Non-visual Appreciation of Japanese Classical Culture: Touchread of Characters in Ancient Manuscript for the Visually Impaired

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K13257
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Special needs education
• Research Institution: National Institute of Japanese Literature
• Principal Investigator: ITO Tetsuya 国文学研究資料館, 研究部, 教授 (10232456)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): HIROSE Koujirou 国立民族学博物館, 民族文化研究部, 准教授 (20342644) ; OUCHI Susumu 独立行政法人国立特別支援教育総合研究所, 企画部, 客員研究員 (40321591) ; NAKANO Maki 関東短期大学, こども学科, 専任講師 (30569778)
• Research Collaborator: ASAKAWA Makiko 国文学研究資料館, プロジェクト研究員 (90795808)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 視覚障害 / 日本古典文化 / 仮名文字 / 触読

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study relates to a reception of Japanese classic literature, more specifically to a challenge for a visually impaired person to acquire new knowledge by a touchread. As a result of trial and error, we have found that a 3D-printed embossed characters allow a touchread of the characters written in an ancient manuscript without actually seeing the them. Further, we have produced a good result in a touchread test in a voice-linked learning system
These epoch-making results were released on a website “a touchread study of an ancient manuscript ‘the Tale of Genji’” （http://genjiito.sakura.ne.jp/touchread/） and an e-journal “Journal of a Touchread study of an ancient manuscript ‘the Tale of Genji’”.

Free Research Field

日本文学