| ■Tokyo National Research
Institute for Cultural Properties |
■Center for Conservation
Science |
| ■Department of Art Research,
Archives and Information Systems |
■Japan Center for
International Cooperation in Conservation |
| ■Department of Intangible
Cultural Heritage |
|
Exhibiting "Investigation on the cause of deterioration in mural paintings of Takamatsuzuka Tumulus" in lobby
At the present, the panels in the title are being exhibited in the entrance hall on the first floor of the Institute. This exhibition shows the outline of the results obtained by surveying the cause of deterioration in the mural paintings of Takamatsuzuka Tumulus, which were conserved at the local site since they had been found in 1972, from natural scientific and other viewpoints under the “Study team on cause of deterioration in mural paintings of Takamatsuzuka Tumulus” established in July 2008. The deterioration triggered the dismantlement of the mural paintings in 2007. The entire survey results were made public on March 24, 2010, by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, as the “Survey report on the cause of deterioration in mural paintings of Takamatsuzuka Tumulus”. This exhibition uses many illustrations and explains the survey on materials, organisms and conservation environments from the total survey. We hope that many people will visit the exhibition.
Lecture by Mr. Mabuchi, a visiting researcher
On June 21, we held the training course shown above, intended to transfer the latest knowledge and findings related to the conservation environment to trainees who have completed the seminar course for curators engaged in conservation. First, Mr. Yoshida, a senior researcher of the Institute, introduced the latest technological trends regarding white LEDs, which have recently seen a rapid increase in their popularity, from the viewpoint of preventing global warming. Then, Ms. Nishida Hiroko, the Deputy Director of the Nezu Museum, gave a lecture during which she brought some LEDs into the exhibition room, taking advantage of the construction of the museum. Following the lecture, Mr. Mabuchi Hajime, a visiting researcher of the Center, gave a lecture on the method of conducting microbial surveys in cultural facilities, which is his subject of research, and Ms. Sano, the head of the conservation science section, explained how to examine organic acid emitted from wood. Because the lectures for this training session covered topics that many cultural facilities have deep concerns about, approximately 100 people participated, more than in past years. At annual follow-up training sessions we will meet the needs of curators and provide them with the latest important information.
Opening Ceremony
For three days starting October 17, the above-mentioned conference, in which researchers engaged in conservation of cultural heritages in Japan, China, and South Korea announce their latest achievements, was held at the Palace Museum in Beijing. Mr. Ishizaki Takeshi, the Director of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques, was invited to give a lecture on the deterioration of stone buildings in cold districts; Mr. Morii Masayuki, a researcher at the Center, made a poster presentation on the nondestructive deterioration research of ignimbrite; and Yoshida Naoto, a senior researcher of the Center also made a poster presentation on research into the state of mural paintings of the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus. Many researchers from other Japanese organizations also participated in this conference and had active discussions with researchers from the other countries. Because three countries have historically deep relations, there are also many common points in cultures between them. On the other hand, there are many differences in thinking in terms of the conservation of cultural heritage. How those of us living in a large cultural area have common recognition and cooperate with each other will greatly depend on the future prosperity of this academic conference. The announcement stated the plan for the next conference to take place again in China two years after.
Practice: Curators in the training course
We held the 26th training course during a period of two weeks starting July 13, and participants included 31 curators working at museums from Iwate in the north to Okinawa in the south. The participants are specialists in various fields from archeology to contemporary art, but in these training sessions they focused on basic knowledge and technology concerning the museum environment, deterioration, and restoration of various cultural properties. The course included lectures and practical training on conservation.
A practical museum environment training case study was carried out at the Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba. Participants were divided into eight groups, each of which investigated the temperature, humidity, illumination, and disaster prevention equipment and presented their results the following day.
This training series has now attracted a total of 597 individuals, all of whom are at the forefront of conservation of cultural properties in museums. Going forward, we will hereafter try to further enhance the training content while valuing the input of on-site professionals.
