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 recipients of the 29th Kokka Award, an award for remarkable research on Japanese and East Asian art, were announced. The Kokka Award was given to a monograph titled ‘Chūgoku hangashi ron’ (published in 2017) by KOBAYASHI Hiromitsu. The Kokka Exhibition Catalog Award was given to an exhibition catalog titled ‘Kaihō Yūshō’ (The Kyoto National Museum, 2017) by YAMAMOTO Hideo. (Japanese)
On January 1, the recipients of the 58th Mainichi Art Award (sponsored by the Mainichi Newspapers Co.), an 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)
On October 24, the Japanese government announced five recipients of the Order of Culture and fifteen recipients of the Person of Cultural Merit for the fiscal year 2017. In relation to art, yōga painter OKUTANI Hiroshi was awarded the Order of Culture, and sculptor AMAMIYA Keiko and photographer SUGIMOTO Hiroshi were awarded the Person of Cultural Merit. (Japanese)
On March 8, the Agency for Cultural Affairs announced the recipients of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize for the fiscal year 2016. In the Fine Arts category, artist KŌNOIKE Tomoko for her exhibition ‘Tomoko Konoike: Primordial Violence Vol.2 A New Species of Bone’ and metal artist HASHIMOTO Masayuki for his live sculpting ‘Sunlight Penetrating Fruit’ shared the prize. In the Criticism category, art critic YAMANASHI Toshio was awarded for his monograph ‘Fūkei gakō: Sekai e no kōkan to shinkō’. In the Media Art category, manga artist AKIMOTO Osamu was awarded for his manga ‘KochiKame: Tokyo Beat Cops’. The three recipients of the Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists were architect TANE Tsuyoshi for his architectural design ‘the Estonian National Museum’ in the Fine Arts category; the founder of teamLab INOKO Toshiyuki for the exhibition ‘Drawing on the Water Surface Created by the Dance of Koi and People – Infinity’ in the Development of Art category; and artist MŌRI Yūko for her exhibition ‘Pleated Image’ in the Media Art category. (Japanese)
The recipients of the 11th Yomiuri Aoniyoshi Award (sponsored by the Yomiuri Shimbun with special support from the Japan Society for the Conservation of Cultural Property), which publicly honors individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievements in the fields of conservation science and restoration, were announced. The Aoniyoshi Award was given to KURODA Shunsuke (Kyoto Prefecture), who had been working on the restoration of national treasures and important cultural properties by using carefully selected materials and unique techniques to produce the base and outer frames of sliding doors and folding screens. The Encouragement Award was given to MORIMOTO Kikuo (Cambodia), who had been working to revive traditional Cambodian silk textiles that were nearly lost during the civil war. The Special Award went to Benridō (Kyoto Prefecture), who had been engaged in the reproduction of cultural properties such as the Shōsōin archives using collotype that offers exceptional reproducibility and durability. (Japanese)
The recipients of the 29th Ringa Art Encouragement Award (organized by the Ringa Art Encouragement Fund), which publicly honors outstanding individuals for their exceptional achievements in the field of art criticism and art history research, were announced. In the Art History Research Division, SHIOYA Jun (Head of Cultural Properties Information Section as well as Head of Modern / Contemporary Art Section, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties), MASHINO Keiko (Part-time Lecturer, Waseda University) and EMI Chizuko (Head of Hyaku-gojū-nenshi hensanshitsu, The Tokyo National Museum) were jointly awarded for their publication titled ‘Tennō no bijutsushi 6: Kindai kōshitu imēji no sōshutsu: Meiji Taishō jidai (Art History of the Imperial Court 6: The Meiji and Taishō Periods: Creating the Image of a Modern Imperial Family)’. In the Art Criticism Division, TSUZUKU Masatoshi (Curator, Toyota Municipal Museum of Art) received the prize for his curated exhibition titled ‘Spider’s Thread – Spinning images of Japanese beauty’ and the contribution of his essay to its exhibition catalog. (Japanese)
On March 8, the exhibition ‘Alfons Mucha’ opened at the National Art Center, Tokyo (until June 5). The exhibition featured works by Alfons Mucha, a leading Art Nouveau artist. Among them, ‘The Slav Epic’, a series of 20 large-format canvases, created in his native Czech Republic, were exhibited for the first time outside the county. The exhibition highlighted Mucha’s patriotic side, which had rarely been introduced to the public. (Japanese)
The Buddhist Art Society was established with the aim of providing opportunities to publish research papers on various arts such as painting, sculpture, crafts, architecture and archaeology related to Buddhism and other Asian religions. It also aims to contribute to the development of research in this field. Its inaugural meeting was held at the University of Tokyo (Hongō Campus) on June 10. The background of its establishment was that the academic journal ‘Bukkyō Geijutsu’ (published by Mainichi shinbunsha), which was first published in 1948, ceased publication with its 350th issue in January 2017, and that there were concerns that research in this field might stagnate due to the loss of opportunities to publish papers. (Japanese)
