| ■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 |
|
The consultation meeting at TOBUNKEN
On August5, 2025, Dr. Simon Kaner, Head of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC), and Dr. Eugenia Bogdanova, a researcher at SISJAC, visited the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN), and we held a consultation on our joint project, “Shaping the Fundamentals of Research on Japanese Art.” This project began in 2013. As part of the project, SISJAC staff provide information on literature produced and exhibitions held that are related to Japanese art and culture outside Japan, primarily in the UK, to TOBUNKEN for inclusion in the archives database (https://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/). Also, researchers of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems have been visiting the UK annually to conduct lectures, workshops, and research on such works.
At this consultation, we presented a report on our database project and discussed our researchers’ planned visit to the UK to take place in December. In the latter part of the consultation, Mr. Matthew James, a SISJAC staff member responsible for database operations, participated online from the UK. We specifically examined the methods and standards employed for gathering information outside Japan, and also the data entry procedures.
During the three years of the pandemic, when travel was restricted, trips to the UK and Japan were not possible, and research discussions were conducted primarily online. We have since resumed in-person research exchanges among staff members. However, we will continue to priorities convenience when arranging exchanges, for example by conducting discussions with overseas partner institutions using a combination of online and in-person methods.
Some of the donated materials of MATSUSHIMA Ken
A handwritten notebook of MATSUSHIMA Ken
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) has been engaging in collecting and publishing materials left by researchers who were once affiliated with TOBUNKEN. The materials left by Mr. MATSUSHIMA Ken, donated by his family in 2023, are among such materials.
Mr. MATSUSHIMA was a researcher of Japanese Buddhist sculpture, and served as Chief of Cultural Administration at the Agency for Cultural Affairs and as Head of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems of TOBUNKEN. He passed away in 1998 due to illness.
Since our receipt of the materials from his family, we have been gradually organizing them, and we are now pleased to announce that all the materials have been made available to the public (松島健旧蔵資料 :: 東文研アーカイブデータベース).
The contents include materials related to cultural property designations, restoration records, research materials, paper prints, survey records of Buddhist sculptures, and handwritten research notes that Mr. MATSUSHIMA handled while working at the Agency for Cultural Affairs. These demonstrate his activities as both a cultural property administrator and a Buddhist sculptural historian. The donated materials were largely classified from the outset or organized chronologically into files. Handwritten notes, such as those compiling Buddhist sculptures with known production dates into a chronological table, revealed his meticulous and earnest character as a researcher. These collections of materials, which were left behind by researchers, contain valuable and unique information. However, some of the materials lacked suitable management and public access venues, and, in the worst cases, some have been discarded.
Since its foundation, TOBUNKEN’s mission has been to create an archive of materials for art research. Although our staff and budget are limited, we will continue to work hard to collect and publish research materials.
Some of the donated materials on Enkū
Organizing the donated materials
Mr. HASEGAWA Masashige (1933~2023) devoted his life to researching Enkū, a Buddhist sculptor of the Edo period, as an independent researcher. Enkū had travelled around Japan as a Shugendô monk. He created many Buddhist statues wherever he went, and his works are estimated to number in the thousands throughout Japan. Mr. HASEGAWA served as Chairman of the Enkū Academic Society for many years.
Following the death of Mr. HASEGAWA, his family expressed to us that they would like to donate his materials, particularly those relating to research, to The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN). Thereafter, Ms. MAIZAWA Rei from the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, regularly visited his house in Aichi with Dr. MITA Kakuyuki from Nara National Museum to organize the materials. These materials were officially donated in October 2024, and we have finally received them all.
Mr. HASEGAWA travelled all over Japan searching for works by Enkū. He took a number of photographs and made records of every work he saw, and his house was filled with these materials. These materials are extremely important, not only because they contain hard-to-obtain reference materials and photos of Enkū’s works from across Japan, but also because they include photos of works that have been lost due to theft.
Ms. EMURA Tomoko, Mr. TASHIRO Yūichirō, and Ms. KUROSAKI Kao from TOBUNKEN, and Mr. ŌSAKI Rui from Kuwansei Gakuin University, participated in the work of organizing the materials. Mr. FUNAHASHI Masayasu, Mr. KATŌ Susumu, and Mr. OCHIAI Katsuyoshi, who were engaged in research with Mr. HASEGAWA, also helped immensely. We will be organizing the donated materials over the next few years, so that they can be accessed and used by many people as the “Enkū Archive.”
