On March 25, the Japan Art Academy (Director: KUROI Senji) announced the recipients of the 71st Japan Art Academy Prize. In the Fine Arts category, MAKOSHI Yōko (for her yōga painting titled ‘Ningen no taiga: Inochi mau, fushi no ai’, exhibited at the Dokuritsu exhibition) and TŌKI Fumio (for his architecture of the Bunkyō City Mori Ogai Memorial Museum) received the Japan Art Academy Prize. (Japanese)
On March 18, the restoration of the donjon of Himeji Castle (designated as a National Treasure), which began in June 2009, was finally completed, and the commemorative ceremony was held on March 26. This was the first major restoration since the last one, known as the Shōwa Restoration, was completed in 1964. The operation this time focused on the replacement of approximately 75,000 roof tiles, the reapplication of the castle’s signature white plaster that required approximately 100 tons of plaster, and the anti-seismic reinforcement. A part of its restored donjon was reopened to the public on March 27 after five years of lengthy work. (Japanese)
The recipients of the Asahi Prize for the fiscal year 2014 (sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun Foundation) were announced. In relation to art, architect BAN Shigeru received the prize ‘for design activities based on fresh ideas and support to areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami through architecture.’ (Japanese)
On January 1, the winners of the 56th Mainichi Art Award (sponsored by the Mainichi Newspapers Co.), the annual award given to outstanding individuals in art and culture, were announced. In relation to art, ceramic artist KAKUREZAKI Ryūichi won for his exhibition titled ‘Kakurezaki Ryūichi: Serving for Integrity’ held at the Musée Tomo. In Art Category III (Calligraphy), calligrapher FUNAMOTO Sōun was awarded for his calligraphy exhibition titled ‘Shimiiru kokyō: Funamoto Sōun’ held at the Sogo Museum of Art. (Japanese)
On the issue that fine arts designated as national important cultural properties had gone messing, on January 21, the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced that the results of the second investigation revealed that 72 more items of fine art had gone missing, including National Treasures of a sword, ‘meibutsu Inabagō’, and a long sword (tachi) signed by Yoshihira. The total number of missing items reached 180, of which three are National Treasures, including the items missing from the first investigation that took place in July 2014. (Japanese)
After the completion of the full restoration of the ‘Cypress Trees’ screen (National Treasure; Tokyo National Museum collection) that is believed to have been a work of KANŌ Eitoku, painter of the Kanō School, the work was displayed to the public at the Tokyo National Museum from February 17 to March 15. The restoration that took place for a year and half involved in an adjustment of unmatched design in the center part as well as remounting from a single eight-fold screen to a pair of four-fold screens in order to improve safety during storage. In addition, the screen had conventionally been presumed to have originally been decorated on sliding doors in the Hachijō no Miya residence that was constructed by TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi. The restoration this time revealed that kira-kiri-mon (paulownia crest with mica) on the back of the painted paper corresponds with karakami monyō (karakami patterns) of the family of Hachijō no Miya, which heightened the possibilities that it would have been a work created in 1590 (Tenshō 18) by Eitoku who suddenly died after the Hachijō no Miya residence was completed. (Japanese)