2011年12月、神奈川県の個人宅から2冊の写真アルバムと3本の16ミリフィルムが見つかった。それは、1935年頃の東京の街並や暮らしの風景、そして開場して間もない東京宝塚劇場の舞台の様子や出演者を撮影したものだった。撮影したのは当時19歳の宝塚歌劇ファンの青年、藤岡宏さん(故人)。
2013年、国内外の演劇・映像の専門家からなる宝塚共同研究チームが発足し、デジタル技術によって復元された藤岡さんの映像を巡って、日比谷における宝塚歌劇の80年を顧みる調査研究が行われる。元歌劇団の生徒や関係者への聞き取り調査を進めていくうちに、鮮明に甦った「記録」を通して、しだいに当時の「記憶」が再生されはじめる。
In December 2011, three film reels and two photo albums were discovered in a private house in Kanagawa prefecture. Hiroshi Fujioka, then a nineteen-year-old modern boy, took these films and photos between 1935 and 1936. Fujioka was an enthusiast of modern media of film, camera and recorded the urbanising landscape and daily life of Tokyo. He was also a passionate fan of theatre, especially of the Takarazuka Revue.
Two of the discovered films show rare footage of the Takarazuka stage shot shortly after the opening of Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre in Hibiya. These visual materials provided a subject of interdisciplinary analyses.
In 2013, fifteen scholars based at Waseda University and Kyoritsu Women’s University formulated a collaborative research team to investigate and restore the films by researching the socio-historical context, analysing the stage productions of that time, and by visiting and interviewing related people. The process was made into a new documentary film, Recollection of the Violets.
This visual documentation is a testimony that recollects memories of places and people and connects fragmented visions, not only to revive the past into the present but also to archive the urban memories in which Takarazuka in the 1930s has played an essential role as a symbol of modernity.
・第15回宝塚映画祭(2014)にて上映
・16th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies(2021)にてオンライン配信
・16th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies(2021)にてオンライン配信