Kevin McDowell
University of Oregon. Japanese Studies and History Librarian
Echoes of Edo in the University of Oregon's Japanese Votive Slips Collection
The University of Oregon's Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA) has a large and rare collection of Japanese votive slips (nōsatsu or senjafuda), consisting of over ninety albums with thousands of individual images. The slips, with the names and addresses of pilgrims printed on them, were originally used in early modern Japan to paste on shrines and temples as a way of earning religious merits. This ostensibly religious practice, however, was, almost from the start, mixed with aspects of play and, over time, an exchange element was added as nōsatsu aficionados began to commission artists, carvers and printers to produce elaborate, polychrome artworks solely for the purpose of exchanging and collecting at regular meetings and not for commercial uses. This collection is of unique cultural interest as it offers a glimpse into an art form that was exclusive to the networks of nōsatsu groups that engaged in pasting and exchanging slips in the late Edo, Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa periods (ca. 1850-1930). The prints are evocative of 19th century Edo culture as they depict the landscapes and lifestyles of commoners in Edo and also reflect the momentous changes occurring in late 19th and early 20th century Japan, including the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the rapid effort to modernize and the adoption of many elements of Western modernity so that the prints in the University of Oregon's collection are of interest to a wide range of scholarly areas and eras, including art history, history, popular culture and religious studies. Forty of the albums have been digitized and uploaded to the Oregon Digital Database and last year the UO Library received a Pacific Rim Research Library Alliance Karl Lo Award which will provide funding for continuing the digitization project with the ultimate aim of making the entire collection available digitally.
オレゴン大学納札コレクションに見る江戸の記憶と面影
オレゴン大学図書館は、90冊以上の貼込帖に添付された、数千枚にも及ぶ日本の納札（千社札）を所蔵している。納札は参詣者の氏名や住所などを印刷した札で、ご利益を得る目的で寺社の境内に貼り歩くため、近世から用いられてきた。寺社に納札を貼って歩く行為は、一見宗教的ではあるが、遊びの側面もあり、やがて仲間内で各自の札を交換するようになった。納札愛好家は、定期的な交換会を開催し、その度に画家（浮世絵師）、彫師、摺師に依頼して、凝ったデザインの多色刷の札を制作した。
本校図書館所蔵の納札は、江戸時代後期から昭和初期（約1850年から1930年）に及ぶ。納札のモチーフやデザインから、納札愛好家特有の美的意識を垣間見ることができ、独特の文化的価値を有する。納札は、江戸の風景や庶民の生活を多く描いていることから、19世紀の江戸文化を知り、また、徳川幕府の崩壊、急速な近代化および西洋化、さらに19世紀後半から20世紀初頭の日本の歴史的変化も反映していることから、幅広い時代における美術史、歴史、大衆文化、宗教研究などの学術分野の研究に役立つ。既に40冊の貼込帖がデジタル化され、オレゴンデジタルデータベースにアップロードされた。昨年、オレゴン大学図書館は太平洋沿岸地域研究図書館連合のKarl Lo Awardを受賞、デジタル化プロジェクト継続資金を得て、最終目標である全貼込帖のデジタル化に向けて着実に進んでいる。