| ■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 |
|
Digital Content of “Dōshoku sai-e”
Research Report on “Kasuga Gongen Genki-e”
Research Report on “Map of the World”
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties uses cutting-edge science and technology to investigate and record the precious cultural properties that our ancestors have protected and passed down, and makes the results open to the public. We have now published Ito Jakuchu’s “Dōshoku Sai-e” (30 scrolls in total) online as part of the digital content of the optical survey conducted by the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties and the works stored in The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan. (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/doshokusaie/) This website publishes high-resolution photographs of Ito Jakuchu’s “Dōshoku Sai-e” taken during an optical survey conducted as a joint research project between 2001 and 2008 by the Imperial Household Agency’s Sannomaru Shozokan Museum of the Imperial Palace (as it was then) and the data of coloring material analysis using fluorescent X-rays. In addition, we have been publishing reports on “Kasuga Gongen Genki-e” (20 volumes in total), known as a representative picture scroll work from the Kamakura period, two volumes at a time, since 2017, and this is the 10th report, the final volume in the series. We have also published a comprehensive report on the “Map of the World,” including images of related works such as the “Map of the World and Four Capitals Screen” (Kobe City Museum), the “Battle of Tunis and World Map Screen” (Kōsetsu Museum of Art), “Western Kings and Princes on Horseback Screen” (Suntory Museum of Art, Kobe City Museum), and “Western Kings and Princes” (Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture). We hope that this report will be useful in future research.
Cover of the publication
Figures in the publication (items in the maki-e toolbox formerly owned by Mr. Miki Sakae)
Japan-made Lacquered door panels of Wat Ratchapradit
At the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, we have been conducting research on cultural properties located in Thailand in cooperation with the Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Culture, Thailand since 1992. Since 2011, the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties has been involved in the research of the Japan-made lacquered door panels of Wat Ratchapradit, a first-grade royal temple in Bangkok, providing technical support for a full-scale restoration project of the panels that the Fine Arts Department is currently organizing.
Apart from the lacquered door panels, in Thailand other examples of Japan-made lacquerware can be seen at libraries, museums, temples, palaces and other locations. The exchange between Japan and Thailand in the field of lacquering was not limited to the trade of goods. King Rama V’s profound fascination with Japanese maki-e art prompted him to dispatch Thai students to Japan to master the intricacies of this technique. He also invited Mr. TSURUHARA Zenzaburo to Thailand to gild the principal Buddha statue of Wat Benchamabophit, a first-grade royal temple, with gold leaf. In another example of cultural exchange, Mr. MIKI Sakae had been involved in production and restoration of lacquerwork for over 30 years in Thailand, from 1911, as an expert of the present Fine Arts Department.
Our book titled “Japanese Lacquerwork and Crafrtspersons in Thailand – Study of the Japan-made Lacquerwork Found in Thailand (2) –”, published in March 2025, summarizes the research results on Japanese lacquerware found in Thailand, photographs taken in Thailand documenting such lacquerware, as well as the above-mentioned Japanese craftspersons who worked in Thailand, conducted to date by Japanese and Thai researchers involved in the joint study. These findings provide new insights into the exchange between the two countries in the field of lacquering; and are also useful for understanding the significance of the door panels of Wat Ratchapradit in the history of lacquering, as well as in the history of exchange between Japan and Thailand.
This book is available in public libraries in Japan and some overseas libraries that handle work on Japanese art. As this book presents only a small portion of the Japanese lacquerwork in Thailand, more and more documentary materials on Japanese lacquer craftspersons are being discovered, and therefore experts will continue to study these topics and publish the results.
The seminar
SEIMIYA Naobumi (1917-1991) is known as an artist who expressed his tranquil and poetic world of the mind through woodblock prints and glass paintings. Last year, the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) received a donation of materials left by SEIMIYA, including his memoirs, diary, and photographs, from his bereaved family (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/ekatudo/2065846.html), and on March 6, Mr. SUMITA Tsuneo (Chief Curator, Takasaki Museum of Art), who has studied SEIMIYA for many years and acted as an intermediary in donating the materials, gave a presentation titled “The SEIMIYA Materials” at the seminar held by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems.
SEIMIYA left many words deeply related to the creation of his works in his journal titled “Zakkan-roku” or “Zakki-cho.” SUMITA’s presentation showed how pictures and words were inseparably linked for SEIMIYA, who himself wrote that he was “a poet who uses ‘pictures’ as a form of expression” (“Zakki-cho,” 1971-72), and made us realize anew the importance of the materials the Institute received.
Mr. INO Koichi (Chief of the Art Division, The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki), who worked with Mr. SUMITA to organize the SEIMIYA materials, participated as a commentator in the discussion that followed the presentation. Although the Institute received only paper materials such as memoirs, diaries, and photographs, other materials left behind include woodblocks, and Mr. INO reported on the issues involved in their preservation and utilization. During the discussion, staff members of the Institute exchanged opinions on the ideal way to preserve the unique materials of the printmakers, including woodblocks.
Examples of the materials in the KUNO collection
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) houses a vast amount of materials, including photographs and research records related to cultural properties, some of which were created and collected by the researchers themselves. The valuable collection of materials left by Mr. KUNO Takeshi (1920-2007), a leading authority on the history of Buddhist sculpture and a member of TOBUKEN, which was donated to the Institute by his bereaved family after his death, is among such materials (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/ekatudo/217654.html).
