UBC Japanese Library Resources Blog

JapanKnowledge has begun uploading the full-text, searchable e-version of Shinpen Nihon koten bungaku zenshu 新編日本古典文学全集 to its database, starting with the full set of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 produced by the series. Users can now search for words within the original text, the gendaigo yaku 現代語訳, the annotations, or all three at once. Other works in the SNKBZ series will be uploaded in the near future. How can you access this resource? See below for details.

1. Log into your myVPN (if accessing from home)
2. Go to the JapanKnowledge website (http://www.jkn21.com/), and click on the ログイン/Login button
3. On the main screen, scroll down and find 新編日本古典文学全集 at the bottom right, and select 個別
   
4. Enter the search term and choose what part of the text you would like to search
   
5. Choose from the results (the search term is highlighted in pink), and you will be taken to a digital reproduction of the page in which the term appears.

Remember to log out when you are finished your search, so that others may access this resource.

Update:
Click here for the newly-released guide from JapanKnowledge.

UBC has started a new subscription to Zasshi kiji sakuin sh̄usei, an online periodicals index from Koseisha. This index, which we trialed in the fall, provides citation information for articles from the Meiji period to the present. Although information on recent publications can also be found in sources such as the National Diet Library’s Periodicals’ index and CiNii, this serves as a unique online resource for pre-1948 works.

To access this e-resource:
1) Sign into your myVPN (if accessing from home)
2) Go to the information page
3) Click on “via the web”

Here are some of the titles that we recently acquired at Asian Library:

Literature for Language Learners
Irasuto koten zen’yaku (イラスト古典全訳枕草子)
Kimi ga mitsukeru monogatari: Jūdai no tame no shinmeisaku
(きみが見つける物語 : 十代のための新名作)
10-pun de yomeru meisaku – grades 1 to 6 (10分で読める名作)
Rōdoku “bungaku no shizuku” (朗読「文学のしずく」)

Ghost and Mystery Stories
Edo kaii kisō bungei taikei (江戸怪異綺想文芸大系)
Purofuiru: tantei to ryōki (ぷろふいる : 探偵と猟奇)

Here are some of the titles that we recently acquired at Asian Library:

Fine Arts
Nihon ayatsuri ningyoshi (日本操り人形史)
Rinpa (琳派)

Language
Shigoto no Nihongo (しごとの日本語)
Watakushitachi to keigo (私たちと敬語)

Literature
1Q84 by MURAKAMI Haruki (1Q84 / 村上春樹)
Ise monogatari: sozo to henyo (伊勢物語 : 創造と変容)
Yumeno Kyusaku (夢野久作)

Religious Studies
Tendaishu zensho (天台宗全書)

History
Kibi dango (驥尾團子)
Mangaban Nihon no rekishi (漫画版日本の歴史)

DVDs
Kyoto Gionmatsuri (京都祗園祭)
Gekido no kiroku (激怒の記録)
Dokyumento Taiheiyo Senso (ドキュメント太平洋戦争)
Nihongo de kuraso (にほんごでくらそう)
Nishi no Majo ga shinda (西の魔女が死んだ)
Maiko haaaan!!! (舞妓 haaaan!!!)

Until the end of March 2010, our Asahi Shinbun’s Kikuzo Visual II database will include pdf images of the paper’s shukusatsuban small print editions published between 1926 and 1945.

Instructions on accessing the archive:
1) log onto into your VPN and access Kikuzo via the information page
2) choose the 朝日新聞縮刷版 (Asahi Shinbun shukusatsuban) tab
3) 1926-1945 should be pre-selected

Please e-mail me if you have any feedback regarding this resource.

We are currently running a trial of Koseisha’s Zasshi kiji sakuin shusei, an index of Japanese periodicals that covers materials published from the Meiji Period to today. The database includes the full National Diet Library periodicals’ index, but is especially useful for those looking for resources published before 1948.

To access this index:
1) log into your VPN
2) go to the information page
3) click on “via the web”
4) click on 詳細検索

The trial ends October 24, 2009.

For more information on this database, check out this brochure (pdf).

I would appreciate any feedback you may have regarding this resource. Please e-mail me with your comments.

Today the Emperor and Empress of Japan visited UBC Asian Centre, and we had the opportunity to show them three items from UBC Library’s collection. I have listed the works below, for those who are interested.

Ise monogatari utakaruta, a set of late-Edo uta-garuta (poem cards) that we acquired for the Asian Library just this year.

The following two maps, both from Rare Books and Special Collections’ Japanese Maps of the Tokugawa Era collection.

Bankoku Sozu (萬國総図), part a and part b

Kanagawa ko oezu (神奈川港大絵図)

Ise Monogatari Utakaruta

As of today, UBC students and faculty will be able to access Asahi Kikuzo II Visual. This database includes 5.8 million articles in full text from Asahi publications including the Asahi Shinbun newspaper (1945-present), AERA weekly magazine (May 1988-present) and Shukan Asahi weekly magazine.

To link to this resource, please see the information page.

To access from home, you must be logged into your VPN.

TomoeArts will be staging a performance entitled Ten Nights of Dream, based on the 1908 Natsume Sôseki work (夢十夜). The show will feature performer and UBC instructor Colleen Lanki, and the May 22 event will include a talk on Natsume Sôseki by UBC Asian Studies Professor Sharalyn Orbaugh.

Event details:
May 21, 22 & 23
8:30pm (note: Dr. Orbaugh’s lecture @ 7pm, Fri May 22)
Centre A, 2 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

For more on the events, including ticketing information, check out the TomoeArts performances page.

For the month of May, we will be having a trial of Yomiuri Shinbun’s Yomidas Rekishikan ヨミダス歴史館 database. The database is keyword searchable and includes over 10 million articles from the newspaper from 1874 to present.

To access this resource

1. Log on to your VPN
2. Go to the site: https://database.yomiuri.co.jp/rekishikan/

Check out the information page for more details.

Your feedback is essential to determining whether or not we will purchase this database in the future. Please e-mail me and let me know how useful you found the resource.