Lecture by Director Ishizaki
This training course, intended for trainees who have completed the annual Seminar Course for Museum Curators, focuses on the latest research and topics related to conservation of materials. This year’s training took place on June 22 and drew 69 participants.
This year’s theme dealt with the latest ideas for conserving materials on-site. One idea is energy conservation; the Center’s director, Mr. Ishizaki, gave a lecture on the current cultural heritage facility activities, both foreign and domestic, at a time when global warming is of great concern and energy conservation is desired worldwide.
Additionally, the university curriculum for curators has been changed, and in three years the Material Conservation Environment Theory course will become mandatory. This means that knowledge of the natural science behind material conservation is unexceptionally essential for curators. Therefore, lectures on temperature and humidity, atmospheric environment, and lighting of the conservation environment presented by Mr. Inuzuka, a senior researcher; Ms. Sano, the head of the conservation science section; and Mr. Yoshida, a senior researcher.
The content was of great interest to all participants, and they were all ears. At the same time, the training also made us realize that as researchers who investigate the conservation environment, we must keep our eyes open for all responsible research and provision of information.
Questions and answers at the debrief session (in Mie Prefectural Museum)
The above seminar was hosted by the Museum Conservation Science Seminar, Mie Museum Association and National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo in Mie Prefecture on February 13 and 14. Seminar participants included people who had curator training and museum curators in the prefecture. Seminar activities included information exchange and lectures on practical conservation activities in cultural property-related facilities. On the first day, a debriefing was conducted in the Mie Prefectural Art Museum (60 participants). First, visiting researcher Mr. Miura Sadatoshi gave a keynote lecture entitled “The Past and Future of Creating a Conservation Environment”. Then the four museum curators in Mie Prefecture and researcher Mr. Inuzuka Masahide reported on facility environment control, upgrading, and maintenance; this report was met with active questions and answers. On the second day, we visited Kogakkan University, Sagawa Memorial Shinto Museum, Jingu Chokokan Museum, Jingu Agriculture Museum, and Jingu Art Museum. The participants compared the conservation environments of each museum, and took part in information exchange and discussions from various angles. This seminar provides alumni society-style atmosphere in which long-time museum curators renew old friendships and others have the opportunity to interact with each other. Another great feature is that curators see the field sites of cultural property conservation in local districts with which they usually do not have contact, and compare these with conservation in their own museums. We deeply express our thanks to the many people who cooperated with the implementation of this seminar.
A scene from the practice session (identification of insects harmful to cultural properties)
For two weeks from July 14 to 25, 2008, a training course was held with the attendance of 29 members in charge of conservation at museums in Japan. The aim of the course was to help these members acquire basic knowledge and techniques necessary for their work. The curriculum of the course included management of indoor environment such as temperature, humidity and air pollution as well as prevention of damage to cultural properties by insects and molds and treatment measures and matters related to the deterioration and restoration of cultural properties such as Japanese-style paintings and urushi objects. Furthermore, an on-site practice on environmental assessment was conducted at the Saitama Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore. Though it is difficult to study subjects of such a variety in a nine-day course, the paring ticipants were very eager to learn. We hope that after the course they will return to their respective institutions and work for the management and improvement of museum environment by improving the quality of their work based on what they have learned in the course.
The Training Course for Museum Curators is held in July every year, and information sheets for applicants are distributed from January to February. We look forward to having many people participates in the coming course.
There was a lively exchange of opinions at the Post-Training Course.
