Teito Fukko

[Alex Bates]

Hi everyone,

My name is Alex Bates and I'm at the University of Michigan. (I don't  
know if I've introduced myself before.)  I am writing a dissertation  
on representations of the earthquake and have seen several quake  
related newsreels and documentaries.  Hirohito, then prince regent,   
toured the ruins three days after the earthquake and representations  
of that trip were fairly ubiquitous.  There are postcards and scenes  
of this were included in several newsreels and documentaries at the  
time.  Particularly famous is an image of the prince regent on  
horseback in Ueno park.  (I guess having him on horseback makes him  
look more imposing.)   It really seemed to me to be some sort of  
"viewing the realm" ceremony, asserting his dominion.
I don't have my notes from Teito fukko handy, but my guess is that  
earlier footage from the time of the earthquake was taken from things  
like Monbusho's film Kanto daishinsai (shot by Shirai Shigeru) and  
others.  This monbusho film was an early example of governmental  
entry into filmmaking.  Earthquake documentaries were distributed  
widely, with some even headlining in newspaper advertisements. I  
would imagine that there were several newsreels documenting the  
restoration of the capital along the way.

If you are interested, there are three reels from a contemporary  
earthquake "documentary" available for download online at:
http://edu.city.sasayama.hyogo.jp/video/kensaku/kantodaisinsai.html
I don't think Hirohito appeared in those reels.  It is particularly  
interesting to note the dead bodies here.  It was prohibited to show  
dead bodies both in film and postcards, but this film (and others  
that did also) must have been distributed before the censorship  
infrastructure was restored.
In any case, I'm envious of those who got to go to Pordenone, it  
looked great.

-Alex