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Paper short abstract

This paper explores the value of recording and analyzing object biographies in studies of mingu collected in Japan. It shows how focusing on objects’ life histories beyond original use reveals changing relations between people and things, and how Digital Humanities methods advance research.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines the significance of recording and analyzing object biographies in the study of mingu and their collections in Japan, and explores how approaches from the Digital Humanities can contribute to advancing such research.

A wide range of everyday objects—including tableware and cooking implements, furniture, transport equipment, clothing, ornaments, and tools used in subsistence activities such as cultivation, fishing, carpentry, forestry, and blacksmithing—have been identified as objects of scholarly interest and collectively referred to as mingu (民具) in Japan. Across the country, regional mingu collections have been formed and have come to serve as important narrators of local culture and history, particularly in the period following Japan’s postwar high economic growth.

However, the collection and documentation of mingu have traditionally emphasized their primary or original functions, with the aim of clarifying the aspects of local culture prior to modernization and/or the continuity of cultural essence within the region. As a result, the life histories of individual objects—including their reuse, reinterpretation, and circulation in everyday life or in museum or heritage context—have often been insufficiently recorded. This approach has tended to capture only limited aspects of objects and their relationships with people and society.

This paper introduces research that focuses on multiple phases in the life of mingu, from their production and everyday use to their collection and preservation as museum objects. It argues that recording and analyzing object biographies is essential for understanding the dynamic relationships between objects, people, and social change. Furthermore, the paper discusses how Digital Humanities methodologies and technologies can enhance the recording, analysis, and sharing of object biographies, thereby enabling more comprehensive and innovative studies of mingu and its collections.