Kusa について
About Kusa
古典籍のデジタル校訂出版プラットフォーム
「Kusa」は、古典籍（特に日本近世の古典籍）のデジタル校訂出版プラットフォームである。IIIF で公開される日本語の古典籍資料に対して、翻刻、校訂済み翻刻、注釈、翻訳などを共同で行い、その成果を公開するための Web出版システムである。
現在、「Kusa」のベータ版を公開しており、プラットフォームのさらなる開発につながるプロジェクトを募集している。ベータ版の運用期間は2026年10月から2027年5月までとなる。
よくある質問
Kusa に関するよくある質問（FAQ）を英語で掲載しています。日本語版は準備中です。
ロゴ・キャラクター
オリジナルロゴおよびキャラクターデザイン：紙戸スミ（かみとすみ）
開発
Digital Platform for Critical Editions of Early Modern Japanese Texts
Kusa is a flexible digital platform for publishing rigorous critical editions of early modern Japanese books, which can accommodate diplomatic transcriptions, annotated semi-diplomatic transcriptions, annotated translations, and explanations of images.
We are currently launching the Beta version of Kusa and welcome applications for projects that will allow us to test the platform further and improve when necessary. The Beta version will run from October 2026 to May 2027.
Kusa has been developed by (in alphabetical order):
- Prof Hashimoto Yuta, Center for Meta-Resource Studies, National Museum of Japanese History
- Prof Laura Moretti, University of Cambridge (Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Japanese Studies)
- Dr James Harry Morris, National Institutes for the Humanities (Center for Innovative Research)
Logo and character
Original logo and character designed by Kamito Sumi 紙戸スミ（かみとすみ）
Developed by
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Kusa?
Kusa is a flexible digital platform for publishing rigorous critical editions of early modern Japanese books, which can accommodate diplomatic transcriptions, annotated semi-diplomatic transcriptions, annotated translations, and explanations of images.
We are currently launching the Beta version of Kusa and welcome applications for projects that will allow us to test the platform further and improve when necessary. The Beta version will run from October 2026 to May 2027.
Kusa has been developed by (in alphabetical order):
- Prof Hashimoto Yuta, Center for Meta-Resource Studies, National Museum of Japanese History
- Prof Laura Moretti, University of Cambridge (Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Japanese Studies)
- Dr James Harry Morris, National Institutes for the Humanities (Center for Innovative Research)
Why the name Kusa?
Think about the wonderful flexibility of grass, yet also its resilience. Think about the cursive script (sōsho) used in early modern books. Think about the use of the word kusa in a major publishing genre of the early modern Japanese publishing industry: kusazōshi. All this was our inspiration for the name of a digital platform that embraces flexibility as a core value.
Why the need for a digital platform?
There are five main ideas that inform this project.
(1) Empowering 21st-century readers with the same readerly agency of the early modern reader
Early modern Japanese materials, including but not limited to graphic narratives (kusazōshi) and illustrated board games (e-sugoroku), often display complex page layouts. Reading the text within the images matters. What is more, the reader is endowed with great agency as to what to read and in which order. Text can, in fact, be scattered across the page, with no apparent order imposed by the creative team. Kusa has been conceived to respect this design and, reflecting Edo-period reading practices, asks 21st-century readers to exercise their choice in what to read and when.
(2) Respecting the early modern book
Recent years have seen different experiments in how to integrate transcriptions (diplomatic or semi-diplomatic) and/or translations within the images in texts where meaning is co-created by both the visual and the verbal modes.1 Kusa offers a new method that makes the most of the digital format to retain high-quality, colour images of the original material in IIIF, without any manipulations, while deploying “layers” and “jumps” to connect the early modern text with its transcription/translation. In this way, the user can always go back to the early modern material in its original format.
(3) Embedding a multisensory and multimedia reading experience
Early modern books, in particular commercial publications issued for the entertainment of a wide readership, were sites of convergence of a variety of media, including theatrical plays, music, storytelling, games, and much more. They activate a variety of senses, including sight and hearing. Kusa enables the scholar to embed a wide range of media in the annotations, including images, videos, and sound. They can either be links to external websites or can be embedded in the commentary. (Currently Kusa is not incorporating smell, taste, and touch!)
(4) Giving a voice to the visual
Images are no trivial embellishment in early modern Japanese books. They often co-create meaning and as such require full engagement on the part of the reader. Kusa allows you to select elements in the images and create in-depth commentaries that deploy images and sounds alongside words.
(5) Publishing opportunities beyond kiyō 紀要
Publishing Japanese-language critical editions of early modern materials often happens in kiyō (University bulletins), publications normally linked to specific institutions in Japan. Opportunities to publish in kiyō are limited for the scholar who has no affiliation with a Japanese institution. Kiyō are also hard to access around the world. Kusa offers publishing opportunities beyond kiyō, to all scholars—irrespective of their affiliation—and with a global reach.
Do I need to pay to use Kusa?
No. It is free to use and to publish on Kusa.
What materials can I publish on Kusa?
Any early modern material written in wabun, kanbun, or sōrōbun, with or without images. It can be a book or any other printed ephemera including but not limited to e-sugoroku, ukiyo-e prints, maps, and banzuke. There are no restrictions on the length of the original material that is being used. Kusa has been designed especially for materials that present a complex page layout, but is flexible in accommodating research on books that present a more traditional page layout.
Can I upload materials from my own collection onto Kusa?
