| ■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 |
|
Inau honogaku (votive tablet) brought to the Monzenmachi district of Wajima
Three inau existing in the town of Fukaura, Aomori Prefecture
This fiscal year, we started an investigation on inau (equipment used for Ainu religious rituals) existing in Honshu and below. A large number of materials related to Ainu from the early-modern times to the Meiji era, which are believed to have been brought through the Northern Trade, were introduced to port towns on the Sea of Japan side, which once flourished as anchorage sites for kitamaebune trading boats. Among the materials, we found that inau dedicated to shrines or temples still exist in Ishikawa, Aomori and other prefectures, and we are currently investigating them together with Mr. Mikio Toma of the Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of History and Mr. Jirota Kitahara of the Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies at Hokkaido University.
In the investigation conducted so far, we have found four inau honogaku (votive tablets) with inscriptions showing years from 1887 to 1890 in the Monzenmachi district of Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, while one inau honogaku with an inscription of the first year of the Meiji era (1868) was found in Hakusan, the same prefecture. These tablets carry ink-written letters meaning such things as “dedication” or “maritime safety,” suggesting that they were dedicated by the owners of kitamaebune boats to a prayer for, or in appreciation of, a safe navigation. Meanwhile, in the town of Fukaura, Aomori Prefecture, which provided an important port for kitamaebune boats to wait for a good wind to sail, there are 27 inau, the years of which are unknown, implying that they were dedicated in relation to the belief in the sea.
While these inau are not well known so far, they can be regarded as very valuable historical materials that are the oldest next to one believed to have been collected by Juzo Kondo in 1798, and those possessed by the Tokyo National Museum (1875) and by the Botanic Garden, Hokkaido University (1878). In addition, these historical materials suggest that the owners of kitamaebune boats carefully brought inau used for Ainu religious rituals back to Honshu and have been protecting them up to the present day by dedicating them to temples or shrines in their respective communities. In addition, it can be said that they are very suggestive materials reflecting the realities of exchanges between wajin and Ainu people through the Northern Trade. As there are possibly undiscovered inau in areas along the coast of the Sea of Japan, we will continue the investigation in cooperation with relevant institutions.
Joint research regarding the structural reinforcement of stone pagodas (Seven-storey stone pagoda at Myodo-ji Temple)
Following the concluding of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques and the Conservation Science Division, National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea, the two organizations have been collaborating on “Joint Research between Japan and Korea—Research on the Effect of Environmental Pollution on Cultural Properties and Development of Conservation Techniques.” More specifically, they have been undertaking joint field studies of cultural properties made of stone in outdoor locations in both countries, and have been holding annual research results presentation sessions, with the venue alternating between Japan and Korea, with the aim of sharing the research results achieved in each country.
This year’s research results presentation was held in Japan on July 8, 2015, in the Basement Level Meeting Room of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. The theme for the presentation was issues relating to the structure of stone-built cultural properties. The Japanese and Korean researchers reported on and discussed their respective research results. In addition, taking advantage of the Korean researchers’ visit to Japan for the presentation, a study visit was arranged to examine the nine-storey stone pagoda and seven-storey stone pagoda, etc. at the Myodo-ji Temple in Yunoma Town, Kumamoto Prefecture (where the Japan-based joint field studies have been undertaken), and to exchange information regarding new developments in structural reinforcement methods.
