| ■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 |
|
Assembly hall
Comprehensive discussions
As part of the Consortium program commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, we held the above-mentioned symposium at the Heiseikan Auditorium of Tokyo National Museum on December 14. The symposium started with a keynote lecture on the activities of UNESCO for compatibility of the protection of world heritage and the development for tourism followed by reports from two specialists. Mr. Noriaki Nishiyama pointed out the importance of the viewpoint of “living heritage” when considering cultural heritage and tourism, and Mr. Yuji Seki gave a presentation on a case in Peru where the protection of cultural heritage and the building of museum were promoted through the strength of the community. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) reported the activities for tourist destination development, including the case in Jordan, and Ms. Naoko Hamajima, who has been visiting every corner of the world as a TV reporter, proposed a method of tourism enjoying seeing cultural heritage.
Along with specialists, many regular citizens attended the symposium and asked questions. Discussions were held on how to contribute to local communities through international cooperation and on the specific methods and issues in protecting cultural heritage using tourism, as tourism which does not conflict with the protection of cultural heritage is a hot topic.
After training of producing paper containers helped by instructors Kibe Toru and Shimada Kaname
Display lighting class held by instructor Kinoshita Shisei
This program was planned as a five-year project starting in 2006, and is currently in its fourth year. We executed a training course on the conservation of historical buildings from this spring to summer, followed by a museum technical training course for three months from September 14 to December 11, as the second program for 2009.
A total of 14 trainees from Shinjang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shanxi, and Henan provinces and autonomous regions gathered along the Silk Road in China, took theoretical course lessons in Beijing for two months, and then took practical course sessions at the Ningxia Museum in Yinchuan city of Ningxiahuizu Autonomous Region for one month from the middle of November. During this period, a total of 15 instructors participated in these courses from the Institute, the Tokyo and Kyushu National Museums, universities, and studios producing materials for protection of cultural heritage, and conducted classes with the Chinese instructors.
The training at Ningxia Museum was on the measurement and analysis of the storage/exhibit environment, and the creation of theme exhibition design plans based on an actual museum’s stored items and exhibition rooms. The trainees had learned enormous amount of ideas and technical theories through the classes, conducted over many hours by the Japanese and Chinese instructors and were able to gain an secure understanding of the ideas and techniques through on-the-job training. This systematic museology training course provided with both theory and practice was first realized in China. The Ningxia Museum, which was completed in 2007 and is equipped with the state-of-the-art hardware, presented a challenge in that it was not in satisfactory condition on how to do the daily operation. We were glad that the acceptance of these training sessions inspired the museum’s staff. The completion ceremony on December 11 was attended by more than 50 of the museum’s staff members.
The Program for Capacity Building along the Silk Road will be finished when the training course for conserving and restoring textiles and mural paintings is conducted in next year.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The exhibition “Art of the Samurai — Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868”
The exhibition “Art of the Samurai — Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868”
Suzuki Norio giving a presentation.
The exhibition “Art of the Samurai — Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868” was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (referred to as “Met” hereafter) in the United States from October 21, 2009 to January 10, 2010. Masterpieces of Japanese arms and armor from ancient times to the modern age were exhibited. The exhibition proved very popular not only with people from the US but also with people from countries all over the world, and no less than 300,000 people visited the exhibition during these three months. This exhibition also displayed swords, armors, saddles, quivers, and other pieces owned by the Met that were restored in the “Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas,” conducted by the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. At the symposium held under the title “The Sunday at the Met” (November 8, 2009), which was related to the restoration of Japanese cultural properties, we had some presentations as follows. Mr. Ogawa Morihiro from the Met, responsible for the exhibition, explained the exhibition and the handling of swords, and Mr. Victor Harris, the former Keeper at the Department of Japanese Antiquities at the British Museum in the UK, gave a presentation on Japanese swords and their beauty. Mr. Fujishiro Okisato and his son Tatsuya, Japanese sword polishers, demonstrated how to polish a Japanese sword and gave some explanations. In addition, I presented an overview of efforts to conserve Japanese works of art in foreign collections and the philosophy and principles of restoring Urushi art objects in Japan. Over 700 people participated in this symposium, not only from the US but also from countries all over the world, which greatly surprised those connected with holding the exhibition — it was the first time such an enormous number of people had come to the Met since its founding. On the following day, a program called “The Scholars’ Day” (November 9) was held in the exhibition hall. It targeted restoration specialists and curators all over the US, and similar presentations were made. These days there is concern that the amount of research being done in the US on Japanese art and culture is falling, and that Japan’s presence in this respect is dwindling. So I feel this exhibition at the Met was revolutionary as an attempt to stimulate and develop such research. I pay my heartfelt respects and gratitude to Mr. Ogawa Morihiro, the special consultant on Japanese arms and armor at the Met, who spent over 10 years planning and executing this exhibition, and made enormous contributions to international exchange and the spread of Japanese culture and art, and to the Met.
