This database is a comprehensive collection of articles from Nihon bijutsu nenkan (Year Book of
Japanese Art), published by the Tokyo National Institute for Cultural Properties (Tobunken).
On October 19, the winners of the ICOMOS Japan Prize 2018 as well as the ICOMOS Japan Honorable Mention Award were announced. The ICOMOS Japan Prize and the ICOMOS Japan Honorable Mention Award aim to encourage the preservation and conservation of structures, groups of historic buildings, cultural landscapes, monuments and historic ruins as well as historic sites. The ICOMOS Japan Prize was given to MATSUKUMA Akira (Representative director of General Incorporated Association Chōchikukyo Club) for his long-standing conservation activities and achievements of research and publications on Chōchikukyo; and KATŌ Tomoki (President, Ueyakato Landscape Co., Ltd.) for his research on conservation of Japanese gardens as cultural heritage and contemporary measures and practices for their use. The ICOMOS Japan Honorable Mention Award was given to EDANI Hiroko (Researcher, Cultural Landscape, Department of Cultural Heritage, Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties) for her work on research, dissemination and conservation of cultural landscapes. (Japanese)
On June 8, the Bill for Partial Revision of the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties and the Law concerning the Organization and Functions of Local Education Administration, which was passed by the Diet on June 1, promulgated. This was in response to the urgent issue of preventing the loss and dispersal of cultural properties as communities, which were the foundation for inheritance of cultural properties, had become increasingly fragile due to depopulation, falling birthrates and an aging population. The following three points were focused on; 1. Comprehensive conservation and utilization of cultural properties in the region; 2. Review of the conservation and utilization system for the secure inheritance of individual cultural properties; and 3. Review of the system pertaining to the administration of cultural property protection in local areas. This enables prefectures to formulate a general outline of comprehensive measures for the conservation and utilization of cultural properties. Taking this into account, municipalities are now able to draw up regional plans for protection and utilization of cultural properties and apply for accreditation by the government. In addition, the head of a local authority can now, by ordinance, take charge of the administration of cultural property protection, which were previously under jurisdiction of the local authority’s board of education. (Japanese)
On October 26, the Japanese government announced five recipients of the Order of Culture and twenty recipients of the Person of Cultural Merit for the fiscal year 2018. In relation to art, the Order of Culture was given to ceramic artist IMAI Masayuki, who developed the technically difficult inlaying technique into a wide-surface inlaying technique and opened up new possibilities for ceramic art. The Person of Cultural Merit was given to highly acclaimed calligraphy artist ISHIGE Keidō, whose innovative scattered writing combines traditional elegance with a modern sense of formality; architect Toyo ITO), who attracted attention with his methodology of ‘lightness in architecture’ and whose projects were developed through Japan, contributed to the development of contemporary architecture; and art director KITAGAWA Fram, who is a leading figure in the unprecedented field of art projects that lead to regional development. (Japanese)
On June 4, the reconstruction work of the Honmaru Palace (total area 3,100 m2) at Nagoya Castle, destroyed by fire during a World War II air raid, which had been under reconstruction by Nagoya City since 2009, was completed and opened to the press (open to the public from June 8). The Honmaru Palace was reconstructed using techniques to faithfully reproduce the wooden structure as it was in the past. The paintings by Kanō school painters such as KANŌ Sadanobu and Tanyū were reconstructed by copying from surviving sliding doors and dry plate glass negatives taken before the fire. (Japanese)
The 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, announced the winners of the 30th Ringa Art Encouragement Prize. In the Art History Research Division, MATSUKAWA Ayako (Curator, Nara Prefectural Museum of Art) was awarded for her curated exhibition titled ‘Tetsu Fusen: A Retrospective – 40th Anniversary of His Death’ and contribution of her essay to its exhibition catalog. In the Art Criticism Division, KITA Takaomi (Curator, Nerima Art Museum) received the prize for his curated exhibition titled ‘Ikeda Tatsuo: An Elliptical Visionary: The Present Tense of Postwar Art’ and contribution of his essay to its catalog. (Japanese)
On June 15, 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 HAYASHI Yoshimasa, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes nine sites such as the remains of Niitsu Oil Mining and Refine System at Kanazu Oil field (Niigata City) to be designated as Historic Sites; four sites such as Hakusan Park (Niigata City) to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty; the Itohara Family Garden (Okuizumo Town, Shimane Prefecture) to be registered as Registered Monuments; the rural landscape of Lake Ibanai (Higashiōmi City, Shiga Prefecture) and the cultural landscape of Kitadaitō Island derived from the phosphate mine on Kitadaitō Island (Kitadaitō Island, Okinawa Prefecture) to be selected as Important Cultural Landscapes. (Japanese)