The venue for a lecture at the forum
The scene of the satellite venue 1
The Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques held the “IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Forum: 10 Years after the Abolition of Methyl Bromide Use: The Current Situation of IPM for Cultural Properties” on July 16, 2015. This event was jointly hosted by the Japan Society for the Conservation of Cultural Property, and was also held as a regular meeting of the society. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the abolition of methyl bromide use in and after 2005 decided by the Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. In this milestone year, we held the forum to review past activities, share information about the current IPM activities in the field of cultural properties, their progress and problems, and consider current challenges and the future direction. On the day of the forum, Mr. Takamasa Saito of the Cultural Affairs Agency, Ms. Rika Kigawa of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (NRICPT), and Mr. Sadatoshi Miura of the Bunkazai Chukingai Kenkyujo (research institute on insect and bacterial damage to cultural properties), respectively introduced fumigation techniques and subsequent IPM practices in Japan as well as countries around the world. In addition, various measures by individual museums were introduced from various perspectives by Ms. Mitsuko Honda of the Kyushu National Museum, Ms. Natsuko Nagaya of the Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Ms. Naoko Sonoda of the National Museum of Ethnology, Mr. Shingo Hidaka of the National Museum of Ethnology, Ms. Akiko Saito of the Natural History Museum and Institute, Chiba, and Ms. Mutsumi Aoki of the National Institute of Japanese Literature. Furthermore, Ms. Miyuki Asakawa of Ninna-ji temple introduced concrete examples of IPM activities in temples, while Mr. Yoshinori Sato of the NRICPT introduced an example of IPM practices at a conservation and exhibition facility for a decoratedtumulus, which is an environment for burial.
The forum was attended by 200 participants, and we set up two satellite venues at a meeting room (see photo 2) and a lobby in addition to the main venue at a basement seminar room of the NRICPT (see photo 1). In the lobby, we displayed copies of articles on IPM for cultural properties and measures against biological deterioration as well as related materials, and allowed participants to take them home for free. While it was regrettable that there was little time for discussion due to a series of heated presentations, we again appreciate that we could end the forum on a high note thanks to the cooperation from those concerned.
The training session in progress
This follow-up training session (the first for three years) was held on July 6, 2015, with the aim of helping to disseminate the latest knowledge in the field of materials conservation, aimed mainly at people who have already completed the “Training for Museum Curators in Charge of Conservation” training program; a total of 107 people attended the session.
With the coming into effect of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, under the terms of which restrictions will be imposed on the use of mercury and products containing mercury from 2020 onwards, production of certain types of fluorescent lamp will cease, and there will be a reduction in the quantity of incandescent light bulbs produced; as a result, switching over to the use of white LED lights for display lighting will no longer be optional and will in effect become “compulsory.” Following an overview of the Minamata Convention on Mercury (given by Chie Sano, Deputy Director of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques), Naoto Yoshida outlined the current situation regarding the development of white LED lights. Kyoko Kubo of the Society for Preservation of Japanese Art Swords, Yusuke Kawase of the National Museum of Western Art, and Takako Yamaguchi of the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography were then invited to talk about the effectiveness of white LED lights as display lighting for Japanese swords, oil paintings and sculptures, and photographs, as well as the types of problems that have been experienced so far. Yamaguchi also discussed the impact that the Minamata Convention will have on daguerreotypes (a photographic technique that required the use of mercury).
There is still considerable uncertainty as to how things will develop in the future in regard to the production of the fluorescent lamps and halogen lamps that have been used up until the present to provide the extremely high color rendering performance needed for display lighting; more work needs to be done in this area in terms of the collection and presentation of relevant information. It was also made clear from the talks given at the training session that there is a real need for clarification, from a natural sciences perspective, of the reasons why objects look different when viewed under LED light (compared to how they appear when viewed under conventional lighting), despite the fact that, statistically speaking, LED lights should in theory possess adequate color rendering performance.
Cultural property pest identification hands-on training in progress
The “Training for Museum Curators in Charge of Conservation” training program has been held every year since 1984, with the aim of imparting basic know-how and skills to curators responsible for conservation work. This year’s training program was held over a two-week period starting on July 13, 2015, with 32 participants from all over Japan.
The curriculum for this year’s training program focused on two key areas: facility environmental management (including temperature and humidity, air circulation, and prevention of biological damage, etc.), and the factors behind, and forms taken by, deterioration of different types of materials. Experts from the Institute’s staff, as well as external experts, gave lectures and led practical, hands-on training sessions. The Museum of the Sakitama Ancient Burial Mounds (in Saitama Prefecture) kindly made available its facilities for the implementation of a hands-on museum environment survey case study, in which the training program participants were divided into teams of eight trainees each to undertake surveys focusing on different themes; the trainees subsequently gave presentations on the results obtained in these surveys.