20 students of the cultural properties administration course hosted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs:
On November 6, the 20 students visited the Institute from the courses for staff in charge of cultural properties administration in education boards of local governments hosted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, in order to enhance the qualities of the staff in charge by viewing the cultural properties restoration site. After listening to an overview given by Mr. Ide of the Planning and Liaison Section, they toured the chemical laboratory of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on the fourth floor, the Restoration Studio of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on the third floor, and the Library on the second floor. Those in charge of each facility provided explanations and answered questions.
Joint Research Conference with Nara National Museum
The Department of Research Programming held a research conference at our conference room on Thursday, November 5 to proceed with the confirmation of the results of joint research and the editing of “Report” to be issued hereafter. Three persons in charge of the Nara National Museum participated in the conference and the six people of our department attended – Director Tanaka, Shirono, Torimitsu, Tsuda, Emura and Tsuchiya. We discussed how to execute the report of results obtained by researching the pedestal used for reading stored in Kasuga Taisha Shrine, the plate pictures on pedestals of Sakyamuni Buddha trinity and the Buddha of Healing stored in the Golden Hall of Horyu-ji Temple last autumn, and Five Hundred Luohan stored at Daitoku-ji Temple this May and September. Based on this conference, we are now editing the report of the results on the pedestal used for reading stored in Kasuga Taisha Shrine and the plate pictures on pedestals of the Sakyamuni Buddha trinity and the Buddha of Healing stored in the Golden Hall of Horyu-ji Temple for issuance at the end of this fiscal year.
As part of the Ueno no Yama Bunka Zone Festival, we provided a special opening period before and after the Culture Day (November 3), and opened the Kuroda Memorial Hall every day from 9:30 to 17:00, differing from its usual opening of twice a week. This year we specially opened the Hall for six days from November 3 (Tuesday) to 8 (Sunday), and had 1,895 visitors. The Kuroda Memorial Hall, built in accordance with the last wishes of oil painter Kuroda Seiki, was completed in 1928. It is an important building as a western style art gallery created by architect Okada Shinichiro and has permanent exhibitions of a significant collection of Kuroda Seiki’s paintings, including important cultural properties Lakeside and Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment. The Hall is usually open from 13:00 to 16:00 on Thursdays and Saturdays.
4th Conference on Study of Intangible Folk Cultural Properties
The Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage holds a conference on the study of discussing various problems concerning the conservation and inheritance of intangible folk cultural properties every year. We held the fourth conference with the theme of “inheriting intangible folk cultural properties and their relationship with children” at the seminar room of our Institute on November 19, 2009. The declining birthrate and a growing proportion of elderly people have also greatly affected the inheritance of folk cultural properties. In such circumstances, however, various kinds of assistance are given in cooperation with various organizations such as schools and museums so that children become familiar with local traditional events and festivals and can participate in them. At the conference, advanced examples of such activities were reported, and active discussions were held thereon. The details of the conference will be issued as a report in March 2010.
