUMI Project English
Treasures of Keio University the Keio Gutenberg Bible and Incunabula, Natural History Books, Medieval Manuscripts, Caxton's Chaucer 1st & 2nd edition (Canterbury Tales), Japanese Maps, European Illustrated Books & Manuscripts c.1400-1700, Japanese Woodblock Prints, and Digital Nara Ehon.
Treasures of Keio University Japanese
Treasures of Keio University English
Under "Japanese Woodblock Prints" is a section called "Meiji Nishikie", the virtual home of the George S. Bond Collection, which is presented only in Japanese.
The collection has thirty-three prints by Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915), including his striking 1885 portrait of Fukuchi Gen'ichiro covering the Seinan War in Kyushu. The collection also has Ochiai Yoshiiku's 1871 triptych "Yokohama Igirisu Shokan Han'ei Zu" (Yokohama English Trading House Prosperity Picture). High resolution prints are presented in a window with buttons for zooming and panning.
| Drawers |
| For information on drawers, including links to Internet sources, see Who's Who in the Almanac section. |
| Journalism |
| Websites related to journalism, with a focus on mid-19th-century Japan, are found here. |
| Researchers |
| Websites of researchers who have made major contributions to studies of the syncretism of journalism and art, with a focus on mid-19th-century Japan, are found here. |
Tsuchiya Reiko (Reiko Tsuchiya)
Tsuchiya Reiko has contributed more than anyone since Ono Hideo to the academic study of news nishikie (or "nishikie news" as she prefers to call such prints) as an early form of visual news media. And she comes a close second to Takahashi Katsuhito in helping spread popular awareness and appreciation of news nishikie.
Tsuchiya is currently a professor in the Human Behavioral Science section of the Department of Sociology of the Graduate School of Literature and Human Science at Osaka City University. Her profile and curriculum vitae are posted at the following link on the staff section of OCU's server.
Tsuchiya Reiko's homepage Japanese
| Terminology |
JAANUS
Japanese Architectural and Art Net Users System
Comprehensive on-line "Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology" compiled by the late Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent. The dictionary is a work in progress, as it undergoes continual editing and expansion.
The dictionary contains "about 8000 terms related to traditional Japanese architecture and gardens, painting, sculpture and art-historical iconography from approximately the 1st century A.D. to the end of the Edo period (1868)."
The dictionary is searchable alphabetically, or by entering a keyword in a search box. Entries are romanized, and most romanized words are followed by Japanese script. Terms within an entry are cross-referenced so that you can easily jump to other entries.
JART-P
Database of Japan Arts Thesaurus: Paintings Japanese
筑波大学附属図書館
Tsukuba Daigaku Fuzoku Toshokan
University of Tsukuba Library
日本美術シソーラス・データベース絵画編
Nihon bijutsu shisoorasu deetabeesu kaiga hen
Database of Japan Arts Thesaurus: Paintings (JART-P)
This database is not very useful for students of woodblock print in generally, much less of news nishikie in particular. While it contains a lot of information, in records ordered according to name of artist, name of work, and other typtical fields, the information is hot easily accessible.
All indexes are in 50-on order and are searchable by scrolling or using the Ctrl F function. The most useful might be the subject (主題) index.
Woodblock Print Terms
Woodblock Print Terms English
This list, by J. Noel Chiappa, is possibly the best overall guide in English to terms specifically related to woodblock prints. The focus appears to be on past and present production techniques, but there is a wealth of information on other subjects as well.
| Woodblock printing |
David Bull
Woodblock printmaker David Bull makes available an incredible amount of material on woodblock printing. As a working woodblock drawer, trained in Japan, Bull focuses on the technology and art of woodblock printing today. The following links of are of special interest, but there is so much more to enjoy, in your choice of language, English or Japanese.
David Bull's Handbook of Woodblock Printing
J. Noel Chiappa
J. Noel Chiappa has organized a lot of useful material on Japanese woodblock printing. Look for the following items on his table of contents.
Japanese Woodblock Print information
The Production of Japanese Woodblock Prints
The Development of the Woodblock Printing Process
Woodblock Print Drawers' Biographies
Painting Schools and Art-Names (Go)
Date Seals and the Japanese Calendar
Beginning Woodblock Collector's Bibliography
Glossary of Woodblock Print Terms
Japanese Woodblock Print Reference Material
Zodiacal Calendar Date Seals
Nanushi Censor Seals
Utagawa Kunisada Print Series Cross-Reference
Print Series of Ando Hiroshige, in Edward Strange
Print Series of Ando Hiroshige, in Van Vleck
Japanese Woodblock Print Series
Hiroshige's '8 Snow Scenes of Tokyo'
Hiroshige's 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo'
Yoshitoshi's 'One Hundred Aspects of the Moon'