Some examples of this collection, mainly photographs, are already available in the TOBUNKEN library, and now a list of his handwritten notebooks (312 volumes, 13422 entries), which were KUNO’s favorite item throughout his life, has been sorted and the works are now available to the public. These notebooks contain records of his research on Buddhist sculpture in Japan and abroad, notes on the exhibitions he saw, and the research lectures he attended, and are truly a record of KUNO’s trajectory as a researcher. We have published a list of the contents of the notebooks on our website (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/kuno_note), and the actual notebooks are available in the TOBUNKEN library. We hope that these notebooks will be useful for your research.
Database of Restoration Records for Cultural Properties (Fine Arts and Crafts)
Year range of authoritative sources and restoration records in this database
Since the 2022 fiscal year, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) has been involved in the “Investigation of Tools and Materials Used for the Preservation and Restoration of Fine Arts and Crafts” as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ “TAKUMI Project.” In April 2025, we launched a website for this project, providing video documentation, scientific research results, and a database of restoration records related to the tools and raw materials required for restoring fine arts and crafts (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/conservation-arts-crafts/).
In recent years, there has been a growing demand to appropriately preserve and pass down important information such as records of cultural property restoration for future generations. Restoration records not only transmit information about the condition, materials, and structure of works to future generations, but also serve as crucial resources for the management and preservation of cultural properties. However, in the field of fine arts and crafts among nationally designated cultural properties, there have been no comprehensive reports or databases covering restoration records since the enactment of the Law for the Preservation of Ancient Shrines and Temples (Koshaji Hozon-Hō) in 1897. Additionally, restoration reports created in various places have lacked uniformity in content and format, resulting in challenges for information sharing. For these reasons, there is an increasing need today to build a platform for the consolidation and central management of information related to the restoration of cultural properties in the field of fine arts and crafts.
One of the outcomes of this project is the creation and release of a prototype version of the “Database of Restoration Records for Cultural Properties (Fine Arts and Crafts)” (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/conservation-arts-crafts/records-archives). This database will be continuously updated with restoration information extracted from restoration reports published by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, national museums with conservation-restoration facilities, conservation studios across Japan, and other related organizations. We hope that this database will be widely used for various purposes, including the restoration and management of cultural properties, sharing restoration information, and research activities. In addition, the results obtained through our research will be shared at conferences, symposia, and workshops.
Public image “A Draft Certificate of Authenticity” by SATAKE Tozaburo
In 2021, TOBUNKEN received a donation of paper-based documents (a total of 2,235 items) owned by OIKAWA Takeo (1942 – 2018). He was known as a collector of traditional Japanese musical instruments and related documents. The Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage has been organizing the donated documents and since 2022 has made a database of the documents open to the public on the TOBUNKEN website, as the OIKAWA Takao Collection. The collection covers a wide variety of paper-based documents, with varying formats and period of establishment, based on Japanese traditional musical instruments originating within and outside Japan.
These documents are available for viewing at the TOBUNKEN library by reservation. However, aiming to make these documents more widely available, the department has started to digitize the rare works and those in such condition that their handling is to be avoided. The documents that have already been digitized and are now available are listed in the “pdf” column in the database, available here (Japanese only). We are now continuing our work on digitizing the rest of the documents.
Mr. OIKAWA exhibited his musical instrument collection, which he had collected by himself, at the “Oikawa Museum of Musical Instruments”, and guided the visitors as the museum director from 2003-2015. He wanted visitors to handle these instruments and make sounds with them. Therefore, we believe that making his paper-based documents available to a wider audience follows his aspiration. We hope you will make use of the database.
Certificate of Appreciation for the donation
The Japan Aviation Association (JAA) has donated 19,517 volumes of scientific journals and other materials collected by Mr. YAMAZAKI Yoshio to the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN).
Mr. YAMAZAKI (1903-1981) joined the Aeronautical Research Institute of Tokyo Imperial University before World War II, and was later involved in glider design, production, promotion, and engineering while working as a sports official at the Ministry of Education. Mr. YAMAZAKI collected a wide range of materials related to aircraft development, including documents, drawings, photographs, and materials for model airplanes, as well as scientific magazines (including aviation magazines) mainly from the Taisho and early Showa periods. These scientific journals are in good condition and are valuable documents for research and study of the history of modern heritage.
TOBUNKEN has been conducting joint research with JAA since 2007, and hopes to utilize these materials for future historical research on science and technology. These documents can be searched using the general search function on the TOBUNKEN website (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/?lang=en). The original materials can be viewed in the TOBUNKEN library. Please feel free to use them.
Investigation of the condition of wall paintings in a church using a checklist
Example of a wall painting under investigation
Since 2021, The Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation has been involved in Joint research on the maintenance, management, and conservation-restoration of mural paintings under the “International Research on Conservation and Restoration Techniques for Cultural Heritage” program.
As part of this initiative, we are collaborating with the Ministry of Culture and Media of Croatia, the Museum of Istrian History and Maritime Heritage, and the University of Zagreb to develop a maintenance management system for wall paintings in churches in the Istrian region, located in the northwest of Croatia. This region is home to numerous mural paintings created from the medieval period to the Renaissance, with over 150 works currently documented. The aim of this research is to investigate and record the state of conservation of thesewall paintings, and to share the collected data among experts to help in their maintenance and management.
From March 10 to 14, 2025, we conducted a pilot test on site at 12 churches using the checklist on the state of conservation prepared in the previous survey. The checklist was structured based on three main focal points: the building in which the wall paintings were painted, the techniques and materials used for the wall paintings, and the state of conservation. Through the test, we were able to review the checklist items and evolve the checklist into something more practical and effective. We plan to continue implementation testing with the goal of building a digital archive.
