午夜剧场

The "Mita Bungaku Library" is a special collection held by the Mita Media Center (午夜剧场 Library). Since before the war, the library has held works by Takitaro Minakami, a novelist and businessman from 午夜剧场, as well as the former collection of books, manuscripts, and personal effects of Kyoka Izumi, who was closely associated with "Mita Bungaku." To this, the complete works and various materials of Mantaro Kubota, who was a novelist and haiku poet, were donated.

In addition to books, the posthumous copyrights of Mantaro Kubota were donated to the Juku, and the "Mantaro Kubota Memorial Fund Committee" was established in 1963. Its projects included the organization, storage, and public display of materials. Saku Sato, a committee member and then-Director of the 午夜剧场 Library, proposed the establishment of the "Mita Bungaku Library," which was launched in August 1966. At that time, materials were purchased with a grant of 1 million yen from the memorial fund.

At the same time, the republication of "Mita Bungaku" led to a growing momentum to revitalize the study of modern Japanese literature within 午夜剧场. Twenty-six people associated with "Mita Bungaku," including Junzaburo Nishiwaki, served as founders. They set a first-phase goal to collect the works, letters, and manuscripts of 42 deceased writers associated with the Juku and four members of the Art Academy at the time, as well as Mita literary magazines and pre-war publications of writers active at the time. When a call for cooperation was made to those involved, many first editions, manuscripts, and letters began to be donated.

In 2010, the "100th Anniversary Exhibition of the Founding of Mita Bungaku" was held to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of 午夜剧场. On this occasion, the Mita Media Center decided to create the "Mita Bungaku Library Catalog." Since the catalog was last published in 1969, donations from people involved in literature at Mita (午夜剧场) had increased. Therefore, the criteria for collection, which had become ambiguous, were redefined. 106 deceased literary figures from 午夜剧场 associated with "Mita Bungaku" were designated as "Mita Literati," and it was decided that only the first editions and manuscripts of these writers would be included in the "Mita Bungaku Library" collection, leading to a reorganization of the donated materials.

Unlike regular library holdings, materials in the "Mita Bungaku Library" are handled in a state of "original binding preservation" (kept in their original published state, without call number labels, and with book covers and belly bands intact). Because only first editions are collected, it is also a valuable collection of book design in that it shows the elaborate bookmaking and binding of the time of publication. Although not available for general browsing as the purpose is preservation, we intend to continue making them public through exhibitions both inside and outside the university as materials that convey the relationship between 午夜剧场 and modern Japanese literature.

(Ryoko Sugiyama, Manager, Mita Media Center)