This year marked the 32nd year that the “Training for Museum Curators in Charge of Conservation” training program had been held; a whole new generation of curators is now receiving training. Today, many of Japan’s public museums in particular have reached an age when they need to undergo renovation or renewal of their facilities; the Institute will be working to strengthen the provision of this type of training program in the future, with the aim of ensuring that know-how relating to both the theory and practical methods of materials conservation can be handed down to a new generation of curators.
Practical training session on the preparation of materials used for restoration at No. 1205 temple
Workshops and investigations on the conservation of mural paintings in the brick-made monument
From June 14 to 23, we conducted workshops on the conservation and restoration of mural paintings that have been conducted since last year, and carried out investigations on the environment inside the No. 1205 temple of the Bagan Monuments and damage conditions of its roof, as well as emergency restoration of collapsed parts of mural paintings. Workshops were held for three officials specialized in the conservation of mural paintings from the Bagan and Mandalay branches of the Department of Archeology and National Museum (DoA) of Myanmar’s Ministry of Culture. While inspecting past restoration cases involving mural paintings of Bagan temples, we debated such topics as causes of damages to mural paintings and the countermeasures. After that, the trainees had a practical training session at the No. 1205 temple to learn methods of keeping investigation records for an actual restoration of mural paintings, ways of preparing materials used for restoration, and other issues. Meanwhile, as a measure to address contamination and damages caused by beasts, birds, and insects, a problem pointed out in the investigation in fiscal 2014, we provided instructions on how to use termiterepellent and installation of the entrance door to the temple, and introduced the repellent in the temple together with the staff from the DoA. The trainees said that they would like to make use of what they learned in the workshops for other restoration projects, so the future utilization of the techniques can be expected.
Training session at Bagaya Monastery
The Fourth Session of Training on the Conservation of Wooden Buildings
We conducted the fourth session of training on the conservation of wooden buildings at the Bagaya Monastery in Innwa, and the Mandalay branch of Myanmar’s Department of Archeology and National Museum (DoA) from June 30 to July 11. Ten officials from the DoA and one graduate of Technological University (Mandalay) as an observer participated in the session. Following investigations of damaged parts on the floor framing and exterior walls as well as replaced materials, we also implemented exercises to keep a comprehensive observation record for railings surrounding the inner sanctum including carvings on them. While investigations by a group of several people have been conducted in the past training sessions, we gradually increased individual activities in the latest session, and each of the trainees made the final presentation at the end of the session. Their investigation reports were at a fairly high-level, indicating that the trainees are steadily acquiring the results of the training.
Practice with a Japanese calligraphic work during basic course
Making a folding screen during advanced course
This workshop is held annually as a part of our project to expand the understanding of tangible and intangible cultural properties, e.g. paintings and traditional mounting techniques, respectively. This year, it was held at the Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin, with basic course, “Japanese Artworks on paper and silk” from July 8 to 10 and with advanced course, “Restoration of Japanese Folding Screen”, July 13 to 17.
In basic course, lectures and practical sessions were conducted on creation, preservation and utilization of Japanese art works on paper and silk for 20 participants. The lectures covered the topics of materials such as paper, pigments and adhesives, the protection system of cultural properties in Japan, as well as mounting culture. Based on the lectures, participants practice creating artworks and handling of hanging scrolls.
In advanced course, it was conducted for 10 participants on the practice of creating a folding screen, with related lectures and demonstration of its emergency treatment, regarding the traditional mounting techniques. During the course, each participants created a folding screen from underlying paper on wooden lattice core until applying of a painting, learning of its structure, functions of parts, tools and mounting techniques.
Restorers, museum curators and students from across Europe, Asia and Oceania participated in this workshop and discussed on various topics through the course. The conservators from the world pay attentions to the conservation of Japanese art works. The workshop will be conducted to contribute toward the preservation of Japanese cultural properties overseas for as many conservators as possible.