On November 10, the 39th Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities (sponsored by the Suntory Foundation) announced that, in relation to art, KATŌ Kōichi (Associate Professor, University of Tokyo) for his monograph titled ‘Toki ga tsukuru kenchiku (Architecture in Time)’ and KANEKO Yū (critic, film artist) for his monograph titled ‘Eizō no ryōiki’ were awarded in the Literary and Art Criticism category. (Japanese)
On March 10, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on seven assets to be designated as National Treasures and 37 assets to be designated as Important Cultural Properties to MATSUNO Hirokazu, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The seven assets to be designated as National Treasures are Bronze statue of Shakyamuni Buddha (銅造釈迦如来倚像) (Jidaiji temple, Tokyo); Wooden seated statue of Yuima (木造維摩居士坐像) (Hokkeji temple, Kyoto); Wooden seated statue of Dainichi Nyorai and Wooden seated statue of Fudō gōzanze myōō (木造大日如来坐像・木造不動降三世明王坐像) (Amanosan Kongōji temple, Osaka); Lotus Sutra, Kunōji kyō Sutra (法華経 (久能寺経)) (Private Collection); Issai kyō Sutra, Song Dynasty edition (宋版一切経) (Godaiji temple, Kyoto); Wooden tablets excavated from Heijōkyō (平城宮跡出土木簡) (kept at the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties); and Excavated artifacts from Tōdaijiyama Tumulus (奈良県東大寺山古墳出土品) (kept at the Tokyo National Museum). One of the 37 assets to be designated as Important Cultural Properties is Rhinoceros-shaped Incense Burner (三彩兕觥形香炉), a representative work of OKUDA Eisen (Kenninji temple, Kyoto). The Council for Cultural Affairs also recommended that 226 buildings, including the Shiriyazaki Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse (33m) in Japan, be registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties. (Japanese)
On June 16, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on the following places to be designated as Special Historic Site, Places of Scenic Beauty or Historic Sites to MATSUNO Hirokazu, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes Kasori Shell Mound (Chiba City), one of the largest Jōmon period settlement sites in Japan, was designated as a Special Historic Site; eleven places such as Miyakozuka Tumulus (Asuka Village, Nara Prefecture), confirmed to be an unprecedented pyramid-shaped mound, to be designated as Historic Sites; six places such as Yubatake, a source of hot spring water at Kusatsu Onsen, to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty. The list also includes five places such as the Okinawa Prefectural Railways Yonabaru Station site, ruins of the station building of light railways that operated in Okinawa from the Taishō to wartime periods, to be selected as Registered Monuments; and the Cultural Landscape of Aso (Aso City et al, Kumamoto Prefecture); and seven landscapes such as grasslands and farming village, in the area of Mount Aso, to be selected as an Important Cultural Landscape. This was the first new designation of a Special Historic Site in seventeen years. (Japanese)
On November 17, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on the following places to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty or Historic Sites to HAYASHI Yoshimasa, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes ten sites such as the remains of Inuyama Castle (Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture) to be designated as Historic Sites; two sites such as Enunkan Gardens (Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture), created in the residence of senior retainer of the Sendai Domain, to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty; two sites such as the Hozumi Bridge (Uwajima City, Ehime Prefecture) to be registered as Registered Monuments; and three sites such as the landscape of Katsushika Shibamata (Katsushika Ward, Tokyo) to be selected as Important Cultural Landscapes. The Council also suggested 188 structures to be designated as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, including the Former Shōunkaku Annex of Hanamaki Onsen (Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture), a large-scale inn building from the early Shōwa Period. (Japanese)
On March 13, the Japan Academy (SHIONO Hiroshi) announced ten recipients of the Japan Academy Prize for the fiscal year 2017, the annual prize given to outstanding achievements in academic fields. In relation to art, NARASAWA Yumi, Professor at Jōsai University, received the prize for her detailed research and systematization of Christian alters from the fifth to twelfth centuries in southern Gaul, South France. (Japanese)
On June 16, ‘Revisions to the Basic Act on the Promotion of Culture and the Arts’ (the Basic Act on Culture and the Arts) was unanimously passed and enacted at an Upper House Plenary Session. It was promulgated and enforced on June 23. The revisions, not limited to the promotion of culture and the arts, but also further extended to incorporate measures in a wide range of related fields, such as tourism, town development, international exchange, social welfare, education and industry into the scope of the act. They also sought to utilize the various new values created through culture and the arts to further their succession, development and creation. (Japanese)