The Domon Ken Award (sponsored by the Mainichi Newspapers Co.), the award for a photographer who has made excellent achievements in the previous year, announced that the 36th winner was YANG Seungwoo. The award was given for her photobook titled ‘Shinjuku maigo’. (Japanese)
On July 21, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on 244 structures to be designated as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties to MATSUNO Hirokazu, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes Sagae City Hall (Sagae City, Yamagata Prefecture), an early representative work by architect KUROKAWA Kishō, and Iiyama Resurrection Church, Diocese of Chubu, Anglican Church in Japan (Iiyama City, Nagano Prefecture), a wooden church building with a bell tower built in the early Shōwa Period. (Japanese)
On March 27, the government budget for the fiscal year 2017 (Heisei 29) was passed. The budget for the Agency for Cultural Affairs became ¥104.272 billion, increasing by 0.3%, which is ¥307 million increase compared to the previous year. The budget is divided into five principal projects as follows: 1. Creation and utilization of rich culture and arts, and cultivation of human resources; 2. Preservation, utilization and succession of Japan’s precious cultural properties; 3. Promotion of cultural programs and improving the function of ACA for realizing the Nation Based on Culture and the Arts; 4. Dissemination of Japan’s outstanding culture and arts / Promotion of international cultural exchange; and 5. Improvement/enhancement of the foundation for the promotion of culture. A major category whose budget increased is as follows: in Project 3, ¥1.151 billion for ‘Promotion of cultural programs and improving the function of ACA for realizing the Nation Based on Culture and the Arts’. (Japanese)
On August 26, the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design fully opened in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, following the relocation and new construction of the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, which opened in 1981 (closed in December 2016), due to its age, the partial opening on March 25, 2017, and the opening of the rooftop garden on April 29, 2017. Located in a corner of the Fugan Canal Kansui Park, the three-story building, designed by NAITŌ Hiroshi, has a site area of 12,500 m2. The museum aims to be a hands-on museum with the basic policy of ‘a museum that connects art and design’. The museum held the exhibitions titled ‘LIFE: In Search of a Paradise’ (August 26 – November 5) and ‘Art and Design, dialogue with materials’ (November 16 – January 8, 2018) to commemorate its opening. (Japanese)
On March 28, the Denchū Hirakushi Award (sponsored by Ibara City, Okayama Prefecture), established to commemorate HIRAKUDHI Denchū’s achievements along with the promotion of wood carvings in Japan, announced that the 28th winner was ANDŌ Eisaku. The artist was recognized for his pursuit of contemporary expression in large-scale wooden sculpture and his deepening of humanist figurative expression. (Japanese)
On September 10, the Japanese Council of Art Museums (Chairman: TATEHATA Akira), which has approximately 380 national, public and private museums as members, published ‘the Principles of Art Museums and Guidelines for the Conduct of Art Museum Staff’ on its website. Consisting of eleven principles and guidelines, it sets out the basic principles of art museums and the standards to which art museum staff should adhere in the face of difficult social situations surrounding art museums, and various problems and issues they face. It was adopted at the General Meeting of the Japanese Council of Art Museums in May 2017, after five years of review by its Art Museum Management System Study Group. (Japanese)
On March 28, the Denchū Hirakushi Award (sponsored by Ibara City, Okayama Prefecture), established to commemorate HIRAKUDHI Denchū’s achievements along with the promotion of wood carvings in Japan, announced that the 28th winner was ANDŌ Eisaku. The artist was recognized for his pursuit of contemporary expression in large-scale wooden sculpture and his deepening of humanist figurative expression. (Japanese)
On September 12, the laureates of the 29th Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu (organized by the Japan Art Association), which publicly honors individual world artists, were announced. In relation to art, the laureates are Shirin NESHAT, a female filmmaker based in New York, who has poetically and provocatively depicted the state of women in contemporary Islamic society in photography, video installations and film, in the Painting category; El ANATSUI, a Ghanaian sculptor based in Nigeria, known for his majestic metal wall-hanging created from discarded metal bottle tops, woven together with copper wire in the Sculpture category; and Spanish architect Rafael MONEO, who designs buildings that blend into the urban space in harmony with the environment while emphasizing the historical background of the land in the Architecture category. (Japanese)
On April 16, at a seminar on regional development held at a hotel in Ōtsu City, Shiga Prefecture, YAMAMOTO Kōzō, Minister of State for Regional Revitalization, indicated that curators working at museums lack understanding of tourism promotion and voiced his opinions that the biggest cancer is cultural curators and that that needs to be eradicated. The statement was based on a misconception that the British Museum had dismissed all curators who opposed the museum’s major renovation. Criticisms poured in from people working in the field of cultural properties. On the following day, April 17, the minister apologized and announced that he would retract its statement. (Japanese)
On September 19, the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum announced in Tokyo that a painting by Sesshū, a monk-painter of the Muromachi Period, whose whereabouts had been unknown, had been found for the first time in 84 years. The work was one of twelve fan-shaped ‘Landscape in Imitation of Xia Gui’ paintings by Sesshū. It was listed in the auction catalog of the Kyūshū Electric Railroad, the predecessor of the Nishi-Nippon Railroad, when it was put up for sale in 1933, after which it disappeared. The work was included in the exhibition ‘Sesshū hakken!’, held at the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum (October 31. – December 10). (Japanese)