Silk thread for strings of traditional Japanese instrument
Cypress bark roof
Gathering the ramie plant
The Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation conducts surveys on the Selected Conservation Techniques and disseminates information about them to overseas as traditional techniques preserving and supporting Japanese cultural properties. In July 2015, we conducted surveys on the production of Silk thread for strings of traditional Japanese instrument, Cypress bark roof and Ramies in Showa Village.
Shamisen and koto are traditional Japanese musical instruments, and indispensable for presenting Japanese traditional performing art such as Bunraku and Kabuki. Strings made of synthetic fibers are also used nowadays, however those made of silk are said to have the best tone. It goes without saying that such strings support the play and sounds of the instruments. With the help of Association for Silk Thread for Strings of Traditional Japanese Musical Instruments, Kinomoto, in Shiga Prefecture, we conducted a survey on the process of zaguri (spinning silkworm cocoons into a thread). In recent years, the domestic sericultural industry has been declining, so the handing down of traditional techniques to later generations is becoming an important issue.
The cypress bark gathered from a standing tree has been traditionally used for roofing, and the technique has been used to build traditional temples and shrines. As such roof needs to be reroofed periodically, it is important to ensure good quality materials and to hand the technique down to later generations. Following a survey on the gathering of cypress bark conducted in October last year, we conducted a survey on the roofing at the Shotendo hall of Hozan-ji temple in Ikoma, Nara Prefecture, with the help of Tomoi Shaji Inc., a company belonging to Association for the Preservation of National Temple and Shrine Roof Construction Techniques, Inc..
Ojiya-chijimi and Echigo-jofu are textiles designated as the Important Intangible Cultural Properties under the Japanese law. These textiles are made from the ramie plant cultivated and processed in the village of Showa, Onuma District, Fukushima Prefecture. With the cooperation of Showa Village Association for Conservation of Karamushi Production Techniques and its members, we investigated the respective processes of gathering more than two-meter-high ramie plants, peeling the skin off, and extracting the fiber. Similar to other traditional craft industries, those engaged in the ramie production and processing have started to age, so training and developing successors and handing the technique down to later generations are becoming pressing issues.
The results of the survey will be compiled in a report and we plan to make a calendar for overseas users.
“Monkeys” painted by Kawanabe Kyosai, in the Kindai Nihon Gajo album of paintings possessed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
©The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Charles Stewart Smith Collection, Gift of Mrs. Charles Stewart Smith, Charles Stewart Smith Jr., and Howard Caswell Smith, in memory of Charles Stewart Smith, 1914
The Art Research, Archives and Information Systems held a monthly workshop on the topic and with the presenters mentioned below on June 4.
– Takuyo Yasunaga (researcher at the department): About “Sansui Zukan,” said to have been painted by Gion Nankai (possessed by the Tokyo National Museum)
– Ms. Eriko Tomizawa-Kay (Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures) “Modern Japanese-style painters observed in collections of paintings outside Japan and their drawing activities – mainly about the establishment and acceptance of ‘Kindai Nihon Gajo (commonly known as the Brinkley Album)’ ”
On the topic of “Sansui Zukan,” a painted scroll in the Edo period that is said to have been painted by Gion Nankai and depicting the Kumano pilgrimage routes running from Wakayama to the Nachi falls via Nakahechi, Hongu, and Shingu, Ms. Yasunaga discussed the possibility of the work having been painted by Gion Nankai [1676-1751], based on the geographically accurate depiction of Kumano and the characteristics of its expression by comparing the scroll with Nankai’s other newly found works and other measures. In addition, she also pointed out the scroll’s relationship with the learning activities of Chinese paintings by early Japanese bunjinga (literati painting) painters and new expressions of actual sceneries. However, attendees of the workshop provided various remarks such as the issue of whether the painting scroll was just a sketch and the relationship with other paintings of the same age.
