Friday, January 12, 2024

book: 建築設計資料集成 第1 (Architectural Design Data Collection Part 1) 1942

This book is a guide of common measurements for architects, published in Showa 17 (1942).  I found out about this book via @ChillReactor.  It is available online via the NDL Digital Collections.  

full title: 建築設計資料集成 第1 (Architectural Design Data Collection Part 1) - 建築学会 編 (Edited by Architectural Institute of Japan) - published by 丸善 (Maruzen) 昭和17 (1942)

建築設計資料集成 第1 (Architectural Design Data Collection Part 1) 1942

There are a few pages of great interest for arcade fans:

pages 128-129

pages 132-133

page 134-135


Let's look at them in more detail.  Sadly, much of the text is too blurry for me to decipher, but I will do my best.  Thank you to dexdigi, shuu, and Ladios of GA for assisting with some of the text!

This book was also referenced by 竹内孝治 in the post 銃後の『建築設計資料集成』|未曾有の時局と娯楽場の射的コーナー.  (archive)  I have included the better scans they have put in their post.  This is a great relief.


建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 129 - excerpt
some guesses as to the text:
(1) 菓子販買機 [Sweets vending machine]
(2) 運だめし (その1) [Try your luck part 1]
(3) 運だめし (その2) [Try your luck part 2]
(4) おみくじ販賣機 [Omikuji vending machine]

I would guess that the first machine is a two-chute candy vendor.  The images on it look like confectionary treats.

The 2nd machine looks like an early 1930s vertical ball game.  I do not know of a game that looks quite similar, but the curved decoration beneath the winning chute looks similar to patterns seen on 1930s games:

detail from 玉遊菓子自動販賣機 (ball play confectionery vending machine) by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)



The third machine appears to be a game similar One Sen Jump:

~1929 One Sen Jump - ワンセンジャンプ


The 4th machine is a depiction of a fortune teller machine with a separate slot for each birth month.  Something similar to this:

~1937 生礼月の占ひ (Fortune-telling of birth month) [生まれ月別占い機] by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)



The decoration on the drawing seems representative of the design on the real machine:





建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 129 - excerpt

superior scan from 竹内孝治
(5) のぞき (その1) [Peeping part 1]
(6) のぞき (その2) [Peeping part 2]



The 1st set of machines resembles certain styles of Mutoscopes, with the round can body.
Mutoscope model C

1920 Mutoscope [plate says "No M 10"]
While these models aren't an exact match to the drawing, they're closer than these Mutoscopes offered in the ~1937 catalogue, so this hints that a different model existed to reference.
マトスコープ (Mutoscope) [import] by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing) & International Mutoscope [presumed]


The 2nd group of machines are rectangular viewers with a marquee above the viewpiece.  It looks similar to this next machine, but with a larger marquee space.

自動活動寫真機 (automatic activity photograph) by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)

A post-ww2 version of a similar machine:


建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 129 - excerpt
guessing at the text:
(7) 腕相撲器 [arm wrestling machine]
(8) 打擊器 (その1) [punching machine part 1]
(9) 打擊器 (その1) [punching machine part 2]
(10) 體重計 [weight scale]

superior scan from 竹内孝治



The first machine is very exciting.  It is a figural arm wrestling machine with a sumo wrestler opponent.  In the ~1937 catalogue we see a somewhat similar machine, though with slightly different dimensions.
腕角力 [腕相撲] (arm wrestling) by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)

This implies that there is a similar machine, done with a sumo wrestler, that we have yet to discover!
37 years laters, we see a similar machine:


The 2nd machine is a punching bag machine, like we've seen before in Japan:
~1937 カ量計 (Physical strength meter) by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)

The 3rd machine seems to be an awkward rendition of these imported punching machines, perhaps hinting that there was a different version made in Japan.
Knockout Punch Tester - 腕力計 [import] by Exhibit Supply

~1918 Champion Punching Bag by Exhibit Supply


The 4th machine is a generic-looking coin-operated scale, which were a popular coin-op novelty for decades before WW2.