Workshop on November 20, 2009
The Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques held a workshop at the conference room on the basement floor of Institute on November 20, 2009, as part of its research into measures against biodeterioration of cultural heritage. This workshop was for experts actually engaged in work at field sites and performed in round-table format so that specific discussions were fully executed. First, Mr. Harada Masahiko at the Nikko Cultural Assets Association for the Preservation of Shrines and Temples gave a lecture titled ﾒHidden insect damage at the Nikkosan Rinno-ji Temple Hondo – Treatment and Repairﾓ and talked about actual cases of damage by priobium cylindricum, which was probably the first case seen in an important cultural property. Mr. Komine Yukio of Japan Institute of Insect Damage to Cultural Properties gave a detailed report on an actual insect damage survey. Professor Fujii Yoshihisa at the Graduate School, Kyoto University gave a lecture on field surveying using resistographs and acoustic emission, and Mr. Torigoe Toshiyuki at the Kyushu National Museum gave a lecture on the detection of interior insects in analysis example of actual damaged wood using an X-ray CT for cultural heritage. Based on these lectures, active discussions were made on the future surveys and treatments and how those results are utilized in planning basic experiments and future repair. (15 participants)
General discussions
We held the 33rd International symposium on the conservation and restoration of cultural property “Restoration of Japanese Paintings – Advanced Technology and Traditional Techniques” at the Heiseikan of Tokyo National Museum for the three days from November 12 to 14. Four lectures were given from foreign countries and eleven from Japan on the restoration of Japanese paintings in order to recognize anew the materials and techniques by confirming the current status inside and outside Japan scientifically and objectively, as well as to promote the conservation and utilization of Japanese paintings owned widely in the world by sharing the knowledge acquired here. Over 350 people – restorators, conservation scientists, curators and manufacturers of traditional materials – participated in the symposium. A report on the details of lectures and discussions will be issued next year.
Treatment of sides of mural painting fragment
Exhibited mural painting fragment
The Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation dispatched the 6th mission for Conservation and Restoration of Mural Painting Fragments in the collection of the National Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan as part of an exchange program commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs from October 4 to November 17, 2009. Together with the four Tajik trainees, we restored the mural painting fragments excavated from the Kara-i Kahkaha (Shahristan) site in northern Tajikistan in continuation of the previous mission. Joining the mural fragments of plant pattern excavated from the same site and cleaning were finished and securing the joined fragments on a new support (mount) was completed by the previous mission. As finishing work, in this mission we coated the missing part on the surface and the sides with filling agent and attached a bracket to the back.
On October 28, we installed the mural paintings in the exhibition room of the Museum under the auspices of the Japanese Embassy Provisional Acting Ambassador in Tajikistan and the participants in the workshop of Conservation and Restoration of Mural Paintings unearthed in Central Asia 2009. All participants shared the delight of the Tajik trainees, who joined and cleaned the mural painting for themselves and first exhibited it. We will cooperate in fostering conservation experts in Tajikistan through the restoration/conservation work.
Devastated historical buildings in Padang and the surrounding cityscape
As requested by the UNESCO Jakarta Office and the Indonesian Government, we surveyed the status of cultural heritage damaged in Padang struck by West Sumatra Earthquake on November 11 to 25. The survey was divided into a survey of historical buildings conducted by Mr. Shimizu Shinichi and Ms. AKIEDA Yumi Isabelle (at the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation) and Mr. Takeuchi Masakazu (at the Agency for Cultural Affairs), and a survey on city planning carried out by Mr. Shuji Huno (at the University of Shiga Prefecture) and Mr. Takeuchi Yasushi (at the Miyagi University). The results of these surveys will be incorporated in the Padang reconstruction plan created by the Indonesian Government through UNESCO.
Padang is the provincial capital of West Sumatra, and the history of the city’s formation can be tracked back to the 17th century. The earthquake was large-scale, and many RC-structure public buildings and schools of three stories and greater were damaged, and a lot of historical buildings where residents were now living were also damaged. How to handle the recovery going forward while promoting community participation is a big issue going forward.
Eight teachers from Taito-Ward’s Okachimachitaito, Hakuyo, Ueno, Shinobugaoka, Asakusa, and Komagata Junior High Schools:
On October 1, eight teachers from Taito-Ward Junior High Schools visited our Institute to observe the businesses and facilities of the Institute in order to make use of what they learned in their teaching. They toured the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation on the fourth floor, the Restoration Studio of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on the third floor, the X-ray Room of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques and the Audio-Visual Documentation Section of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage on the basement floor; and the Library of the Department of Research Programming on the second floor. Those in charge of each facility provided explanations and answered questions.