Ms. Tomizawa made presentations based on the survey of “Kindai Nihon Gajo” possessed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. While paintings included in this gajo are separated individually at present, it originally consisted of 95 paintings created by seven Japanese-style painters who were active in the Meiji era, including Kawanabe Kyosai, Hashimoto Gaho and Kawabata Gyokusho. Ms. Tomizawa’s research revealed that dealer and collector Francis Brinkley (1841-1912) originally asked Kyosai to create an album of 100 paintings. However, as Kyosai died in 1889, the creation of the album was divided among the other six painters, according to her research. Charles Stewart Smith, a prominent U.S. entrepreneur who stayed in Japan in 1892 and 1893, purchased the album from Brinkley and Smith’s bereaved family donated the album to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The album remains in the museum’s possession to this day.
Among the paintings included in the album, 12 painted by Kyosai were temporarily returned to Japan and exhibited along with their sketches (possessed by the Kawanabe Kyosai Memorial Museum) at the exhibition “KYOSAI-Master painter and his student Josiah Conder” held at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo from June 27 to Sep 6. The elaborate brushworks are prominently respected among other paintings in the album, so we recommend that you see them on this occasion.
Symposium “Advancement of Art Resources in a Global Context”
On June 6 (Sat.), the “Advancement of Art Resources in a Global Context – Contact point between global digitalization strategies and academic specialized research” was held at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo as part of the annual meeting of the Japan Art Documentation Society. Representing the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Deputy Director General Atsushi Tanaka and Mai Sarai, senior researcher at the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, attended the symposium as presenters. With an eye to increasing the quantity of art resource information, which has been internationally requested, this symposium was intended to confirm the situations surrounding relevant organizations regarding issues related to the specialization and advancement of information in Japan and to deepen discussions on the issues.
First, representatives from the National Museum of Western Art, the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) and the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, respectively gave presentations on their own methods of offering information on art and cultural properties. Mr. Tanaka and Ms. Sarai from the institute gave a presentation under the title “Formulation of Specialized Archives on Cultural Property Information – Efforts by the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo,” and introduced the history of the institute, archives activities and digital contents, and reported the institute’s efforts and measures on the provision of information at a global level (cooperation with the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and with the Getty Research Institute, etc). Following the individual presentations, a panel discussion between presenters and a keynote speech by Akiko Mabuchi, the director general of the National Museum of Western Arts, were held in the symposium.
In this symposium, we again presented the effectiveness of art and cultural property information and resources that have been accumulated and maintained by the institute over many years in research activities under the current situation surrounding art resource information to relevant officials at home and abroad. At the same time, we could obtain many suggestions on the provision and dissemination of information at a global level by learning pioneering activities of other institutions.
The dialogue with Leiko Ikemura
We held a public dialogue with Leiko Ikemura, an artist living in Berlin, Germany, on June 9 (Tue.) Before this, the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems held an international symposium “Reconsidering ‘Form’: Towards a More Open Discussion” in January 2014, and Ms. Ikemura served as a speaker in the symposium. (We published a report on the symposium. For details, please see
http://www.tobunken.go.jp/info/sympo13/index_e.html)
The dialogue event was the second phase of the symposium. Emiko Yamanashi and Mai Sarai from the department asked Ms. Ikemura questions and she gave answers to the questions. In the trilateral dialogue, Ikemura delivered various talks, starting with the production concept of her most recent work “Usagi Kannon,” a terracotta statue more than three meters in height. Then she talked about practical issues including production techniques, materials, the selection of media, and ways to realize production concepts. In addition, she frankly and fully discussed the act of creation, such as her attitude toward production, inner feelings and conflicted feelings at the time of creation, and the state of mind she is trying to reach through art.
When she draws a picture, Ikemura said, “I capture the moment when the object and I are integrated. What I want to draw is not an object. I want to capture the sense that the object is connected to me and my body. That is the connection between myself and the world and experience, and I am trying to make it into a painting.” That statement was very impressive.
The contents of the dialogue will be made available on the website of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. We hope you will look forward to this.
