Abe Masanao Meteorological Observation Archive Database

Introduction

Ai Shiraishi (Project Assistant Professor, Museum Technology Department, UMUT)

The Abe Collection comprises about a thousand photographic prints, from large-size prints to small-size prints such as postcard and carte de visite formats as well as contact sheet prints. Among them, the numerous meteorological documents recording the observation of clouds forming atop Mount Fuji from a fixed viewpoint constitute the core of the collection. The present database encompasses the Cloud Photo and CLOUD PHOTO documents, which are fundamental in understanding the Abe Collection as a whole.

A categorization of Abe’s meteorological observation archive sheds light on different periods of his meteorological observation, namely: 1) October 1928 with the completion of the Abe Cloud and Air Current Research Observatory in Gotemba and the beginning of the observations; 2) July 1932 when he started regular observation to coincide with the International Polar Year; 3) 1941 when he started working regularly at the Central Meteorological Observatory and obtained his PhD degree in Science.

These different periods are best resumed in the meteorological observation sheets titled “Cloud Photo” and “CLOUD PHOTO,” and synthesizing various observation data. The Cloud Photo series starts on October 6, 1928, and the CLOUD PHOTO series on July 22, 1932. On January 26, 1941, the CLOUD PHOTO series ends.

When Abe began his observation, he gathered his observation data in Cloud Photo and CLOUD PHOTOGRAPH sheets. There are currently 261 of them. The contents of the Cloud Photo series are elementary. The CLOUD PHOTO series was adopted from July 1932 on, when Abe started his systematic observation from a single viewpoint. 1059 of these sheets are extant, and cover a period of approximately ten years, up to January 26, 1941.

The sets of two photographs taken as stereophotographs of a same cloud are used in two types of observation sheets: they are one next to another on the PHOTOCLOUDGRAPHY sheets, and one above another on CLOUD PHOTO sheets. The ID number of these sheets correspond to those of the CLOUD PHOTO, so that they can easily be identified.

On the upper part of these sheets, the indication “PLATE NO.” refers to the ID of the corresponding photographic glass plate, and “Film NO.” to the ID of corresponding film. The corresponding films can be found in the first section (Cloud Observation Films) of the Abe Masanao Film Database.

Notes on the database

- For each specimen, the following information is provided: specimen number, image, title, year, material, dimensions, remarks.

- The specimen number comprises the IMT number and the classificatory number (after G).

- The dimensions are indicated in mm.

- The remarks are based on the original annotations, with slight corrections. The indications placed outside the columns of the data sheet are reproduced within brackets. The indications are read from the left upper side to the right lower side.

- The following meteorological marks are used:
　●〔雨〕 (rain)
　▲〔雹〕 (hail)
　✳︎〔雪、露〕 (snow, dew)
　☰〔霧〕 (fog)
　ப〔霜〕 (frost)
　ⵖ〔霜柱〕 (needle ice)
　☈〔雷〕 (lightning)
　⟙〔雷鳴、凍露〕 (thunder, frozen dew)

(Based on the explanations on the weather forecast symbols on the website of the Japan Meteorological Agency)

Scanning, Image Editing and Proofreading Credits (Affiliations as of March 2018)

Ai Shiraishi (Project Assistant Professor, Museum Technology Department, UMUT)

Makito Saotome (Lecturer, Departement of Japanese Literature, Faculty of Letters, Tokai University)

Sota Yoshikawa (Intermediatheque Department, UMUT)

Akiko Haruta (Third Year Student, Faculty of Law, the University of Tokyo)

Mai Sakaguchi (Fourth Year Student, Faculty of Letters, Komazawa University)

Note

The present database is part of the 2017 UTokyo Digital Archives Project. It is based on The University Museum, The University of Tokyo Material Reports, no.114: Catalogue of the Masanao Abe Collections in the University Museum, the University of Tokyo, Volume I, with the addition of images and some minor corrections. (April 2018)