New Book (E+J)

Abe' Mark Nornes amnornes at a.imap.itd.umich.edu
Tue Jan 11 23:22:42 EST 2000


A very interesting---even unique---book has hit the shelves in Japan. Anyone
interested in Japanese film history will probably want to pick it up.

The author is Nakayama Shinyo (中山信如), who some in KineJapan might be
acquainted with. He's runs Inagaki Shoten, the used bookstore devoted to
film (for directions and address, check out the "search" section of Kinema
Club). The book is entitled "Furuhonya 'Shinebukku' Manpo" (『古本屋「シネブ
ック」漫歩』), Waizu Shuppan 1999 (ISBN: 4-89830-017-0 c0074). The book is
culled from six years of rensai in Hosho Gekkan.

The book is a thick set of historiographies by various themes, for example:
chapters on directors like Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kawashima, Itami & Itami....also
by actors like Hara Setsuko, Ryu Chishu, Takamine Hideko, Irie Takako, and
so on.....or by theme like Chambara, Manei, Tokyo films, best ten books,
etc. etc.

Each chapter (or multiple chapters in many cases) cover the major books that
cover that subject, from contemporaneous publications to the present day. He
includes special issues of magazines, retrospective catalogues and the like.
More importantly, he covers all the very unusual and hard to find short-run,
vanity press-style books. This is particularly useful information because so
few Japanese books include bibliographies.  It's easy to overlook these
books that have tiny runs, and don't exist in most libraries.

The book is more than a list of titles, tho. There's serious historiography
here. Nakayama gives some fascinating accounts of the background behind
certain publications, the personalities behind the pens, and how these
publications fit into larger critical currents in the history of Japanese
film publications. Some of the most valuable chapters cover the work of
bibliographers like Tsuji Kyohei, and point to the rare bibliographies that
were usually self-published.

It's also written in an entertaining, light style that's fun to read. The
book deals with upwards of 800 books, and they're all included in the most
unique index I've ever seen. In a publication culture that often skips the
index, he's recorded not only the date, publisher, author, title, and
size...but also the PRICE! Sasuga Furuhonya-san! Most of the books here are
out of print, but still circulating in the used book market. So what's the
most expensive one in the list? I didn't look real closely, but it might be
the premiere issue of Katsudo Shashinkai for 80,000 yen (around
US$800)...which makes Makino Mamoru's reprint of the entire run sound cheap
at the same price!

Markus


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