Getty Museum
Getty Research Institute
On June 16 and 17, Atsushi Tanaka, deputy director general of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (Tobunken), and Mai Sarai at the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems visited the Getty Research Institute (GRI) that plays a leading role globally in the dissemination of information on artworks and art research with the help of Ms. Ann Adachi, a video art researcher living in Philadelphia. They had a consultation with officials at the GRI to seek the possibility of joint research. In October 2014, GRI Director Thomas W. Gaehtgens and other staff members inspected Tobunken. Following the visit, both institutions decided to hold a consultation to seek concrete ways of cooperation.
The GRI is located on a hill overlooking the coast in Santa Monica in Los Angeles and the UCLA campus. The GRI is part of a complex facility generally referred to as the Getty Center that comprises such institutions as the Getty Conservation Institute and the J. Paul Getty Museum having five pavilions.
Jean Paul Getty, the founder of the Getty Center, had an idea that the revolutionary digital technology in the 21st century would enable the integration of art, humane studies and natural science, and that the Getty Center should offer a platform for the integration. Based on the idea, the GRI has been organically organizing a range of projects in cooperation with museums and research institutes not only in the United States but also in Europe, aiming to form a cooperative model to integrate accesses to all artworks.
Sarai gave a presentation titled “Approaches to the Creation of Japanese Cultural Properties Database at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo; Tobunken,” and introduced Tobunken’s current efforts to disseminate research information on cultural properties to Mr. Gaehtgens and other senior officials at the respective departments.
Tobunken’s digital archives on cultural properties and artist database are contents that are highly likely to be linked to the Getty Center, and we received favorable reviews from staffers at the GRI. We will reach an agreement to promote cooperation between both institutions and eventually exchange memorandums.
If Tobunken’s digital contents could be searched on the GRI’s portal site, which is connected to the world, information on Japanese art and cultural properties will certainly become available to a larger number of people in the world. We will continue to enhance Tobunken’s ability to disseminate information.
Art historian Aki Ueno, who had worked for the Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural Properties, the predecessor to the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, from November 1942 to April 1984, passed away on Oct. 12, 2014. Ms. Ueno specialized in the Art of Western regions such as Kizil Caves and Mogao Caves. In addition, she was awarded the Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy in 1960 for her joint research on the mural painting of the five-storey pagoda at Daigo-ji Temple with Osamu Takata, Takuji Ito, Taka Yanagisawa and Tsugio Miya, becoming the first woman to receive the award along with Yanagisawa. Her bereaved family will donate Ueno’s research notes, related materials and part of her book stock to the institute so that they can be utilized for future research. They are a valuable collection of materials that show the traces of research on the history of the Art of Western regions and other issues. After organizing them, we plan to make them available to the public.
Yashiro and Berenson-Art History between Japan and Italy
Art historian Yukio Yashiro (1890-1975), who served as the director general of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, went to Europe in 1921 and studied under Renaissance art researcher Bernard Berenson (1865-1959) in Florence, Italy, from the autumn of that year. Yashiro learned his teacher’s method of stylistic comparison, and published “Sandro Botticelli” in 1925, a bulky English work on Botticelli that made Yashiro internationally recognized. After returning to Japan in 1925, he participated in the foundation of the “Institute of Art Research,” the predecessor to the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. Based on the Institute of Art Research, he made efforts to compile the history of Oriental art using Berenson’s methodology. After World War II, he was involved in the opening of the Museum Yamato Bunkakan from the preparatory stage and served as the first director general of the museum. The National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, has been conducting research on the correspondence between Yashiro and Berenson. On June 30, we started a Web exhibition on the extant correspondence titled “Yashiro and Berenson-Art History between Japan and Italy,” presenting the republications of all 114 letters between Berenson and Yashiro and related documents in cooperation with the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, which is housed in the former villa of Berenson, and Michiaki Koshikawa, professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. (See http://yashiro.itatti.harvard.edu/) You can enjoy various materials showing the exchanges between the two art historians in the Web exhibition comprising the following chapters: letters, a list of people appearing in the letters, “Sandro Botticelli,” English versions of Yashiro’s literary works including an English translation of “My Life in Fine Arts” (from Chapter 7 to 10) published in 1972, studies on Yashiro, Berenson’s literary works on Oriental art and a gallery including Yashiro’s water-color paintings and sketches. Yashiro and the letters shed light not only on the individual activities of Berenson and Yashiro and their master-discipline relationship, but also on the international circumstances surrounding research on Renaissance art and Oriental art from the 1920s to 1950s.