Yes you can, but first you need to convert them in IIIF format. You can use the following online, free tool developed by Prof Hashimoto Yuta: IIIF Depot. Anyone can upload images to IIIF Depot, but by default, each user is limited to 100 MB of storage, including the converted image data. If you need a larger quota, please contact kusakoten@gmail.com.
Are there restrictions on the kind of materials that can be published?
If the contents of the selected primary sources might be distressful to some (e.g., violence, sex, etc.), a warning can be included in the description of the project.
Does publishing on Kusa come with a peer-review process?
The Beta version has no peer-review component, although the Editorial Board will scrutinize the project proposals. A peer-review process will be in place after the release of the next version. Those who have worked on the Beta version will have the opportunity to have their work peer-reviewed and published.
Does the final product come with a DOI?
Yes. Transcriptions (diplomatic and semi-diplomatic), translations and the annotations published on Kusa will be archived with Zenodo in order to provide these publications with a DOI. Materials published with Kusa are all open access.
Do search engines search what is published on Kusa?
Materials published with Kusa are also displayed on text-only pages that bring together all the components of the critical edition. These pages, which link back to the main text viewer, allow work published on Kusa to be included in search engine results.
Is Kusa difficult to use?
No. Kusa is designed in a very intuitive manner both for readers and authors. We have also created a step-by-step manual that you can follow to familiarize yourself with all its functions.
What is the ideal computer set-up for using Kusa?
Kusa is a web platform that is best supported by Chrome but also runs on other browsers (Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc.).
What languages does Kusa’s interface use?
The interface is in English and Japanese. However, translations in multiple languages are welcome and supported.
Can I keep my ongoing work private on Kusa before I am ready to release it to the public?
Yes. Projects will be all private until you are ready to publish.
Can I download copies of my work?
Kusa saves automatically all your work but you can, at any point, download your work (in all its components or selected ones) in different formats: HTML, DOCX, TXT, TEI. To continue your work, you need to go back to Kusa.
Can I use Kusa for collaborative work with multiple participants?
Yes. You can set up the project and include as many contributors as you wish.
Can I use Kusa in the classroom?
Yes, you can and the project will remain private. Kusa has been tested in the classroom environment during the Thirteenth edition of the Mitsubishi Corporation Summer School in Early Modern Japanese Palaeography (August 2026). However, we need more help with testing all the functionalities in the classroom setting. So, we very much look forward to expressions of interest and to constructive feedback. We accept applications from projects that want to use Kusa within the classroom.
Can I use Kusa for private study without publishing the results of the work?
Yes, you can use Kusa to host projects privately as part of your own individual or group study, with or without intention to publish your results.
Is Kusa colour-blind friendly?
To the best of our knowledge everything in Kusa is colour-blind friendly but if you notice any issue, please get in contact. At present other accessibility features are not available on Kusa but we intend to explore the possibility of adding accessibility features in the future. Thank you for your kind understanding.
Does Kusa use AI?
Yes, but only if you choose to use one of the two AI functions built into Kusa. Kusa foregrounds at all times the human being. AI tools are there to support you if you choose to use them.
What are the AI tools that I could use on Kusa?
First is the very powerful kuzushiji dictionary powered by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology. You identify a character (kana or kanji) for which you need help and Kusa will offer some suggestions on how to read that character. This dictionary is inbuilt in Kusa but the user has total freedom on when to use it. This text recognition model was trained on the Kaggle Kuzushiji Recognition dataset and the Kuzushiji Dataset provided by the Historiographical Institute, the University of Tokyo. This is the same technology used in Soramaru (also developed by Prof Hashimoto Yuta).
Second, Kusa incorporates the Minna de Honkoku OCR model, which was trained on 57 million characters of transcription data contributed through Minna de Honkoku. You can choose to enable or disable as you see fit for your project, at any time in developing the project. When enabled, you can still decide not to use it when you do not fancy it. When used, it will produce a raw diplomatic transcription that needs human input to be checked and corrected to a publishable standard.
Third, Kusa also includes a layout analysis tool which helps the user to automatically split the text into lines, which form the building blocks of the transcription. These lines can also be inserted manually, rearranged, and resized.
What is behind the OCR model used in Kusa?
A full explanation can be found in Japanese and in English. All models are run locally on the user’s computer using ONNX Web Runtime.
What is the impact on the environment?
Kusa is a web application and as such consumes little energy. The OCR model used in Kusa uses ca. 33 Wh for 100 pages (koma), equivalent to about 2 minutes of using a microwave.
I would like to use Kusa for a project: what do I need to do?
Please send your application to the editorial team. The editorial team will review and grant access: Request to publish a project on Kusa Beta version (Google Forms)
I don’t want to create a project but I wish to give feedback as a reader: what do I need to do?
Please get in contact via email: kusakoten@gmail.com
Who is on the Editorial Team of Kusa Beta version?
In alphabetical order (surname) as of 30 September 2026:
- Frederick Feilden (Heidelberg University)
- Hashimoto Yuta (National Museum of Japanese History)
- Laura Moretti (University of Cambridge)
- James Harry Morris (National Institutes for the Humanities)
- Miyagawa Shin’ya (Tenri Central Library)
- Satō Katsura (Aoyama Gakuin University)
1. More about this in the realm of graphic narratives (kusazōshi) can be found in: Walley, Glynne. “‘Managorō Wailed’: Visualizing Kusazōshi in Translation.” In Graphic Narratives from Early Modern Japan: The World of Kusazōshi, edited by Laura Moretti and Satō Yukiko, 231–260. Leiden: Brill, 2024.