| ■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 |
Six students from Tohoku University of Art and Design
On December 4, the students came to study restoration of cultural properties. They toured the Library of the Department of Research Programming on the second floor and the Training Section of the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation on the fourth floor. Those in charge of each facility provided explanations and answered questions.
23 students from Shimane Prefectural Masuda High School
On December 19, the students toured the Conservation Science Section and Restoration Studio of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques on the third floor and the Center’s Analytical Science Experimental Laboratory on the fourth floor as part of “Exploratory Practical Learning (Tokyo Training) in Cooperation with the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation”, the main event of the Super Science High School (SSH) project that Masuda High School promotes. Those in charge of each facility provided explanations and answered questions.
The bibliotheca of the late Suzuki Kei, Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University and a member of The Japan Academy, was donated to the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (Prof. Suzuki died on October 18, 2007 at the age of 86). Among his books, all 1500 volumes of “Wenyuange Edition Siku Quanshu”, over 500 volumes of Si Bu Cong Kan Chu Bian Suo Ben and Da Qing Li Chao Shi Lu were offered by his bereaved wife Teruko, and brought to the Institute on December 11. As is widely known, Siku Quanshu was compiled by order of Qianlong, Emperor of China, and is highly valuable because it is the largest Chinese classical encyclopedia. This Institute praises the academic contributions of Professor Suzuki, who was the leading authority on Chinese picture history. We will consider the use and conservation of precise materials and proceed with formatting so that they can be used by many researchers. We also plan to issue a volume tentatively entitled Catalog of Books Donated by Professor Suzuki Kei next year.
For three days from December 6 to 8, 2008, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo hosted the 32nd International Symposium on the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Properties entitled Capturing the Original: Archives for Cultural Properties in the Heiseikan Auditorium of the Tokyo National Museum. The purpose of this symposium was to consider how “original” cultural properties may be transmitted to posterity without affecting their essential value. Presentations were given and discussions were held by 25 persons, including 5 persons from overseas (USA, UK and Taiwan).
In Session 1 (“Confronting Objects/’Originals’”) on the first day, the fundamental stance towards cultural properties was re-examined, seriously considering those objects deemed to be “original”. In Session 2 (“’Originals’ beyond Objects”) on the second day, various matters that remind people of “originals”, either those that remain or materials related to them, were chosen as topics. In Session 3 (“Handing over ‘Originals’”) on the final day, ways of operating archives for cultural properties that support and transfer the originals were examined, based on the discussions up to that point.
A total of 281 participants attended the symposium during the three days. There was great interest in the theme of the symposium, which especially sought to capture “originals” from the standpoint of archives for cultural properties. Although focus was placed on Japanese and East Asian art, western aesthetics, contemporary art, and intangible cultural properties were also considered. The Department of Research Programming, which is in charge of the Institute’s archives, served as secretariat for this symposium. There were numerous matters to be considered regarding how cultural properties should be documented while focusing on the original. The Department will continue to deal with these big topics. A detailed report of the presentations and discussions will be published next year.
On December 16, 2008, the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage held a public lecture in the large lecture room of the National Noh Theater. Since 2006, the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage has held lectures on audio recordings made by the Cultural Properties Protection Comission (currently the Agency for Cultural Affairs) in the past. This year, a recording of noh-bayashi (musical accompaniment to noh) was introduced in a lecture that focused on the changes in noh as traced by audio materials.
It appears that the main purpose of the recordings of noh-bayashi made in 1951 was to document the performances of Kawasaki Kyuen, an o-tsuzumi player, and Ko Yoshimitsu, a ko-tsuzumi player. Both Kawasaki and Ko received the first individual recognition as holders of important intangible cultural properties (socalled “Living National Treasures”). This lecture allowed listeners to hear the consummate art of the two masters who supported noh in the Taisho and Showa periods and to learn about the significance of the recordings made by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in the past and the relationship of the recordings with the transmission of noh.
The Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage is planning to hold another lecture next year based on audio materials made by the Commission in the past.
The Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques held an Urushi restoration workshop at the Cologne Museum of East Asian Art in Germany as part of the Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas, in 2008. We held workshop I (elementary practice) with 10 trainees on November 5-7, workshop II (for first-time participants) with 10 trainees on November 8, workshop II (for students) with 7 trainees on November 8, and workshop III (mid-level practice) with 7 trainees on November 11-14. Two instructors who were experts performed restoration work at the local site. All participants were persons who were highly interested in the restoration of Japanese traditional Urushi lacquer works, such as curators and cultural property restorers from various parts of Europe outside of Germany as well, including the UK, Switzerland, Austria, and Poland. At these workshops we held various programs, including a report on examples of overseas Urushi lacquer works, the creation of Urushi spatulas, adhesion with mugiurushi and attachment with kokuso using hand plates for restoration practice, and core stretching practice using thin bamboo sticks. All the trainees were eager and asked many questions, resulting in a successful training session.
On December 15 and 16, we held trial training for 40 curators who are in charge of conservation in museums and art galleries: They studied the characteristics of atmosphere and indoor air contamination materials, damage examples, control methods, monitoring plan drafts, and examples of countermeasure implementation.
We continued difficult lectures and demonstrations, including state-of-the-art research results and technical content, in order to teach the ability to establish specifications for measuring contamination materials, read reports, evaluate the results, and determine countermeasures with architects and air-conditioning engineers. All participants worked diligently and earnestly.
The provision of a glossary, acquisition of information on necessary equipments and spaces, and other aspects of the workshop were highly regarded, and there were many requests for future disclosure on the Internet (38 of the participants expressed 100% satisfaction).
On December 4, 2008, a seminar on the theme of conserving energy at museums with a view to maintaining an appropriate environment for cultural properties was held in the seminar room of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. This theme had been chosen at a meeting of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques as one that the Institute would study in cooperation with museums.
Two lectures were given at this seminar: Mr. Maekawa Shin of the Getty Conservation Institute (USA) spoke on energy conservation for museums with consideration for storage and display environment and Mr. Shiraishi Yasuyuki of the University of Kitakyushu spoke on comprehensive assessment system building environmental efficiency (CASBEE) and its case studies. Reports on concrete endeavors on this matter were also given by the Kyushu National Museum and Saitama Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore.
A total of 141 people participated in the seminar and held active discussions.
Since 2008, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, has been working on the conservation and restoration of mural pieces owned by the National Museum of Antiquities, Tajikistan, together with the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography, Academy of Science, Tajikistan. As part of this project, we invited a total of six specialists in conservation and restoration to Tajikistan from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan, and held a workshop at the National Museum from December 5 to10.
In the ruins of Central Asia, beautiful murals from the 5th to 12th century were discovered, but the number of specialists who can conserve and restore the murals is insufficient, so conservation and restoration activities have been delayed. Also in this area, mural conservation and restoration methods established in the former Soviet Union were widespread, so common problems have occurred, such as color change color of the mural surface due to the deterioration of reinforcement. At the workshop, we asked participants to report on the current status of conservation and restoration of murals in their home countries. We also introduced the new trials that we had performed in Tajikistan, and requested them to actually experience them in their work. We will hereafter hold similar workshops in which Japanese specialists and those at the local site will work together and exchange opinions, aiming to promote conservation and restoration activities for the murals in Central Asia, and improving the conservation and restoration methods thereof.