| ■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 |
|
Receiving an explanation of the display in the Institute’s Lobby
13 visitors from the Graduate School of the National Taipei University of Education in Taiwan
As a part of student training, visitors from the National Taipei University of Education visited the Institute on April 3 to learn about the Institute’s projects and the results of its research. The visitors toured the Library of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems and the Performing Arts Studio of the Intangible Cultural Properties Section. The visitors also viewed a display of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on “Conservation of Modern Cultural Properties: The role of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo” at the lobby of the Institute. Leading researchers in each sections explained their work. In the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation, researchers described the Institute’s international efforts.
The moment during the 37th Session of the World Heritage Committee when an announcement was made that Mt. Fuji would be inscribed on the World Heritage List
The Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems held a seminar on April 21. Entitled “Problems with the World Heritage Committee and Their Solutions: Capitalizing on Those Approaches to Safeguard Cultural Properties under the World Heritage Convention,” the seminar featured a presentation by the author, who has been observing the World Heritage Committee since 2008. In her presentation, the author analyzed what was discussed at Committee sessions.
The public is highly interested in World Heritage, and flocks of visitors visit World Heritage sites. Many of the books on World Heritage cover specific heritage sites. In contrast, only a few books in Japanese specifically discuss the World Heritage Committee and related issues.
During her presentation, the author described the process from nomination of a site to its inscription on the World Heritage List, and she also explained how sites were considered during Committee sessions. The author described how the Committee Members are chosen from 21 of the State Parties to the Convention and how the Advisory Bodies act as expert advisors to the Committee. The author also noted the issues facing the UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Secretariat of the World Heritage Committee). In addition, the author offered her own views on the utility of the World Heritage Convention from her perspective as an expert in safeguarding cultural properties.
The original role of the World Heritage Convention was to establish a framework to safeguard and preserve cultural heritage and natural heritage for posterity. The nomination dossier nominating a site for inscription on the World Heritage List must describe how the site will be protected. The process of nominating a site for inscription on the World Heritage List involves a process of verifying and improving the framework for protecting that site. This approach facilitates international support for effective protection of the site. Gleaning the tendencies of the World Heritage Committee should allow Japan to more effectively prepare nomination dossiers and reports on the state of conservation of given sites. Thus, Institute personnel plan to study the World Heritage Committee and World Heritage Convention in the future as well.
English-language version of the TOBUNKEN Research Collections search page
The Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems has now made databases that were created by departments of the Institute publicly accessible. Information that is essential to research on cultural properties is available via the TOBUNKEN Research Collections (http://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/).
On April 30, 2015, an English-language version of the TOBUNKEN Research Collections was made available. A button for Japanese and English on the top right of the page allows uses to switch between Japanese and English language versions of the page. This project is one of the results of “Shaping the Fundamentals of Research on Japanese Art,” which is a project that the Institute conducted with the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC) in England. In addition to the page having an English-language version, the following features have been added.
＊Within References on Cultural Properties, a search limiter has been added for Information on Japanese Art Outside of Japan (compiled by the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures).
http://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E8%B2%A1%E9%96%A2%E4%BF%82%E6%96%87%E7%8C%AE%EF%BC%88%E7%B5%B1%E5%90%88%E8%A9%A6%E8%A1%8C%E7%89%88%EF%BC%89/
Five databases of art-related publications have been accessible thus far, but these databases have now been joined by a database of foreign publications on Japanese art (approximately 718 sources that were published since 2013, which is when the project began) compiled by the SISJAC.
＊A page to search Information on Modern-Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Film Festivals was added under Information Search.
http://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/%E6%83%85%E5%A0%B1%E3%81%AE%E6%A4%9C%E7%B4%A2/%E8%BF%91%E7%8F%BE%E4%BB%A3%E7%BE%8E%E8%A1%93%E5%B1%95%E8%A6%A7%E4%BC%9A%E3%83%BB%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB%E7%A5%AD%E9%96%8B%E5%82%AC%E6%83%85%E5%A0%B1/
Compiled by the SISJAC, this information includes exhibitions and film festivals (approximately 520 events that took place since 2013, which is when the project began) that took place overseas (primarily in Europe and the US) in English.
The Art-related Publications database was made publicly available online by Tobunken. The SISJAC collected information on Japanese art overseas, and this information is now publicly available in the Institute’s Art-related Publications database. This work was done to help provide a platform for research on Japanese art in Japan and overseas. Hopefully, the databases will prove of benefit to users, and plans are to add subsequent data in the future.