23 members of the Nana-ichi Society of Musashino City:
On October 5, 23 members of the Nana-ichi Society visited the Institute to see and hear the actual conditions of conservation/restoration and increase their awareness on the importance of inheritance of cultural properties. After listening to an overview given by Mr. Ide of the Planning and Liaison Section, they viewed the panel exhibition on the 1th floor and toured the Restoration Studio of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on the third floor, the Audio-Visual Documentation Section of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage and the X-ray Room of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on the basement floor. Those in charge of each facility provided explanations and answered questions.
Panels displayed in at Ueno Junior High School in Taito City, Tokyo
On October 31, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo exhibited panels at the school festival of Ueno Junior High School in Taito City, Tokyo. We displayed two subjects: Wall Paintings of Kitora Tumulus: Removal of Wall Paintings and Restoration Work and Restoration of Screens Illustrating Views of Kyoto and its Environs (owned by Royal Ontario Museum, Canada): 2006 Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas.
The panels previously exhibited at the entrance of the Institute were reused. At the exhibition on the removal and restoration of Kitora Tumuli mural paintings, however, we also displayed the tools used for the restoration work, such as a diamond wire-saw, spatulas and work clothes, and screened a recorded video of mural painting removal.
The panels exhibited at the entrance of the Institute have never been displayed outside the Institute before. Although the exhibition was on display for only one day, approximately 400 Ueno Junior High School students, teachers, and guardians were able to view the panels.
The Kitora Tumuli mural paintings have frequently been covered by media in recent years, and the Screens Illustrating Views of Kyoto and its Environs have frequently been issued on schoolbooks of social studies as a pictorial cut, so these cultural properties might be familiar for the students at the Ueno Junior High School. We think it was a good opportunity for people to realize that a research institute that conserves the cultural properties and hands them down is located close to Ueno Junior High School.
This year, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo published a brochure for children entitled What’s the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo? The aim of this brochure is to introduce the Institute to elementary school children and junior high school students.
When compared to the 2008’s edition, the format of the 2009’s edition was changed to B5, the number of pages to 16, and the content has been changed so that the activities of the Institute are introduced as topics.
This brochure is scheduled to be distributed to public elementary and junior high school students in Taito City. Of course, they are also available for visitors at the Institute and at Kuroda Memorial Hall.
PDF copies of the children’s brochure can be downloaded from the Institute’s website at the following URL: http://www.tobunken.go.jp/~joho/japanese/publication/kids/2009.pdf
Lecture by Tsuchiya Takahiro at Department of Research Programming
Lecture by Mr. Tsukamoto Maromitsu at The Museum Yamatobunkakan
Lecture by Nakano Teruo, the Deputy Director General of the Institute
Lecture by Mr. Shirasu Joushin at Hiroshima University
The Institute holds a public lecture every autumn in order to disclose the results of our research on art history. This public lecture is the 43rd with the first held in 1966. Since 2006, we have established a common theme titled “The Dynamics of Interaction between Objects and People”, and four researchers from both within and outside the Institute gave presentations on October 2nd and 3rd.
On October 2nd, Tsuchiya Takahiro, a researcher in the Department of Research Programming of the Institute, presented a lecture titled “Creating a ‘foreign country’: A Study of the Genjo Sanzo-e”, and Mr. Tsukamoto Maromitsu, a curator of The Museum Yamatobunkakan , presented a lecture titled “Japanese Buddhist Monk Viewed from the Song Dynasty: Buddhism/Land and the World of Exchange of Cultivated Things”: They intended to dig into how Japan in medieval times and China during the Song Dynasty viewed and recognized each other, using a picture scroll from the Kamakura Period, the transfer/exchange of cultivated things in the eastern Asia, and the social context of the time.
On October 3, Nakano Teruo, the Deputy Director General of the Institute, gave a lecture titled “Optical Investigation of Central Asian Mural Paintings Brought Back by the Ohtani Mission”and Mr. Shirasu Joushin, lecturer at Hiroshima University, had a lecture called “The Tibet Ohtani Mission and the Tibetan Religious World”. They tried to reevaluate the works discovered by the Ohtani mission from the viewpoint of art history based on recent optical investigation, and reviewed the responses of Japan, England, China and Russia concerning the activities of the Ohtani mission at that time.
