Established "Great Kanto Earthquake Video Digital Archive" Release valuable videos of the time National Film Archive, National Institute of Informatics – Art Exhibition Navi

The National Film Archive of Japan (Kyobashi, Tokyo), in collaboration with the National Institute of Informatics (Hitotsubashi, Tokyo), opened the website "Kanto Great Earthquake Video Digital Archive" on September 1.

https://kantodaishinsai.filmarchives.jp/

The Great Kanto Earthquake that occurred on September 1, 1923 (Taisho 12) and left 105,000 dead and missing. This site aims to release all the movie films related to the Great Kanto Earthquake in the archive by September 1, 2023, two years after the outbreak.

As the first step, this time, the full-length record film "Kanto Great Earthquake Great Fire Situation", which was supervised by the Ministry of Education at that time and aimed at spreading on a nationwide scale, was released. One of the most well-known movies about the Great Kanto Earthquake, which was a silent black-and-white movie in the 64th minute, which recorded a tragedy by Shigeru Shirai's "Desperate Shooting". The film covers the disaster situation in Tokyo and Yokohama, the relief and security maintenance activities of the public and private sectors, and the steps toward reconstruction that has already begun.

On the site, you can search and browse by "clip" classified by shooting location and scene (event being photographed). Chiyoda, Chuoko, Minato, Bunkyo, Taito, Sumida, Koto, Shibuya, Yokohama, etc. are identified as shooting locations. The scenes were classified into "fire", "burnt", "collapsed / damaged", "evacuation", "rescue / rescue / rescue", "emergency temporary housing", "restoration", "reconstruction", and "royal family". In addition, information on materials used as authority for specifying the shooting location and time is also posted. The site is structured so that it is easy to use for research and learning.

From now on, "Great Kanto Earthquake Live" (Nikki, 1923), "September 1, Taisho 2nd Year, Stepping on the Fierce Fire and the Dead Tokyo" (Hayakawa Art Film Works, 1923), "Taisho Great Earthquake, Taisho 12th Year 9" About 20 works such as "Month 1st" [Another title: Great Earthquake and Mitsui] (Production company unknown, 1923) will be released.

The National Film Archive of Japan positions the purpose of this site as "to raise knowledge and interest in unprecedented catastrophes and to cultivate literacy for documentary films." On top of that, he said, "We will continue to devise ways to grow the site as a growing site so that people can experience the discoveries and surprises unique to video."

(Yomiuri Shimbun Art Exhibition Navi Editing Group Tadashi Okabe)