Signing of an agreement between the Institute and the Tokyo Art Club
An art catalogue is a brochure that is handed out before items in an individual or a family’s collection are sold at sale place on a certain date. An art catalogue features photographs and it lists the name and medium of artworks such as paintings, calligraphic works, and art objects. Such a catalogue is a vital source with which to determine an artwork’s provenance. Such catalogues enjoy a limited distribution, so only a handful of facilities nationwide curate auction catalogues as a whole.
In its collection, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo has a total of 2,532 art catalogues that were printed from the late Meiji Era to the Showa Era. The Institute has the largest number of these catalogues among public repositories in Japan. The Tokyo Art Club has long been involved in the sale of artworks since its founding in 1907.Over this period, the Tokyo Art Club has amassed a number of catalogues it has published.
In the past, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo recorded information in art catalogues on cards with attached photographs and made these cards available to researchers in the Institute’s Library. However, original art catalogues were often poorly preserved. Thus, the Institute joined with the Tokyo Art Club to start a project to create digital copies of art catalogues.
This project will fully reproduce older art catalogues (i.e. catalogues printed prior to 1943) in the collections of the Institute and the Tokyo Art Club in digital format. These images and information will then be shared in an effort to preserve these important sources.
Reproducing images and information in these art catalogues in digital format should further enhance databases of important materials in the Institute’s collection.
Report on the 9th Conference on the Study of Intangible Folk Cultural Properties
The 9th Conference on the Study of Intangible Folk Cultural Properties was held on December 6, 2014, and a report on that Conference was published at the end of March. The theme of this year’s conference was “Local Identity and Folk Performing Arts: Relocation/Resettlement and Intangible Cultural Heritage.” How will folk culture be passed down and what role does folk culture play when people are relocated and resettled? The answers to these questions were posited and discussed through specific examples from the past. The Great East Japan Earthquake led to a reappraisal of the value that people attach to folk culture as a basis for their identity. This discussion is warranted both for communities that were stricken by the Earthquake and for areas with fewer young people and growing proportion of elderly.
A PDF version of the report is available for download from the website of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
A lion dance in the port. In the background, one can see the village being relocated to higher ground.
The Intangible Folk Cultural Properties Section is conducting surveys to create an ethnography in order to document intangible cultural heritage in areas where residents were forced to move or relocate as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake. One of the sites currently being surveyed is the Town of Onagawa, Oshika County, Miyagi Prefecture. A survey was conducted on April 29 in conjunction with the Tohoku History Museum. The survey team visited the Takenoura area. Soon after the Earthquake, residents of a village of about 60 homes evacuated to the City of Senboku, Akita Prefecture. Temporary housing was subsequently built, but evacuees were scattered among 30 or so locations. There are few opportunities to bring this disjointed community back together. One such opportunity is the lion dance (“lion shake”) at New Year’s. A mikoshi (a portable shrine) is carried from a shrine and brought down to the pier in the new port. There, the lion dance takes place. The village’s landscape is changing as the village relocates to higher ground. Documenting life in terms of intangible cultural heritage such as festivals and performing arts will hopefully help the community to reunite and recover.
During a joint study of works in the Sannomaru Shozokan collection
On March 30, 2015, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo and the Imperial Household Agency concluded an Agreement on Joint Studies of Works in the Sannomaru Shozokan Collection. Pursuant to the Agreement, works in the Sannomaru Shozokan collection that need to be conserved in the future and works that are significant to art history will be studied. Materials in these works will be analyzed and high-resolution photographs of these works will be taken in order to ascertain what materials were used in these works and how they were used.
An initial joint survey was conducted at the Sannomaru Shozokan on April 6-15, 2015. High-resolution photographs of 3 paintings were taken by SHIRONO Seiji (the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems), and X-ray fluorescence analysis of those works was performed by HAYAKAWA Yasuhiro (the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques).
Joint studies are scheduled to take place over a 5-year period ending in March 2020, with individual studies being conducted 2-3 times a year.
A lecture underway
A post-conference workshop
From April 8 to 10, 2015, a conference entitled “Adapt & Evolve: East Asian Materials and Techniques in Western Conservation” took place mainly at the Brunei Gallery at the University of London. The conference was organized by the Book and Paper Group of the Institute of Conservation (colloquially known as ICON) in the UK.