These four individuals’ presentations reexamined the relationship of Asia to Japan in respective pre-modern and modern periods from the viewpoint of the broad effects and actions of goods, art objects, cultivated things and cultural properties, and the various activities of the people related to those goods. They were well suited to the common theme of The Dynamics of Interaction between Objects and People and were very exciting. The audience on these two days number totals of 133 and 125 people respectively, and questionnaires taken on both days showed that the lectures satisfied many people. We would like to continue disseminating the Institute’s research results in the future.
Photos of Kabuki Taken by Umemura Yutaka
The Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage is proceeding with arranging Kabuki photos taken by Mr. Umemura Yutaka and donated in autumn 2007.
The photos include snapshots of actor interviews in 1955 and later as well as the photos of backstage staff. They are highly valuable materials for studying the history of performance art.
The arrangement of these materials started in 2008, and some of the achievements were reported in Volume No. 3 of the Study Report on Intangible Cultural Heritageas an introduction of materials.
Because the number of photos is enormous, we are now currently focusing on the photos of Kabuki actors playing on stage, and proceeding with arrangements, while confirming the performance dates and actors chronologically. We have arranged 1,041 photos as of this October, and will complete the arrangements of monochrome stage photos in the Showa 30s (1955-1964) within this year, together with the work finished in the previous year and shown in the above-mentioned report.
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.
Jokoban with a series of restoration works finished (owned by Jissouji Temple in Minato City, Tokyo)
Hands-on training of attachment using urushi
The Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques conducted an international course on the Conservation of Japanese Lacquer Works from September 17 to October 15. This course on conservation was a training program performed independently by the center, following on the heels of the International Course on the Conservation of Japanese Lacquer that we previously jointly held with ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property). For this training session, we selected a few restoration specialists among the trainees who learned the basics of the Japanese urushi culture through the Conservation of Japanese Lacquer, which lasted for two weeks, and implemented hands-on training on restoration for one month using actual lacquerware work as educational material.
Two individuals – Mr. Gasner Adda from the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum in Germany and Mr. Barash Lentz from the Hungarian National Museum – received hands-on training from Mr. Yamashita Yoshihiko, a lacquerware work restoration specialist. They made a tour to observeurushi cultural heritage in Himeji, Kobe, and Nara from September 21 to 23, and on October 5, they visited Jissouji Temple in Minato City, Tokyo, which offered educational material (one of the Aizu region’s Matsudaira Family’s temples in Edo during the Edo Period) and looked on the lacquerware work, including the actual daimyo’s tools. They concluded their training with presentations on what they had learned. The educational material used in this training was a vermilion-lacquered jokoban (incense clock) with goldmitsuba-aoi emblem which was very dirty and damaged (the Aizu Matsudaira Family’s fixtures and furniture from around the late Edo Period). We borrowed this piece and brought it into the restoration studio in the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques, and the trainees experienced a series of operations: preliminary research, photographing, scientific analysis, curing, cleaning, and attachment of urushi coated film and damaged portions using traditional restoration materials such as lacquer and glue. They had a high awareness of issues and were very enthusiastic because they were to become restoration specialists engaged in conserving and restoring the lacquerware works in their own art galleries and museums in the future. We finished the restoration of the jokoban, which was seriously damaged and could not be moved until then, as an emergency measure which was possible in a short period of just one month. It will be designated as a cultural heritage of Minato City, Tokyo at the end of the year.
Jointly announcing the Seoul Declaration and signing it
On October 27, 2009, the East Asian Cultural Heritage Forum was held in Seoul, Korea, and from the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, the Director, Mr. Suzuki Norio, Mr. Okada Ken, the Head of Project Planning/Conservation Systems Section at the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation, and MORII Masayuki, a researcher at the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques, attended the forum.
This forum was part of the events commemorating the 40th year of the foundation of the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Korea. The directors of research organizations in Japan, China, Mongolia, and far-eastern Russia, which are conducting joint research with the Korean Institute, gathered in a hall and discussed the future of international joint research on the conservation of cultural heritage. As a result of the discussions, they agreed to make efforts to build a network of research organizations and jointly foster human resources based on the mutual understanding of characteristics that the cultural heritages of participating countries have, and jointly announced and signed the “Seoul Declaration (concerning the conservation of cultural heritages in East Asia)”.
