Comprehensive database of material concerning Seishi Yokomizo (1902-1981), one of Japan's leading postwar mystery novelists, including writing in his own hand. Offers access across a huge collection held by Nishogakusha University comprising manuscripts, drafts, writing notes, memos, scenarios for books made into films, cuttings from books and magazines with corrections by Yokomizo, and more.
The manuscripts and drafts that form the nucleus of this database consist of over 10,000 pages from Yokomizo's genre-bending output, dating from before the war to the author's final years and starting with popular works from his Detective Kindaichi series such as The Village of Eight Graves and The Inugami Clan, and including Kiri no yoru no dekigoto ("On a foggy night") unpublished during his lifetime, and Kamen butokai ("Masked ball") which became a talking point in Japan on its discovery. Also includes over 6700 pages of finished manuscript for books such as Byoinzaka no Kubikukuri no Ie (The House of Hanging on Hospital Slope) and Meiroso no sangeki (Tragedy at the House of Meiro). Also contains indispensable primary sources for tracing Yokomizo's writing process, including research notes for Akuryoto (Demon's Island), and notes for the writing of The Inugami Clan. The film scenarios, written with structural guidance from Edogawa Ranpo, are for two books penned during the Occupation. Yokomizo himself has also left his own notes in connection with the adaptation of these novels to the screen, making this a worthwhile resource for film and cinema studies.
This is not only an essential resource for learning more about the writing of Seishi Yokomizo, whose books spanned everything from detective novels to historical novels and books for children, and are still being made into well-loved films and TV dramas today, but an incomparable treasure trove of data for the study of modern Japanese literature, film, the media, and publishing history.