MUNAKATA Shikō’s print ‘Uchū san (Kanagawa no saku)’, which Kanagawa Prefecture had purchased in 1974 as an original for the creation of stage curtain for the Kanagawa Kenmin Hall and loaned free of charge to the Kanagawa Arts and Cultural Foundation, was found to have been replaced with a color copy in April 2014. Kanagawa Prefecture made it public on April 17, 2017. (Japanese)
On September 26, the exhibition ‘UNKEI – The Great Master of Buddhist Sculpture’ opened at the Tokyo National Museum (until November 26). The exhibition brought together works from the seated statue of Dainishi Nyorai at Enjōji temple, which Unkei is thought to have created in his mid-20s, to the seated statue of Daiitoku myōō at Kyōmyōin temple, which was created in his later years. It also traced how Unkei developed his unique style and how he was succeeded by his father, Kōkei, and handed down to his sons, Tankei and Kōben, through the works of the three generations. The exhibition also commemorated the reconstruction of the Central Golden Hall of Kōfukuji temple, where Unkei created his works in his youth. (Japanese)
The recipients of the Asahi Prize for the fiscal year 2016 (sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun Foundation) were announced. In relation to art, art historian TSUJI Nobuo received the prize for ‘his significant contribution to the history of Japanese art, including reappraisal of “eccentric artists”’, while manga artist HAGIO Moto received the prize for ‘her innovation in manga expression and creating activities over many years’. (Japanese)
On May 19, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on ten structures to be designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties to MATSUNO Hirokazu, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes Chōchikukyo (Ōyamazaki Town, Kyoto Prefecture), considered a representative example of pre-war wooden modernism, and Shiromineji temple (Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture), one of the 88 temples on the Shikoku pilgrimage. In addition to the list, the Ōsugi area in Ōya Town in Yabu City, Hyōgo Prefecture, where three-story wooden farmhouses that were built with the development of sericulture, was also suggested to be the Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings. (Japanese)
The winners of the 29th Kokka Prize, the award for remarkable research on Japanese and East Asian art, were announced. The Kokka Prize was given to a monograph titled ‘Chūgoku hangashi ron’ (published in 2017) by KOBAYASHI Hiromitsu. The Kokka Exhibition Catalog prize was given to an exhibition catalog titled ‘Kaihō Yūshō’ (The Kyoto National Museum, 2017) by YAMAMOTO Hideo. (Japanese)
On January 1, the winners of the 58th Mainichi Art Award (sponsored by the Mainichi Newspapers Co.), the annual award given to outstanding individuals in art and culture, were announced. In Art Category I (Painting / Sculpture / Crats / Graphics), contemporary artist KAWAGUCHI Tatsuo won for his exhibition, ‘Tatsuo Kawaguchi: Location of Time’ held at Kawaguchi Art Gallery, Saitama Prefecture. (Japanese)
On May 25, the exhibition ‘Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave’ opened at the British Museum (until August 13). The exhibition focused on works of KATSUSHIKA Hokusai, an ukiyo-e artist, during the 30 years from the age of 60 to his death at the age of 90, and displayed approximately 160 works, including his paintings such as ‘Waves’, painted on the ceiling of a festival float (Hokusai Museum Collection), which was exhibited in the United Kingdom for the first time. The exhibition toured to Japan as an international joint project and was held at the Abeno Harukas Art Museum in Osaka under the title ‘Hokusai: Beyond Fuji’ (Oct 6 – Nov 19). (Japanese)
On October 20, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on two structures to be designated as National Treasures and seven structures to be designated as Important Cultural Properties to HAYASHI Yoshimasa, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes the Mieidō and Nyoraidō Halls of Senjuji temple (Tsu City, Mie Prefecture), the head temple of the Takada School of Shinshū Buddhism, to be designated as National Treasures; and the Former Matsumoto Branch Court of Nagano District Court (Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture), a Japanese-style building constructed in the Meiji Period, to be designated as an Important Cultural Property. In addition to the list, two districts, including the scenic port town of Tomonoura (Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture), were also suggested to be the Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. (Japanese)
The Daejeon District Court ruled in a lawsuit filed by Buseoksa temple in Seosan, central South Korea, which claimed ownership of the statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, a tangible cultural property designated by Nagasaki Prefecture, stolen from Kannonji temple in Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture, in 2012 and brought to South Korea, that the Korean government should not return the statue to Japan but hand it over to the temple. The decision accepted the claim of Buseoksa temple that the statue had been looted by wakō, Japanese pirates in the 14th century. The South Korean government, which had stated that there was little evidence that the temple was the original owner, appealed the decision on the same day. (Japanese)
On May 27, the selection process for the Teijiro Nakahara Prize (sponsored by Asahikawa City, Hokkaido, and Asahikawa City Board of Education), established to contribute to the development of the Japanese sculpture world, took place. The 40th prize was awarded to AOKI Noe’s ‘Protoplasm / 2015’. (Japanese)