Current Status and Issues of Nihon bijutsu nenkan－The 3rd Seminar in 2025 Fiscal Year Held by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems

A prototype database of Bibliograhic Records from Yearbook of Japanese Art (Nihon bijutsu nenkan)

　Nihon bijutsu nenkan (Year Book of Japanese Art, hereinafter called “NENKAN”　https://www.tobunken.go.jp/joho/japanese/publication/nenkan/nenkan.html) is a data book that compiles trends in the art world in Japan over the course of a year. It was first published in 1936, and been published annually since, by the Art Research Institute of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, the predecessor of Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN). Starting with the 2022 edition, published in January 2025, a major revision was made by removing a “References Published in Periodicals” section that had long been included in the NENKAN, and instead making them available only on the database.

　As an associate fellow of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, I conducted a presentation titled “Current Status and Issues of Nihon bijutsu nenkan” on June 5, 2025. I reported on the recent revision of NENKAN and also discussed future issues for NENKAN. The exhibition information published in the NENKAN, which is based on media available in Tokyo, is naturally biased toward the Kanto region. As one solution to this problem, I proposed a new means of information gathering through collaboration with other institutions. In the discussion following the presentation, opinions were exchanged on the significance of the institute continuing to publish NENKAN and compiling a chronological historical record, as well as anticipated issues in collaboration with other institutions.

　In the future, we aim to further improve the “References in Exhibition Catalogues” section, a unique section of NENKAN, and to build a database that reflects the classification system we have developed to date for describing and understanding the art world, and to introduce a system for instantly publishing “References in Periodicals” information entered within the institute. Not only will we continue the publication of NENKAN, which has a long history, but we will also strive to provide information that is more accessible to many people, based on modern methods of providing information.

About the Yakushi Triad Enshrined in the Kondo of the Yakushiji Temple – The 6th Seminar Held by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems

The author at the seminar.

　The origin of the Yakushi Triad (consisting of Yakushi Nyorai, the Healing Buddha, flanked by two attendants, the Bbodhisattvas Nikko and Gakko) enshrined in the Kondo (Main Hall) of the Yakushiji Temple in Nara remains uncertain. Opinions are divided as to whether it was made at the end of the 7th century or the beginning of the 8th century. To this end, it cannot be said that the issue of the background of the construction, such as how an example that shows excellent formality such as this statue was realized in Japan at the time, was not sufficiently examined.
　In this regard, as an associate fellow of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, I conducted a presentation titled “About the Yakushi Triad Enshrined in the Kondo of the Yakushiji Temple: A View from the Relationship between Yakushiji Temple and the Shitennoji Temples in Gyeongju, South Korea on November 28, 2023.”
　The Yakushiji Triad has attracted attention not only for its realistic physical expressions, but also for the various patterns on the box-shaped pedestal on which the central statue sits. This presentation focused on the deformed figures with curly hair and fangs, and on the similarity with demonic figures attached to the Wall Tile with the Guardian Deity Motif Covered in Green-glaze from the site of the Shitennoji Temple in Gyeongju, South Korea. Since the Shitennoji Temple was founded at the end of the 7th century, I assumed that the Yakushiji Triad was also produced at the end of the 7th century, and examined the background of the creation of the Yakushiji Triad by examining the relationship between the temples of Silla, a former kingdom within present-day Korea and Yakushiji in the same period.
　The seminar was held in a hybrid on-site/online format. Experts on the history of Buddhist art from outside the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) also participated. They pointed out the need for further comparison with other objects of the same age. In the future, I would like to take a broader perspective and deepen my consideration of what concepts the pedestal was based on.

Bodhisattva Statues Wearing Jōhaku or Not: A Clue for Consideration of the Yakushi Triad Enshrined in the Kondo of the Yakushiji Temple– the 6th Seminar Held by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems

The seminar

　Buddha statues wear various clothes. These include Jōhaku (a scarf-like band of cloth), which Bodhisattva and Vidyaraja statues wear crossing their upper bodies; however, research on jōhaku itself is insufficient.

　KUROSAKI Natsuo, Associate Fellow of the Department, conducted her presentation titled Bodhisattva Statues Wearing Jōhaku or Not: A Clue for Consideration of the Yakushi Triad Enshrined in the Kondo of the Yakushiji Temple on November 28th, 2022.

　The Yakushi Triad (consisting of Yakushi Nyorai, the Healing Buddha, flanked by two attendants, the Bodhisattvas Nikko (Sūryaprabha) and Gakko (Candraprabha)) enshrined in the Kondo (Main Hall) of the Yakushiji Temple in Nara Prefecture is one of the objects representing Buddha statues of Japan. Despite this fact, there is a lack of consensus on where and when it was constructed: at the Yakushiji Temple of Fujiwara-kyō at the end of the 7th Century or newly molded in Heijō-kyō after the Yakushiji Temple was moved there at the beginning of the 8th Century.

　The Bodhisattva images of the Buddhist Mural Paintings of the Kondo of the Horyuji Temple, the Hokeiji Stone Images of Buddha, and the others were constructed around a similar period of the Yakushi Triad and are depicted wearing jōhaku. However, the Bodhisattvas statues of the Yakushi Triad do not wear jōhaku. This fact deserves attention because such characteristics could be used to identify these statues’ construction background and time. In this presentation, I overviewed in terms of whether wearing jōhaku, the objects of Bodhisattva images of senbutsu (a Buddhist image carved on a clay surface via a middle-relief technique and then fired) made in Japan and China in the 7th Century and Bodhisattva images enshrined in grottoes in China. The upper bodies of the Bodhisattva images of senbutsu that are made in China are naked, which is recognized as Indian style. In contrast, the Bodhisattva images of senbutsu made in Japan during a similar age as the Yakushiji Triad wear jōhaku. The Bodhisattvas of the Yakushiji Triad have the older forms. The next challenge will be to deepen this consideration from the historical and ideological viewpoints on its background.

　The seminar was held online so that some specialists outside of TOBUNKEN in Buddhist art history could also participate. In the following Q&A session, active discussions were held from various viewpoints, including jōhaku, Japanese Buddhist monks visiting the Tang Empire, the international situation in the latter 7th Century, and the relationship with other objects of the same age. This occasion revealed precious opinions that will further my research, and where we shared the significance of the issue of the Yakushiji Triad.