[KineJapan] Notes on Waseda Symposium on Nikkatsu Roman Poruno

[Paul Berry]

I have put together a few brief notes on the recent symposium at Waseda on
Nikkatsu Roman Porno.
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Waseda Daigaku Engeki Hakubutsukan Engeki Eizogaku Renkei Kenkyu Kyoten
Kokai Kenkyukai 早稲田大学演劇博物館演劇映像学連携研究拠点公開研究会
”Roman poruno kenkyu no kako, genzai, mirai” 「ロマンポルノ研究過去・現在・未来」12/14/19.
(Roman Poruno Research: Past, Present, and Future)

This was the second of what may become a series of kenkyukai presentations
that were first instigated by investigation of the huge quantity of press
sheets for Nikkatsu roman poruno films in the collection of the Enpaku
museun at Waseda Daigaku, Toyama Campus..
The first kenkyukai symposium was held at Waseda about a year ago with a
different group of scholars:「プレスシートから読み解く日活ロマンポルノ」(Explicating Roman Poruno
based on their Press Sheets)   2018 年12月22日
The museum has a collection of 1,235 roman porno press sheets of which 955
are Nikkatsu, 73 are Toei, and 207 misc. others. If one discounts
duplicates in the collection, there are approx. 778 different Nikkatsu
examples and 61 sheets by Toei.  In an admittedly hard to categorize area,
there was an estimate of 1,117  roman porno films made until their demise
in 1985. Using that as a standard, the collection contains press sheets for
roughly 68% of the total.

On this occasion there were four speakers addressing an audience of
thirty-some people in a classroom on the Waseda campus. The program was
arranged for each speaker to make a short introduction of their research
and then have a fairly casual discussion among the panel members on a wide
variety of topics. Given the short amount of time there were brief comments
on a great many aspects, but little opportunity for sustained discussion of
any particular point. It was announced at the beginning that there would be
no questions allowed from the audience, although survey sheets were handed
out with the hope that people would make written comments or give reactions
to the presentations.

Although the origin of the project was based on the information found on
the press sheets, it was acknowledged that they only provide a certain
amount of textual information that needs to be supplemented by actually
viewing the films. Several speakers characterized their viewing experience
as ranging from over 200 films to others who said they had seen a much
smaller number. All speakers seemed well familiar with the most famous
works and directors of the Nikkatsu series. References were made to various
studies of the Nikkatsu series, although it was unclear how familiar they
are with foreign language publications on the topic. There was mention of
their awareness of the feminist-inclined area of Porn Studies that has
emerged in the US. All of the speakers were giving update reports on their
ongoing research rather than making formal presentations with specific
conclusions.
The following gives a little information on each of the speakers combined
with a small sample of their comments. As topics and opinions continued to
shift quickly throughout the discussions it is hard to summarize their
points in any overall manner.

Kono Mariko 河野真理江  Part-time Assist. Professor Aoyama Gakuin Daigaku
青山学院大学、and Rikkyo Daigaku 立教大学 非常助教授
戦後日本「メロドラマ映画」の身体 : 撮影所時代のローカル・ジャンルと範例的作品
Kono’s research has focused on melodrama as a genre. Among the many topics
remarked upon was the similarity of some examples of Nikkatsu roman poruno
to series films like the 『トラック野郎』10-film series (Suzuki Norifumi, dir.
Sugawara Bunta lead, 1975-1979 - which Itami satirized in Tanpopo) and the
long running TV series Konyoku rotenburo renzoku satsujin『混浴露天風呂連続殺人』(Asahi
Doyo wido gekijo, 1982-2007, 26 episodes, starring Furuya Kazuichi and
Yamaguchi Kaori), all of which employed harem-like scenes of nude women
attentive to the male lead.

Hwang Kyunminファン・ギュンミン Part-time Lecturer at Meiji Gakuin Daigaku 明治学院大学非常講師
Fan’s earlier work included studies of Japanese program pictures from the
1950s and 1960s, including the Zatoichi series.  She made various comments
on the similarities and differences of sexually orientated films in South
Korea and Japan, including clips from a 1977 Korean film and a 1982
Japanese production. Mention was made of a roman poruno film series that
was shown in Seoul and elsewhere. It was pointed out that the people
organizing the film showings did not fully grasp the Japanese context of
the Nikkatsu roman poruno as they began the series with a showing of
Imamura  Shohei’s (1966, Nikkatsu) The Pornographers "Erogotoshitachi" yori
Jinruigaku nyūmon (「エロ事師たち」より 人類学入門), The Nikkatsu Roman Poruno Reboot was
also referred to briefly as being unsuccessful in attempting to restart
production.

Kubo Yutaka Asst. Professor  at Waseda Daigaku working at Enpaku. 久保裕
演劇博物館. 職名. 助教. 学位. 人間・環境学（博士）(京都大学).
関心のあるテーマ・クィア映画理論 ykubo315 gmail.com.
Kubo, the Enpaku representative on the panel, specializes in employing a
queer studies approach to cinema. The sole male on the panel, he drew some
attention to the need for taking a critical look at the presentation of
female-female relationships in roman poruno in addition to the rarer
examples of male-male relations in this context and the need for a
theoretical basis for analysis.

Hatogai Mio 鳩飼未緒 Final Stage of Doctoral Program at Waseda Daigaku
早稲田大学大学院博士後期課程
論文題目：1970年代日活ロマンポルノ研究――日本映画における撮影所時代からポスト撮影所時代への移行過程
Hatogai is in the process of finishing a doctoral dissertation at Waseda on
Nikkatsu roman porumo films. Included in her research is understanding the
different stances of the noted directors of the Nikkatsu roman poruno list.
Topics included the position of the female audience, gender roles, the
development of Porn Studies, and so on.

The above notes are but a small fragment of the large number of varied
comments made by the speakers. Topics and thoughts about them were quite
diverse and fast moving. There was some discussion of the role of actresses
in roman porno with several people commenting on the power of Tani Naomi’s
work.

One speaker pointed out that all the panelists were born after the end of
Nikkatsu roman poruno in 1985 which puts their work into a historical
framework of examining the past Japanese culture of that time in the Showa
era. Although only a brief two-hour period, the discussions showed how a
larger conference could be made that might have panels devoted to various
significant aspects that were briefly raised during the back-and-forth
discussions held here.
As all the presentations were of research in progress, it seems possible
that there may be further symposiums in the future.

Paul Berry
Kyoto
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