The conference consisted of tours of relevant institutions in the City of London, group events (presentations and question-and-answer panels), and various workshops. MASUDA Katsuhiko (an emeritus researcher at the Institute, currently a professor at Showa Women’s University), HAYAKAWA Noriko (a senior researcher at the Institute), and KATO Masato (a head of the Resource and Systems Research Section at the Institute) reported on the results of projects such as international training in Conservation of Japanese Paper (JPC) and the Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas as well as studies of the materials used to restore cultural properties. In addition, post-conference workshops were conducted after the conference. HAYAKAWA Noriko and KUSONOKI Kyoko (an associate fellow of the Institute) explained the traditional adhesives used in the field of conservation in Japan, and showed how to make starch paste and they instructed attendees in its application.
According to the conference organizer, the conference was attended by about 300 people from around the world. During the question-and-answer session, the conference chair asked the audience about the JPC, and the answer revealed that 30 or more individuals who had completed the training were in attendance. Individuals who had completed other workshops organized by the Institute were also in attendance. Thus, the Institute plays a major role in introducing East Asian materials and techniques to Western conservation. In addition, many of the attendees asked that the Institute continue to provide information about conservation.
Making ornamental metalwork
Weaving gold brocade
Making a loom shuttle
The Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation has conducted surveys of Selected Conservation Techniques. The Center interviews the technique holders, asking about topics such as their work process, the circumstances of their work, and how societal conditions are affecting them. SHIRONO Seiji (an artificer in the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems) photographed them at work, their tools, and other items. In April 2015, surveys on the making of ornamental metalwork., gold brocade, and loom shuttles were conducted in Kyoto.
MORIMOTO Yasunosuke IV, the fourth-generation director of Morimoto Traditional Ornament Metalwork Co., Ltd., showed how to make ornamental metalwork and ritual decorations for temple and shrine buildings. Making ornamental metalwork involves a series of steps from shaping copper sheets to engraving a design, gold plating, and then finishing the metalwork. These processes were observed during this survey.
At Hironobu Textiles Co., Ltd., which makes traditional textiles (such as gold brocade) for mounting, HIROSE Kenji discussed the current state of Nishijin textiles, and he showed how to make gold brocade by weaving gold thread into the weft of a fabric. A tool that is essential to weaving fabric is a loom shuttle, which is a wooden tool that is passed through a loom to weave the weft of a fabric. HASEGAWA Junichi makes loom shuttles. HASEGAWA explained the various types and uses of loom shuttles and he showed how he makes shuttles.
Cultural properties need to be preserved, but the materials and techniques used to make those cultural properties also need to be preserved. The results of these surveys will be compiled in a report. In addition, plans are to create a calendar for overseas countries in order to publicize Japanese cultural properties and the materials and techniques used to create and preserve those properties.
The seminar underway
A seminar was held in the Seminar Room in the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems starting at 2:00 PM on March 24 (Tues.). The seminar featured a research presentation from KAWAI Daisuke, an Associate Fellow of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems, on “Anti-art, De-subjectification, and Anonymity: Focusing on the Yamanote Line Event and AKASEGAWA Genpei” and a research presentation from KIKKAWA Hideki, another Associate Fellow of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems, on “A Panorama of Sightseeing Art at Tama: Mount Fuji, locomotives, girls, and wells”.
KAWAI’s presentation mentioned the “de-subjectification of works,” which is one of the features common to art from around the world in the 1960s. This “de-subjectification” became evident as “anonymity” in Japanese art of the period. KAWAI substantiated this point through an analysis of materials related to the Yamanote Line Event put on by NAKANISHI Natsuyuki and other artists in 1962 and the activities of AKASEGAWA Genpei at the time (since AKASEGAWA was affected by the Yamanote action).
KIKKAWA’s presentation covered An Exhibition of Sightseeing Art at Tama, which is the first event put on by the Tourist Art Research Institute. KIKKAWA used the drawing A Panorama of Sightseeing Art at Tama and the video piece Das Kapital by NAKAMURA Hiroshi to look back at the exhibition. KIKKAWA’s presentation included information that was presented at a symposium commemorating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the PoNJA-GenKon listserve in September of last year as well as subsequent research he had done.
The seminar was attended by the painter NAKAMURA Hiroshi and the artist and post-war art researcher SHIMADA Yoshiko. NAKAMURA arrived after KIKKAWA’s presentation and provided attendees with an explanation of the Tourist Art Research Institute and his own work at the time in a question-and-answer session following the presentations.
