Library Sources & Hosting

Takase Studios has hosted a small collection of historical works on Japanese art, culture, and aesthetics since the mid-1990s. Each work appears here for the same reason: to make accessible, in the spirit of its original publication, a thoughtful primary source that would otherwise be hard to find.

The hosting is non-commercial. There is no advertising on these pages, the works are not sold, and no derivative monetization runs against them. Where works are still in copyright, we host them in good faith and will remove any work upon a credible request from a rights-holder.

The notes below summarize the provenance and current copyright status of each hosted work.

A Glimpse of Japanese Ideals

Jiro Harada (1937) — Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, Tokyo

A series of public lectures delivered by Jiro Harada (1878–1963), staff art historian at the Imperial Household Museum, on Japanese aesthetics, architecture, gardens, and the artistic spirit. Published in 1937 by Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai (KBS) — a Japanese cultural-diplomacy organization whose explicit mission was to share Japanese art and ideals with the world. KBS's successor today is the Japan Foundation.

We host the OCR scan in the same spirit KBS published it: as a freely accessible cultural-diplomacy work. The book has been out of print for decades; the Japan Foundation has not pursued the title; other institutions including Wikimedia Commons and Yale University Library catalog or host similar legacy KBS materials. The work entered the public domain in Japan on January 1, 2014.

Kabuki Drama

Syutaro Miyake (1938) — Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways

A guide to Kabuki theatre prepared by the Japanese Government Railways' Board of Tourist Industry as part of Japan's pre-war cultural-tourism program — sister in mission to the KBS publications: a primary-source introduction to a Japanese art form for visitors and Western readers. Published institutionally to share Japanese culture with the world.

Hosted under the same posture as the Harada work.

Kimono

John Paris (1922) — Boni & Liveright, New York

A novel of Japanese life by the British diplomat and author John Paris (Frank Ashton-Gwatkin, 1889–1976), published in New York by Boni & Liveright. As a 1922 U.S. publication, the work entered the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2018 under the standard 95-year term for pre-1929 works.

The Book of Tea

Kakuzo Okakura (1906) — Kenkyusha, Tokyo (1910 edition)

Okakura Kakuzō's classic essay on the cultural and aesthetic significance of the Japanese tea ceremony, originally written in English and first published in 1906. A foundational work in Western understanding of Japanese aesthetics. Long in the public domain in both Japan and the United States.

Removal requests

If you are a rights-holder for any of the works hosted here and would prefer the work be removed, please contact us. We will comply promptly and in good faith.