During the Conference
On June 30 (Tue.), the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems invited Mr. Matthew Mckelway, professor at Columbia University, and held a workshop titled “NAGASAWA Rosetsu before his Sojourn in Nanki (Kii Province): His Relations with Temples of the Zen Sect”.
Rosetsu Nagasawa (1754～99) is a painter who was active in the mid-Edo period. Substituting for his master Okyo Maruyama, Rosetsu visited several temples of the Zen sect in the southern Kii Province (Nanki) from 1786 to 1787. Rosetsu is known as having drawn a large number of sliding panel paintings during his sojourn of a few months. His experience in Nanki gave him significant momentum to obtain his own painting style. However, there are quite a few unclear points over Rosetsu’s movements and painting education before his sojourn in Nanki.
Based on a detailed analysis of a sanja (person who appreciates the work and writes an appraisal of it) of Rosetsu’s works currently possessed in overseas countries and his collaborative works, among other materials, Mr. Mckelway pointed out that Rosetsu had had close relations with Zen monks at Myoshin-ji temple such as Shikyo Eryo and Shishin Sogin since before his sojourn in Nanki. By examining the motifs of Rosetsu’s sliding panel paintings at temples in Nanki with this fact in mind, Mr. Mckelway also pointed out the possibility that Rosetsu was inspired by a sliding panel painting at Myoshin-ji temple. Given that the current research on Rosetsu lacks works before his sojourn in Nanki, Mr. Mckelway offered a very significant and attractive theory. After his presentation, there was an active exchange of views on Rosetsu’s works in overseas countries introduced by Mr. Mckelway. Such a presentation about works possessed in overseas countries provided important information to the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, and we expect further progress in the research in the future.
Mibu no Hana Taue
Miyoshi no Ukai
Since 2011, the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage has been conducting the second Research Exchange between Japan and South Korea in relation to the Safeguarding and Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage with South Korea’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Center (the former National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage). As part of the program, Mr. Ban So Young of the center visited Japan from June 1 to 22 and conducted a joint survey. Aiming to conduct concrete case studies on activities of conservation groups and others for the safeguarding and utilization of intangible cultural heritages, we inspected Mibu no Hana Taue, the ritual of transplanting rice in the Mibu area of Kitahiroshima town in Hiroshima Prefecture, (designated as a national important intangible folk cultural property and inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity) and Miyoshi no Ukai, a traditional fishing method using a cormorant conducted in Miyoshi, the same prefecture, (designated as a Hiroshima prefectural intangible folk cultural property), and interviewed the people concerned. For their transmission to later generations, both Hana Taue and Ukai are indivisibly connected to tourism. Especially because of that, not only successors but also a wide range of actors such as local governments, related organizations, people in relevant communities, researchers and audience are interrelated in various ways for the transmission of the intangible folk cultural assets, and these assets have been passed down to later generations in more flexible ways while having relations with local economies. In the latest survey, we could learn a part of the actual situations.
In South Korea, a new law concerning intangible cultural heritages will be implemented in March 2016, which will greatly change the environment surrounding the conservation of intangible cultural heritages in the country. At the same time, this research exchange program will end in this fiscal year, and we will summarize the program in the next fiscal year. In the future, we will compile the results of the second research exchange, while both countries plan to discuss ways of bilateral exchange in the year after next and beyond with moves after the revision of the law in South Korea in mind.
