Publication of Bibliograhic Records from Yearbook of Japanese Art
Nihon bijutsu nenkan (“Yearbook of Japanese Art,” hereinafter called “NENKAN”) is an annually published data book that presents trends in the art world in Japan compiled over the course of each year. It was first published in 1936 by the Art Research Institute of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, the predecessor of Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN). Starting with the 2022 edition, published in January 2025, the “References Published in Periodicals ” section of the NENKAN was discontinued. Instead, the publication “Bibliograhic Records from Yearbook of Japanese Art,” which contains the section, has been made available on our website (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/
yearbook/articles_from_periodicals).
This database, like the printed edition, focuses on listing references according to classifications that reflect the content. Persons interested in researching literature related to a specific artist or art museum can search by keyword, just like in a general database. However, some of the literature classified in NENKAN under categories such as “preservation and restoration” and “cultural property administration” can be difficult to identify with appropriate keywords. For this reason, this database, which enables browsing literature by classification, is effective for understanding trends in each field that are difficult to grasp through keyword searches, as with the previous print version.
Currently, we are publishing bibliographies of magazines and newspapers published between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2022, when print publication ended. Going forward, we plan to soon publish information on the latest literature published before 2020. Through these efforts, we will continue to maintain and develop the role that the print version of the NENKAN has played for many years, in providing a systematic understanding of trends in the art world in Japan. Since it currently takes about 10 seconds for the database to load, which can feel slow to some users, we are currently working to improve this speed.