Now for the final section of this page:
建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 129 - excerpt

superior scan from 竹内孝治
(11) 卓上球轉し器 [tabletop ball rolling vessel]
(12) 力試し器 [force tester]


We have a table with 5 smart ball games, like you would see them in rows at smartball parlors.
The boards look like Corinthian games, but they have a plunger. Corinthian used a stick / cue to put the ball into play.
1930s Corint Table Game - コリント・テーブルゲーム (Corinthian Table Game) by コリント商会 (Corinthian Company)
The height of the machines in the architectural drawing makes me suspect they are using Corinthian tables as a technical reference, while actual smart balls would be taller on the table.  As an example, here is the game that gave us the name "smart ball":
~1935 帝発式 スマートボール (Teihatsushiki smart ball) by 帝国発明品商会 (Imperial Invention Company)


The 2nd machine is an obvious reference to a Japanese strength tester machine in the shape of an elephant:
~1937 力試し、棒押し (test of strength, bar push) by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)


建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 13 - excerpt

A cork gun shooting gallery, with an apparent naval / war theme.  The guns appear to be suspended between a frame, using 2 chains.  We see this identical setup here, which is also a war themed game:
~1937 射擊練習機 襲擊 (shooting trainer attack) by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)

It might be hard to see at first, but the guns each have a small frame they are attached to:




建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 129 - excerpt

superior scan from 竹内孝治
5個のスポンヂボールを以て10個の標的を落す物にして客溜りの奥行は可及的に大とする事を要す
It is necessary to make the depth of the customer pool as large as possible. The customers uses 5 sponge balls to drop 10 targets.



In North America, this game would involve knocking over stacked milk bottles to win a prize, but here the targets are depicted as hexagonal blocks of approximately the same size
a Spill The Milk carnival stand in USA, 1920s

These did not just use normal milk bottles, however.  The lower bottles were typically heavier material to make it very difficult to knock them off.
excerpt from 1929 H.C. Evans catalogue


建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 129 - excerpt

superior scan from 竹内孝治
指癢玉は素燒製にして、人形の胸間にある標的に強く命中すれば、サイレンが鳴り人形は腕を動かす
The finger balls are made of clay, and if the target between the doll's chest is hit hard, a siren will sound and the doll will move its arms.



Demon characters such as these have been popular arcade targets for over 200 years!  They are one of the longest surviving uniquely Japanese arcade traditions.
Here is a 1978 version of the same kind of game:
1978 おになかせ (Let's go) by 友栄 (UA)



建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 129 - excerpt

superior scan from 竹内孝治
揚弓の標的の中心は構へた人の眼の高さにあるを特徴とす。 天井の處々に幕を張つてそれる矢を防ぐ
The center of the target of the bow is located at the eye level of the person holding the bow. Put curtains on various parts of the ceiling to prevent arrows from deviating.


I have combined the final 2 from this page since they are both archery-based.  Another one of Japan's longest-running arcade traditions, archery arcades go back to at least the Edo period, and sometimes as an amusement in red light districts.
The lower arcade appears to suggest that the targets rotate.

1902~ 東京 (target gallery) [from '東京風俗志 下' by 平出鏗二郎 published by 富山房 in 1902]

Archery became popular again in the 1970s as the bowling boom began to fade:
1972 アーチェリー (archery) by タイトー (Taito)

There are still modern archery arcades that operate in the same fashion!
矢場 (Yaba) [2010s photo]



And from the final page, I wanted to showcase the bowling alley. 
建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 135 - excerpt

Bowling alleys in the 1930s were shorter and had pin-setting activated by a lever.  This appears to be much larger than the setups I have seen in the 1930s, and helps us see bowling's development on the way to the decade-long post-war bowling craze.  According to this page, Japan's first dedicated bowling center opened in 1952, 10 years after this book was published.

The two examples I have seen from the 1930s have bowling as a large-style arcade game, instead of fully installed into the floor as we see in the above drawings.
~1933 bowling [seen in 純情の都, at スポーツランド (Sport Land)] by unknown

~1937 ボーリング (bowling) by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)




Bonus:
I am also a big fan of this page of people playing go and/or shogi.  I love go, I think it's the perfect game.
建築設計資料集成 第1 (1942) page 128 - excerpt



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