Appearance of the Comprehensive Study of Russian and Soviet Culture in Japan

: Nobori Shomu and his Booklet Series The Pamphlets about New Russia (1924–1927)

Abstract

　This paper deals with the booklet series The Pamphlets about New Russia in eight volumes (1924–1927), written by Nobori Shomu (1878–1958), a Japanese specialist of Russian literature. Although the earlier studies noted that he was an important specialist of Russian and Soviet culture, his essays on this subject, including this series, have been largely neglected.

　The author considers that these booklets are the first comprehensive study of Russian and Soviet culture in Japan because Nobori treated literature, the fine arts, the theatrical arts, music, and movies in equal detail. Compared with other Japanese publications and journals about Russian studies of those days, these booklets, which had many photographs, were sold at a low price. This shows that Nobori aimed to intelligibly introduce the whole picture as well as the new trends in Russian and Soviet culture to Japanese people. It is worth noting that the fourth volume of this series, An Overview of New Russian Arts (1925), went into its fifth printing just three months after its publication. It concerned the new Japanese art movements in the 1920s, which were led by the playwright and novelist Murayama Tomoyoshi (1901–1977), the painter Yamamoto Kanae (1882–1946), and other artists. The results indicate that Nobori published this series to contribute to the development of contemporary Japanese culture; by introducing Russian and Soviet culture to Japan and evaluating them as the model of cultural success.