일영박람회에서 전시된 일본 역사와 예능―대외문화홍보로서의 역사의 가시화―

Abstract

The following paper contemplates the culturalpromotion Japan put forth at the early modern world’s fairs. This paper focusesparticularly on the visual display of Japan’s history through a diorama at the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910, and the creation of scenes related to Japanese arts over time . The world’s fair was a place for attending countries to announce their status to the world. To Japan, who was not well-known to the early modern west, the world’s fair was a golden opportunity for advertising their country. Japan’s first attendance at a world’s fair was during the Edo period at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867, but it was during the new Meiji government that Japan formally attended the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair. The new Japanese government composed a piece of text introducing the country’s history as a means of announcing Japan to the world. The Japanese government just so happened to also be compiling their history during this time, and the texts used at the fair to introduce Japanese history were later published as a history book. Meanwhile, Japanese intellectuals and high-level officials of the Meiji period had a generally negative perception of traditional arts. Despite this, Miyako Odori and Kabuki performances were even held at the world’s fair. This paper examines Japan’s cultural promotion at world’s fairs following the Vienna World’s Fair, and investigates the background and development of the display’s composition which combined history and the arts at the Japan-British Exhibition.