1. Interdisciplinary Research on Nōgaku Based on literature sources
2024
・Expansion of the Konparu Family Digital Archive
Newly added to the archive are 81 items from the Hannyakutsu Collection (3 utaibon or nō chant books, 2 nō treatises, 9 tsuke, and 67 historical documents), and 120 tsuke from the Konparu Iemoto Collection.
・Expansion of Nō and Kyōgen Materials Comprehensive Digital Archive
Newly added to the archive are 120 items from the Kōzan Collection (1 commentary, 53 tsuke, 4 kyōgen materials, and 61 historical documents), 81 items from the Hannyakutsu Collection (3 utaibon, 2 treatises, 9 tsuke, and 67 historical documents), 520 modern magazines, and bibliographic information of 500 items from the Noh Theatre Research Institute Collection.
・Updated: Nō and Kyōgen Rare Materials Digital Collection
Renamed to ‘Nō and Kyōgen Rare Materials Digital Collection,’ we added bibliographic information for the new 50 items.
・New publication: Musical Treatises from the Early Modern Period (Kinsei shoki hayashi denshoshū 近世初期囃子伝書集), Historical Materials on Nō Theatre Series 9
Transcriptions and commentaries of a total of 5 documents on early modern nō music. Transcribed by Hayashi densho kenkyūkai 囃子伝書研究会.
2023
・Expansion of The Konparu Family Digital Archive
Newly added to the archive are 188 utaibon from the Hannyakutsu Collection and 200 tsuke from the Konparu Iemoto Collection.
・Expansion of Nō and Kyōgen Materials Comprehensive Digital Archive
Newly added to the archive are 215 historical documents and 195 modern magazines.
・Compilation of a Catalogue of Nōgaku Materials from Noh Theatre Research Institute Collection
A comprehensive catalogue with bibliographic notes of approximately 2,000 historical materials (excluding those of library collections) owned by the Noh Theatre Research Institute is underway. The materials will be uploaded to the above-mentioned “Nō and Kyōgen Materials Comprehensive Digital Archive” by the end of 2024.
・New Release: Nō and Kyōgen Rare Materials Digital Collection
This is the English language archive that provides access to our unique collections on nō and kyōgen theater, owned and managed by Hosei University Noh Theatre Research Institute. Currently, the archive contains 54 images and 4 bibliographic notes, but it will be updated in due course.
・New publication: Compilated Ai Kyōgen Resources (Ai kyōgen shiryō shūsei 間狂言資料集成), Historical Materials on Nō Theatre 8
Collection of ai kyōgen (interlude) materials, mainly from the Izumi and Sagi schools, most of which were transcribed for the first time. Transcribed by Ai kyōgen kyōdō kenkyūkai 間狂言共同研究会.
2022
・Updated: The Konparu Family Digital Archive
Materials transmitted within the Konparu Family are now renewed as the Konparu Family Digital Archive. Newly added to the archive are 60 documents from the Hannyakutsu Collection and 160 utaibon from the Konparu Iemoto Collection.
・New Release: Nō and Kyōgen Materials Comprehensive Digital Archive
Apart from the existing Digital Archive of Nōgaku Materials, which is not equipped with a search function, our new website, Nō and Kyōgen Materials Comprehensive Digital Archive, enables cross-search and image browsing of classical and modern Nōgaku magazines from the archives of Noh Theatre Research Institute. Newly added to the archive are 2313 premodern materials and 214 modern magazines. The data is currently undergoing its final check and is scheduled for release in July 2023.
・Compilation of a Catalogue of Nōgaku Materials from the Noh Theatre Research Institute Collection
A catalogue and bibliography of all approximately 2,000 classical books in the Noh Theatre Research Institute’s collection (excluding library collections) is being prepared by the Institute’s staff on an ongoing basis. It is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2023 and uploaded to the above-mentioned “Nō and Kyōgen Materials Comprehensive Digital Archive” by the end of 2024.
2021
・New publication: The Familial Lineages of Edo-period Nō Performers in the Domains (Kinsei shohan nōyakusha yuishosho shūsei ge 近世諸藩能役者由緒書集成（下）), Volume 3, Historical Materials on Nō Theatre Series 7
Collection of historical records of Edo-period nō actors who served the total of fifty-seven families of various domain lords throughout Japan. Edited by MIYAMOTO Keizō.
・Expansion of Digital Archive
We studied the materials from the Konparu Family Archive and wrote their bibliographic information with the aim of creating its digital archive.
2020
・New publication: The Familial Lineages of Edo-period Nō Performers in the Domains (Kinsei shohan nōyakusha yuishosho shūsei chū 近世諸藩能役者由緒書集成（中）), Vol. 2, Historical Materials on Nō Theatre Series 6
As the continuation of the Vol. 1 published in 2018, we originally planned to publish the second and final volume under the same title, but due to the vast amount of studies required and slow progress, we decided to publish the second volume in 2020 and plan to publish another volume in the coming years.
・Updated: Nō and Kyōgen Materials Image Archive
49 historical documents were newly added to the Archive.
・In collaboration with the National Noh Theatre, we held a special exhibition “Kanjin Nō” and made available to the public the results of joint research and surveys. We also detailed the outcome of our research in the exhibition catalogue and other publications.
2019
・Updated: Nō and Kyōgen Materials Image Archive
Digital scanning of the valuable kyōgen materials, Namekawabon kyōgen daihon densho (名女川本狂言台本・伝書) and Namekawa-ke bangumi tomechō (名女川家番組留帳), was completed and made available in the digital archive. These materials had long been unaccounted for but were rediscovered the year before last.
・Editing of the Historical Materials on Nō Theatre Series近世諸藩能役者由緒書集成（下）
In order to publish the second volume of The Familial Lineages of Edo-period Nō Performers in the Domains (Kinsei shohan nōyakusha yuishosho shūsei 近世諸藩能役者由緒書集成, a comprehensive reprint of the historical records of nō performers in the domains, we searched for records held by regional libraries and archives across Japan and edited the draft. The volume of information turned out to be much larger than we originally expected, with the second volume alone containing 840 pages, far more than the 460 pages of the first volume. Although the draft was almost complete, due to the temporary closure of libraries and archives associated with the new coronavirus epidemic, we had difficulties in checking the materials at the final stage of editing, and we decided to postpone the publication of the second volume until the next academic year.