Demonstration of Microfading device
On June 4, 2015, Dr.Paul Whitmore, professor at Yale University (the U.S.) and director of the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, visited the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, and conducted a demonstration of Microfading, the state-of-the-art spectroscope capable of measuring color deterioration in a microscopic region. Microfading is a most-advanced technology that has not been introduced in Japan yet, and Mr. Whitmore introduced the purpose and structure of the device as well as its application cases in the United States to researchers of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques as well as teachers and postgraduates of Tokyo University of the Arts. According to Mr. Whitmore, the method of grasping changes in color fading with the passage of time by exposing an object through fiber to the high-intensity light of a xenon lamp with an aperture width setting of 0.3 millimeters is used to determine which color is vulnerable to light exposure among actual exhibits. The idea of the method is opposite to that of the conventional one that limits the exposed time by identifying an object and then judging its light resistance. While there are only a few application cases of Microfading, I felt that the technology has the potential to expand possibilities for the future. Concerning dyed textiles made at the institute (red: carminic acid, yellow: curcumin and blue: indigo), we conducted a color fading experiment to create a final color-difference level of 33, but we could not find discolored spots both visually and by using a stereomicroscope. (Of the attendees, eight were from outside institutions.)
We held a workshop on “the Minamata Convention on Mercury” at the Tokyo National Museum Lecture Room on June 9, 2015. The Convention stipulates comprehensive regulations to reduce the risks of mercury on human health and the environment, and was adopted and signed on October 10, 2013, at a diplomatic conference held in Kumamoto Prefecture. It includes limitations on the use of mercury as well as a ban on the manufacturing, import or export of mercury-added products, also having effects on cultural property conservation. Thus we discussed the contents of the Minamata Convention on Mercury and its impact with representatives from collaborative partners of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques having a large variety of expertise, such as the Tokyo National Museum, the Kyoto National Museum, the Nara National Museum and the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, as well as Cultural Affairs Agency officials in charge of the matter and representatives from the agency’s fine arts division.
As for cultural property materials and techniques using mercury, we agreed to carefully monitor the future direction of regulations in order to reduce negative effects as much as possible on the restoration and replication of cultural properties such as cinnabar as an electroplating technique or a drawing material and the replication of Daguerreotype pictures. In addition, we also agreed to act to express opinions when necessary. Meanwhile, before the production of mercury lamps and fluorescent lamps is discontinued, we decided to exchange views on the use of LED lights and its beam quality evaluation. In the workshop, we could shed light on problems from various perspectives such as a natural history sample, academic sample and modern industrial devices using mercury and the disposal of waste soil at excavation sites, and we realized the very wide range of expertise.
Photographing from a high altitude by remote shutter operation using a digital camera’s Wifi function and iPad.
Data processing using open-sourced software programs
Among the monuments of Angkor, many of which have been restored by various methods thanks to international cooperation, Ta Nei temple has never undergone full-scale restoration in the past and quietly remains unchanged as it was in a dense forest. In order to ensure an adequate conservation of the monument while also paying attention to the aspect of utilizing it for tourism without undermining its value, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, continues to provide technical assistance to APSARA (Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap) to draft a plan for the conservation and management project.
As for the three-dimensional photographic measurement at the remains using SfM (Structure from Motion), which began last year, we have been testing it to establish a method to keep records of the remains’ current conditions, which can be implemented by local staff members as cheap and easy as possible. In this mission conducted from May 27 to June 2, we photographed the remains in the inner side of the inside gallery and implemented the total station measurement of orientation points together with staff from APSARA. Next, we created a three-dimensional model of the ruin covering the inner side of the inside gallery by processing the obtained data using open-sourced software programs (Visual_SfM、SfM georef、Meshlab). While we are currently examining the accuracy of the model, if the method is established, it is expected to be applied not only to other monuments of Angkor but also to ones in other developing countries as a recording method that does not require special equipment or budgets.
Meanwhile, the outline and progress situation of the project were reported at the 24th technical session of the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor held on June 4 and 5 at the APSARA headquarters office. The collection of basic data including those necessary to create the model of the entire site will be completed within this fiscal year.