Once a year a post-training course is held for those who have completed the “Training Course for Museum Curators” in the past with the aim of conveying the latest topics regarding conservation of materials. This fiscal year, the course was held on June 2. The following three topics were selected: indoor temperature and humidity analysis by means of computer simulation (Inuzuka Masahide), use of dichlorvos pesticide in conservation facilities for cultural properties (Yoshida Naoto) and the manual for museum conservators on preventing mold growth on cultural properties which the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is in the process of compiling (Sano Chie). There was a lively exchange of opinions between the participants and members of the Department since the topics covered serious issues the participants face in the field, including the forecast of the conservation environment, pest control and preservation of materials as well as the prevention of health hazard to the staff. Sixty-six persons participated, a number which exceeded 10% of all those who have completed the Training Course during the past 25 years. We cannot help but feel the weight of responsibility resting upon us. We will continue to provide the latest information not only at such post-training courses but also by taking advantage of various opportunities.
The “Training for Museum Curators in Charge of Conservation” has been held in July of each year for the staff in charge of conservation of materials working in cultural heritage conservation facilities throughout the country so that they may learn the necessary and basic knowledge and techniques. This training is reaching a turning point this year, marking its 25th anniversary (scheduled for 2 weeks from July 14 this year). Usually, we distribute the handbook on the seminar across the country by the beginning of February. Since applications far exceeding the fixed number (25 persons) were sent this year, we selected the participants. In performing this selection, priority was given to those who have some practical experiences in conservation facilities and who would hold core positions in conservation not only in their own museums but also in their regions for a long time after attending the seminar.
Presently, we are preparing for the training by making the program, sending out requests for visiting lecturers, carefully examining the contents of the practical training, checking the equipments for the practical training, and so forth. The contents of the seminar are improved every year little by little by referring to the questionnaire returned from the participants. The participants have to be away from their work for as long as 2 weeks. As this may impose a heavy burden on both the participants and their museums, we are doing all we can in preparation for this seminar so that the participants can really feel that the seminar is truly meaningful in a practical manner.
Science for Conservation is a periodical on scientific research related to the conservation of cultural properties. Since the inaugural issue published in March 1964, of which the first article was “The outline of the scientific researches for the preservation of cultural properties in Japan” by the then director of the Department of Conservation Science, Sekino Masaru, researchers of the Department who are committed to the mission of passing down to future generations valuable cultural properties that their predecessors have left to them, have been engaged in research and have continued to make the results of their research open to the public. The latest edition of the periodical, volume 47, contains 25 reports and articles including those related to the conservation and investigation of the mural paintings of Takamatsuzuka Tumulus and .Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes.
Science for Conservation, as a book, is not for sale and can be read only at related organizations and universities, but all the articles that have been published until now have been make into PDF files so that they may be downloaded via Internet (http://www.tobunken.go.jp/~hozon/hozon_pdf.html).
Many people from Japan and overseas visit the Institute to see its facilities. In recent years, visits by junior and senior high school students are increasing. In December, approximately 20 students each from the Shinagawa Joshi Gakuin High School and Masuda High School in Shimane prefecture visited the Institute. At the former conservation science section of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques, Inuzuka explained the characteristics of stone and soil as well as the calculated temperature changes in the Takamatsuzuka Tumulus in order to determine the method for cooling its tumulus mound. Yoshida explained X-ray fluorescence analysis which is used for non-invasive analysis of colored materials and its application on research of paintings. Since the content of the explanation was applied scientific, it may have been a bit difficult for high school students. However, in today’s society where there is a trend away from science among the young, it is hoped that their experience at the Institute may have helped in making them see how such studies as physics, chemistry and biology are applied in the field of conservation.
A scene from the Post-Seminar Course
The Post-Seminar Course for Museum Curators is held once a year to curators who have completed the Seminar Course for Museum Curators that is held for two weeks every July in order to give them information about the most recent conservation techniques. This year, it was held on October 29 and 62 of the approximately 540 people who completed the past 24 Seminar Courses participated. During the Post-Seminar Course, 3 participants were asked to speak on the results of their respective museum’s work to improve the museum environment that was conducted in cooperation with the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. Two researchers of the Institute provided supplemental comments and explanations. For the participants this was one of the few opportunities to learn about the actual situation at other museums. They listened with much interest, overlapping what they heard with their own work, and actively took part in discussions and exchange of opinions. For us, too, it was a joy to realize that the Seminar Course for Museum Curators and other activities of the Institute have born fruit. We hope to continue to communicate information related to the conservation environment.