Imaging of A Painting of Mahamayuri
Bijitsu Gaho(The Magazine of Art) is an art journal that was first published by Gahosha as Nihon Bijitsu Gaho in June 1894. In addition to “new works” by artists at the time, the journal also featured artworks and handicrafts dating from before the Edo period as “reference works.” The journal provides a glimpse into what works were considered classics in the Meiji era. The name of the journal changed to Bijitsu Gaho in 1899, and the journal continued publication until 1926.
A database featuring images from Nihon Bijitsu Gaho and Bijitsu Gaho is now available for public access via the Institute’s website. The database allows searches by the names of artists and the names of pieces.
http://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/gahou
The database currently contains images from Japanese Art Pictorial Vol. 1, No. 1 (June 1894) to Vol. 5, No. 12 (May 1899). Plans are to make images from subsequent volumes available as well. In addition, volumes prior to Vol. 3, No. 12 (June 1897) can be viewed with a book viewer, which users can peruse like flipping through a book, so we invite you to have a look.
KUNO Takeshi left an indelible footprint on the history of Buddhist sculpture. KUNO’s collection has been organized, and a catalogue of photographs and other images of Buddhist sculptures in Japan and elsewhere around the world is now available to the public. The collection is massive, with more than 7,000 images, and was assembled by KUNO, who was a researcher at the Institute. After KUNO passed away in 2007, his family donated the collection to the Institute.
KUNO joined the Institute of Art Research (the forerunner of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo) in 1944, and he researched history of Buddhist sculpture for 38 years until he retired in 1982. After retiring, he founded and sponsored the Buddhist Art Research Institute near his home. He collected materials over a number of years and made those materials available for use by researchers (a brief biography of KUNO can be found at the link below).
http://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/bukko/28393.html
Most of the photographs are of Buddhist sculptures that have been categorized by the temple or shrine where they are found in prefectures and major cities. Providing an extensive view of Buddhist statues throughout Japan, the photographs convey the zeal of an extraordinary person. The photographs are extremely important materials and include images of Buddhist statues as they were being restored. KUNO oversaw the editing of A Compilation of Buddhist Statues (Gakuseisha), and some of the photographs can be found in that work. A Compilation of Buddhist Statues features descriptions of major Buddhist statues in different regions.
The catalogue allows searches by the name of the shrine or temple where the statue is found and by the name of the piece. If you would like to view this collection, please fill out the Application for Use Form (word / PDF) and submit it to the Library.
Recording SEKINE Shouroku
Noh chants from Sotoba Komachi were performed by the preeminent SEKINE Shouroku, a lead actor in the Kanze school of Noh, and recorded on March 13. A Noh play intended primarily for the initiated, Sotoba Komachi features the part of an old woman that can only be performed by veteran actors with years of experience. Somewhat more complex techniques than are normally used are used to portray the old woman’s mindset. Plans are to continue with this recording work after April and record the old woman’s part.
During lecture
ISHIZAKI Takeshi, the former Deputy Director General of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (NRICPT), retired at the end of September 2014. He has continued his research as a professor at the Institute for Conservation of Cultural Properties of the Tohoku University of Art and Design. He delivered a lecture about the results “Conservation of Cultural Properties and Their Surrounding Environments: A specific focus on water-related problems” (Fri. March 6 2015, at the Seminar Hall in the basement) describing the results of his previous and current research.
Professor ISHIZAKI, he clearly explained how moisture in soil freezes to form ice lenses and he described the movement of these ice lenses based on soil physics, his field of expertise. He described his study of rainwater penetration to stone through an analysis of moisture and heat transport. He also cited examples that explained the causes of the weathering of the stone Buddhist statue in Ayutthaya and low temperature control method during the dismantling of the stone chamber of the Takamatsuzuka Tumuli. These topics illustrate how he has focused on moisture movement in porous materials such as soil, brick, and earthen walls. He also talked about applying the outcomes of his research to the conservation of historic buildings, storehouses with plaster walls, stone structures, and exposed archeological remains. He remarked on the fact that there are few researchers in the field of safeguarding cultural properties, and he encouraged joint studies with universities and other research institutions.
Since retiring, he has participated in research as an emeritus researcher and visiting researcher at the Institute’s Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques. (The audience included 53 attendees who were not affiliated with the NRICPT)
Photographing mural paintings unearthed at the Penjikent site
Piecing together mural painting fragments unearthed at the Khulbuk site
From March 3 to 8, unearthed mural painting fragments were researched, pieced back together, and photographed at the Tajikistan National Museum, the Khulbuk Museum, and the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan.