Workshop at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
Symposium at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
The Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, under the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ grant-in-aid project entitled “Activities for Exchanges in International Cooperation for Conservation of Cultural Heritage,” is conducting the “Project for Sudanese Cultural Heritage Expert Capacity Building Workshop” in fiscal year 2025. As part of this project, a four-day workshop was held at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties from August 13th to 16th, and a related symposium, “Protecting Cultural Heritage and Museums Affected by Armed Conflict: The Case of the Republic of Sudan,” was held in the afternoon of the 16th.
Ongoing armed conflict broke out in the Republic of Sudan in April 2023, and many cultural heritage sites and museums remain at risk. The purpose of this project was to discuss how cultural heritage experts in Sudan and Japan can cooperate to protect cultural heritage amid such armed conflict.
Three Sudanese experts and one British expert were invited to Japan for this project, with six Japanese experts participating. During the four-day workshop, participants shared information about the current state of Sudan’s cultural heritage and discussed specific methods of international support for its protection.
A related symposium was co-hosted by the ICOM Japan Committee and the ICOMOS Japan National Committee. In addition to speeches by the three Sudanese experts, five Japanese presenters offered reports and recommendations for cultural heritage protection and international cooperation during armed conflict. The symposium was open to the public and attracted 70 participants. Many participants commented that it was a valuable opportunity to learn about the situation in Sudan, which is still little known in Japan.
While the situation in Sudan remains unpredictable, various initiatives, including the rehabilitation of museums, have begun. We hope to continue our international cooperation efforts to protect cultural heritage in the Republic of Sudan.
Interview at a sake brewery (Gose City, Nara Prefecture)
The Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties and the Intangible Heritage Bureau of the National Heritage Service of the Republic of Korea have been conducting research exchanges since 2008. This includes a joint research exchange program in which staff from one institution are dispatched to the other for two to four weeks. In 2025, Ms. Cho Sun Young was dispatched from Korea from July 14 to August 2 to conduct joint research on Japan’s “traditional sake brewing.”
It is still recent news that “traditional sake brewing” was registered as a National Intangible Cultural Property in 2021 and subsequently inscribed on UNESCO’s “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” in 2024. In the Republic of Korea, Munbaeju (a distilled liquor from the Pyongan Province region), Myoncheon Doju (a brewed liquor from the Myoncheon region of Chungcheongnam-do), and Gyeongju Gyodong Beopju (a brewed liquor from Gyeongju City, North Gyeongsang Province) are designated as National Intangible Cultural Heritage with certified holders or holding groups, while Makgeolli brewing is a traditional community brewing method without a certified holder or holding group. Each of these items of cultural heritage is being protected and promoted with efforts to safeguard them.
Field research was conducted in the cities of Aizuwakamatsu and Kitakata in Fukushima Prefecture and Nishinomiya in Hyogo Prefecture, Gose City in Nara Prefecture, Kyoto City in Kyoto Prefecture, and in Tokyo. During the research, we visited sake breweries and brewing companies, interviewed people involved in sake brewing, and heard about the current state, challenges, and outlook for traditional sake brewing.
What was interesting while listening to these stories was that at every place we visited, we heard the following comment: “Even though it’s traditional sake brewing, we actively introduce mechanization and automation where possible. However, only humans can make the decisions on adjustments of the flavor. The parts that humans are involved in won’t change, and we think that’s tradition.” We heard the same comments from sake breweries that produce on a large scale in factories as from breweries that produce on a small scale with a staff of just approximately a dozen people.
We tend to think of “tradition” as preserving the same old forms without changing them. However, intangible cultural heritage is living heritage of today and change often leads to continuity. Through this joint research, we had the opportunity to rethink the intrinsic qualities of intangible cultural heritage.
Ms. Cho Sun Young’s preliminary research results were presented at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties on August 1st. The results of this project will be compiled into a report entitled “Japan-Korea Intangible Cultural Heritage Research Report.”