Consultation with the Agency for Cultural Affairs is necessary whenever someone other than the owners wish to move national treasures and important cultural properties from places where they are kept to other prefectures and to exhibit them. When museums borrow cultural properties for the first time for exhibitions, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo is commissioned by the Fine Arts Division, Cultural Properties Department of the Agency for Cultural Affairs to inspect the museum environment, including its temperature, humidity and indoor environment, and to submit a report. Each year about 20 to 30 environmental inspections are made, but the number is especially large during autumn when many special exhibitions are held. This year, 14 cases of environmental inspections have been conducted at museums in preparation for special exhibitions which are held mainly from September to November, and reports have been submitted. Museum environment thus inspected, materials of cultural properties to be borrowed, duration of the loan and exhibition are examined comprehensively and the suitability of the environment within the museum is judged.
Participants identifying pests
The Seminar Course for Museum Curators that was started in 1984 is held annually to provide curators with basic knowledge of and techniques for conservation. This year, the 24th Seminar Course was held from July 9 to 20 with thirty-two curators from Japan participating.
The Seminar Course consists of lectures and practical work. Lectures were given on such topics as the museum environment (including temperature and humidity as well as pest control), deterioration of various types of cultural properties and its prevention. In the practical work, the participants learned about various methods of analysis using apparatuses and applied what they learned in a practical case study held at the Yokohama History Museum. Also this year, the participants heard a lecture on the conservation of materials and visited exhibition rooms and restoration studios at the Tokyo National Museum.
Because many of the lectures in this course are natural scientific in nature, some of the contents may have been confusing for the participants, many of whom specialize in the humanities. However, every year we try our best to make the content as easy to understand as possible. Moreover, the sense of unity that develops among the participants who spend two weeks together in the same room is strong, and they continue to exchange information even after the Seminar Course by using a mailing list that they form during the two weeks. In this way, they contribute greatly toward improving the conservation environment of their respective museums.
Observing a microscope image of the cloth binding of the original copy
Cruydt-Boeck is a herbal written by Rembertus Dodonaeus (1517-1585), a Belgian naturalist. An original copy of its second edition in Dutch (1618) was imported to Japan during the Edo period. It is known that Noro Genjo and others wrote the first herbal in Japanese from 1741 to 1750 by order of Tokugawa Yoshimune based on a translation of Cruydt-Boeck. It is also said that Ishii Toko, Yoshida Masayasu and others made a complete translation by order of Matsudaira Sadanobu in 1823.
Of the several copies of the original said to have been imported, the one in the collection of the Waseda University Library was separated into 7 volumes after being imported and then re-bound as a book. The first of the 7 volumes is being restored by Okamoto Koji, a book restorer. In the process of restoration, it was found that a very sophisticated Western style of bookbinding was used for the original copy and that there is a possibility that it is one of the oldest books made in this style in Japan. Thus, on request from Mr. Okamoto, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo set off to conduct a scientific analysis of the binding materials in cooperation with other institutes in order to obtain information that will enable us to determine the period at which it was made bound. To this day, image scanning analysis by Kato Masato of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques has revealed that paper used for a book published in France in the latter half of the 18th century was used for the inside cover. In addition, attenuated total reflection analysis by Sasaki Yoshiko of the Kyoto Institute of Technology points to a great possibility that domestic hemp was used as binding thread. Furthermore, UV-visible reflection spectroscopy by Yoshida has shown that the cloth binding, which is thought to be Jouy print, was dyed with indigo. Since the original copy is severely damaged, extreme care is taken to research the various materials. For this reason, it will require much more time before we can obtain the above-mentioned results. We hope to continue work so as to clarify the history of this original copy little by little by selecting analytical methods most appropriate for each material.
