Kanagawa University the 21^st century COE program Systematization of Nonwritten Cultural Materials for the Study of Human Societies

Study Groups and Achievements

Task 3: Compilation of Pictopedia of Everyday Life in East Asia

• Research Process
• │
• Research Results

The results of our research studies were published in two volumes of Pictopedia of Everyday Life in East Asia: one is on the South of the Yangzi River, China, while the other one was on the Joseon period genre paintings of Korea. Original drawings come in color, as do our pictorial references. In the Chinese version, where necessary, we added captions in both Japanese and Chinese to avoid misinterpretation. However, most items are captioned in modern Japanese only, while all depicted objects in the Korean version are captioned in Japanese and Korean.

By publishing these two volumes of pictorial references, we have shown to the world that this Japanese-invented compilation method can be employed and appreciated throughout the world.

We have also been working to set up a pictorial database of the Joseon Period genre paintings of Korea. When this is completed, users will be able to search by illustration in Japanese, Korean and English.

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