Four mural paintings (dated to the 7–8th centuries) that were unearthed at the site of the medieval fortified town of Penjikent in Sogdiana are being stored and exhibited at the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan. These are a valuable scholarly resource given the limited number of similar paintings. The painting techniques and the state of their conservation were researched and the paintings were photographed in detail in order to better understand their value in terms of art history and the state of their conservation.
Fragments of mural paintings (dated around the 10–11th centuries) were unearthed at the Khulbuk site in the early 1980s. Since then, those fragments were simply stored in the Khulbuk Museum without any effort to piece them back together. During the research, these fragments were pieced back together and photographed. The mural painting fragments had been piled up in a wooden box for storage, so work began by transferring individual fragments to a plastic container and assigning each fragment a reference number. Fragments in each container were photographed and the condition of each fragment was recorded to provide basic information for use in conservation work.
Fragments of mural paintings (dated around the 8th century) from the Kala-i Kakhkakha 1 site are being stored and exhibited at the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan. The current condition of them was recorded, and the fragments were visually inspected in detail.
The results of this study should effectively facilitate future conservation of mural painting fragments in the Republic of Tajikistan.
Practice conserving simulated mural painting fragments
As part of the “Networking Core Centers for International Cooperation in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage Project” commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, 2 mural painting conservators from the Department of Archaeology and National Museum (DoA) of the Ministry of Culture of Myanmar were invited to train in Japan from March 9 to 13, 2015. The training consisted of lectures on conservation of mural paintings and practice conserving those items, a visit to a restoration studio, and viewing of temple murals. The training further educated the Myanmarese conservators about conservation of wall paintings in Japan.
During the first half of the training, the conservators received lectures on aspects of Japanese murals (decorated kofun [ancient Japanese tombs], mural paintings in kofun, mural paintings on plaster found in temples, panel paintings, etc.) such as their history and the materials and techniques used to make them along with examples of their conservation. The conservators also received lectures on the materials and techniques used to conserve kofun mural paintings, and they practiced conserving simulated mural painting fragments. The trainees were highly interested in learning about materials and techniques, and they actively asked questions. In addition, trainees visited a restoration studio that restores Japanese works such as paintings and books. Trainees observed actual restoration work and they talked about basic policies regarding conservation in Myanmar and Japan. During the latter half of the training, trainees visited Kyoto and Nara and they viewed surviving murals in Houkai-ji, Horyu-ji, and Yakushi-ji. Trainees discussed the conservation of mural paintings with Japanese representatives as they closely observed mural paintings that were described in the lectures. The hope is to continue cooperation in the future so that the information taught during training will benefit projects to conserve mural paintings in Myanmar.
A survey at the National Gallery of Victoria
Japanese artworks in collections overseas play an important role in introducing foreigners to Japanese culture. However, there are few conservators of Japanese works overseas, so numerous works are not ready for exhibition, and those works are not properly conserved. The Institute conducts the Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas so that these Japanese artworks can be conserved and exhibited. The program facilitates cooperation in conservation of works overseas and it conducts workshops in an effort to conserve and restore such works. The current survey examined Japanese paintings in Australia in order to identify works for future conservation by the cooperative program.
From March 16 to 19, Institute researchers visited the National Gallery of Victoria and the National Gallery of Australia. The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne is Australia’s oldest art museum while the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra boasts the country’s largest collection of art. During the survey, the detailed state of hanging scrolls, a hand scroll, and folding screens (8 works in total) were examined and the works were also studied from the perspective of art history. The works will be assessed in terms of art history and works in need of urgent conservation will be identified based on the results of the survey, and works will be selected for conservation under the cooperative program. In addition, information gleaned from the survey will be provided to the curating institution in order to formulate future plans to exhibit and conserve the works.
2015 Calendar: Preserving Cultural Properties: Traditional Techniques from Japan
The Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation is studying Selected Conservation Techniques that must be preserved in order to preserve cultural properties. The center conducts interview surveys with the technique holders and the individuals from selected organizations, asking about their work process, the situation surrounding their work and their social environment and takes photographic records of them at work and their tools. Two versions of a 2015 calendar (a wall hanging version and a desktop version) for overseas were produced to inform the public of these efforts and provide information. The calendar is entitled Traditional Japanese Technique to Conserve Cultural Properties and it covers production of Japanese paper, production of sukisu bamboo screens for papermaking, plastering, dyeing with natural Japanese indigo, gathering Japanese cypress bark, Tatara smelting, and production of brushes for makie from among topics studied in 2014. All of the photographs were taken by SHIRONO Seiji of the Institute’s Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems. These visually stunning images capture an instant highlighting the aspects of traditional materials and techniques, and explanations of each photograph are provided in English and Japanese. The calendar will be distributed to foreign agencies and organizations dealing with cultural properties to promote of understanding of Japanese techniques to conserve cultural properties and Japanese culture.
