Finding the question in all the noise

"Write about what question concerning the ... research world you would like to investigate if you were absolutely guaranteed you would not fail." (Luker, 21)

The timer is set. Let’s see how this goes…

• What are some of the main characteristics of early codex-form books in Japan?
• Why was the switch from scroll to codex made? What cultural influences led to this change?
• When studying the materiality of the early Japanese book, it is observed that many elements are taken from Chinese bookbinding. Would a study of the materiality of these books tell us more about the similarities and differences between Chinese and Japanese binding practices in the early 1600’s?
• Around the end of the 1500’s, there was an introduction of movable type to Japan and multiple systems developed within Japan to make use of this technology (Kornicki, 128). How do these systems differ? What evidence have the different systems left through the different books printed under each method?
• In what ways do the Japanese-created methods differ from the Korean and the Jesuit technologies and practices surrounding movable type?
• Though these works printed from movable type set a standard in terms of the style of illustrated and printed works for the next several hundred years, printing returned to the use of woodblock for books (Kornicki, 134). Why was this necessary? In what ways did the unique combination of alphabet and ideograph writing systems shape the feasibility of different technologies for published works?
• Looking at the privately designed wooden movable type created for use in the Sagabon books in particular, who was involved in the actual type creation and printing? What were the responsibilities and methods of the different workers and craftsmen involved in the creation of these books? Is there any evidence remaining in the printed works themselves to provide further insight into the creation of these books?
• While collation as a method is not strictly useful for woodblock printed books, can it be applied to wooden movable type, even though these works do not follow the same strict western format of books from the hand-press period? What elements of collation are useful for studying these printed works? What can this type of analysis tell us about the books and the people who made them?

That wasn’t quite 15 minutes, but I think I’ll pause there.

I noticed a colleague make use of a word cloud, and I thought I’d dump my questions into one, just to see what major ideas span across the different ‘research’ questions I thought up. [If you’d like to try it too, it’s right here and can be a lot of fun to play around with!]

 I love how word clouds can give you a quick overview of some of the main themes of your thoughts. What's jumping out in all of this are my interests in early printed books, movable type, Japanese books, the systems in which books are made, and the differences between these works.

From all of this, I think the question I am most interested in answering boils down to:

What can western-style collation methods tell us about the people, cultures, and methods involved in the production of early Japanese books printed with movable type?

Sources:

      Kornicki, P. F. (2001). The book in Japan: A cultural history from the beginnings to the nineteenth century. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. 

      Luker, K. (2008). Salsa dancing into the social sciences: Research in an age of info-glut. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.