The seminar featuring a presentation by Ms. INABA Mai
The Modern and Contemporary Art Section of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems has continued Research on the History of Cultural Exchanges of Modern and Contemporary Art. This research project covers modern and contemporary art from Japan and other parts of East Asia. As part of that project, a seminar of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems on February 17th featured a presentation by Ms.INABA Mai, an Associate Professor at Kwangwoon University in South Korea. The presentation was entitled Korea’s “Dong Yang Hua(East Asian Painting)”.
The genre now known as Dong Yang Hua in South Korea originally developed when Nihonga(Japanese style Painting) took hold in Korea during the era of Japan’s colonial rule. In criticism of Oriental Painting after the end of that rule, the term South Korean Painting referred to the same genre of painting but connoted establishment of an ethnic identity. The term Han Guk Hua(South Korean Painting) came into vogue starting in the 1980s. Professor INABA’s presentation described the political context for the term Dong Yang Hua and events leading up to use of the current term South Korean Painting. The presentation also covered related topics and featured examples of representative works.
The concept of Nihonga was established after Japan’s modernization. This concept was actively discussed by critics, art historians, and artists in Japan from the 1990s to the early 2000s. Over the past few years, artists producing Nihonga have been re-examining the concept in light of Mineral Pigment Paintings and Gouache Paintings that have developed in parts of East Asia such as China and Taiwan. The seminar looked at the nature of Korea’s “Dong Yang Hua in light of its shared origins and its unique developments within national boundaries. The seminar provided a good opportunity to reconsider Nihonga in comparison. Friction between Japan and South Korea with regard to an awareness of history is constantly discussed. The seminar was attended by Ms. KIM Kibum (a curator at the National Hansen’s Disease Museum), who remarked that “we should not ignore the unfortunate circumstances under which the two cultures met. Instead, researchers from the two countries should delve further while looking at each other with fresh eyes.” Hopefully, researchers will ponder KIM’s words and events like this seminar will lead to future research.
The seminar venue
A seminar on passing down intangible cultural heritage (traditional techniques) was jointly organized by the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum on February 3, 2015. The title of the seminar was “The People and Tools that Sustain Textile Techniques Tools are essential to passing down textile techniques. The seminar featured a panel discussion of how those tools and techniques are related and the current state of those tools and techniques. FUJII Kenzo (of the Kyoto Textile Research Institute) was invited to comment. The panel included YOSHIMURA Kouka (a curator at the Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum), textile makers who were filmed for the exhibition, NAKAYAMA Shunsuke (Head of the Modern Cultural Properties Section of the Institute’s Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques), and KIKUCHI Riyo (of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage).
The textile makers described how they are continually confronted with a choice regarding which tools to use, i.e. whether to introduce machinery to increase operational efficiency or to continue using the tools they have inherited. The textile makers also described how the techniques to make those tools have disappeared over the past few years. As a result, tools that were once readily available are no longer available, so craftsmen cannot inherit them even if they want to.
That said, there is the view that only those techniques with accompanying demand should be preserved. Kimono are currently worn on special occasions. Kimono production is almost non-existent in comparison to the days when kimono were everyday wear. Textile techniques are a form of intangible cultural heritage, but textile manufacture also falls within the framework of an industry. Textile makers produced textiles to make a living, but that cannot happen if there is no market for those textiles. In other words, what sort of kimono do consumers want? Existing techniques can change depending on the answer to that question.
The people that sustain textile techniques are not merely the textile makers. Each person who buys or wears clothing made from those textiles and wishes to preserve those textiles sustain the techniques used to make them. This seminar was meaningful since it impressed that fact upon a number of attendees. The seminar had numerous issues, such as time constraints, a lack of further discussion, and the fact that too broad a range of topics was covered. In the future, the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage would like to draw on the views expressed by attendees and provide a forum in which individuals with different perspectives can discuss the passing down of textile techniques.