On November 16, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on the following places to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty or Historic Sites to SHIBAYAMA Masahiko, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes nine sites such as the remains of Kōfu Castle (Kōfu City) to be designated as Historic Sites; the former Ekishūkan Garden to be designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty; three sites such as Byakkotai cemetary on Mr Iimori in Aizu (Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukuoka Prefecture) to be registered as Registered Monuments; and the landscape of terraced fields and agricultural and fishing villages at Uwakai Karihama (Seiyo City, Ehime Prefecture) to be selected as an Important Cultural Landscape. The Council also suggested 185 structures to be registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, including the solarium of the former residence of YOSHIDA Shigeru, designed by architect YOSHIDA Isoya. (Japanese)
On March 17, the winner of the 43rd Kimura Ihei Award (Sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun Company and the Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc.), the award given to exceptional new photographers in honor of photographer KIMURA Ihei’s achievements, was announced. The award was given to KOMATSU Hiroko for her installations such as ‘The Execution of Personal Autonomy’ and FUJIOKA Aya for her photobooks such as ‘Kawa wa yuku’. (Japanese)
In May, the international Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that conducts preliminary inspections to determine whether a site should be inscribed on the World Heritage List, recommended the inclusion of the ‘Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region’, which had been nominated by the Japanese government on the World Heritage List. In response, on June 30, at the 42nd session of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, held in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, it decided to inscribe the site on the World Heritage List as a Cultural Heritage Site. (Japanese)
On November 16, the 40th Suntory Prize for Social Science and Humanities (sponsored by the Suntory Foundation) announced that, in relation to art, KYŌTANI Yoshinori (Associate Professor, Kyushu University) for his monograph titled ‘Gaisenmon to Katsujiga no fūzoku shi: Hakanaki supekutakuru no chikara’ was awarded in the Literary and Art Criticism category. (Japanese)
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 37th winner was USHIODA Tokuko for her photobook titled ‘Views of Books: BIBLIOTHECA’. (Japanese)
On July 1, the National Center for the Promotion of Cultural Properties (Director: ASAHI Mitsuru) was established within the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage. It was founded in response to a report by the Council for Cultural Affairs, which had proposed the active utilization of cultural properties. It aims to utilize tangible cultural properties in Japan through four projects: Planning, Loan Promotion, Preservation and Digital Resources. (Japanese)
On November 30, the Japan Art Academy (Director: KUROI Senji) announced that it had elected two new members to the Japan Art Academy for their outstanding achievements in artistic activities. Yōga artist MAKOSHI Yōko and critic and translator HAGA Tōru were elected. The election was officially announced by SHIBAYAMA Masahiko, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on December 15. (Japanese)
On March 21, the Nakanoshima Kosetsu Museum of Art (Nakanoshima, Kita Ward, Osaka City) was opened to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Kosetsu Museum of Art (Mikage, Higashinada Ward, Kobe City), which houses the collection of Japanese and East Asian antiquities collected by MURAYAMA Ryūhei, founder of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper company. The Nakanoshima Kosetsu Museum of Art, located on the fourth floor of Nakanoshima Festival Tower West in Osaka’s business district, features the Nakanoshima Genan Tea House, a reproduction of the tea house Genan (Important Cultural Property) in the former Murayama family residence, and the Murayama Ryōhei Memorial Room, which introduces the founder’s life story. The exhibition titled ‘Shugyoku no Murayama korekushon: aishi, mamori, tsutaeta’ was held as a commemorative exhibition for the museum’s opening with five thematic periods from March 21, 2018, to February 11, 2019. (Japanese)
On July 3, the special exhibition titled ‘JOMON: 10,000 Years of Prehistoric Art in Japan’ opened at the Tokyo National Museum (until September 2). The exhibition focused on the dynamic beauty of Jōmon pottery, stoneware and clay figurines as the origin of Japanese craftmanship. It included six objects designated as National Treasures, such as a vessel with flame-like ornamentation and dogū (clay figurine) known as ‘Jomon Venus’, as well as a section on the originality of Jōmon pottery, with earthenware from around the world from the same period. (Japanese)
On December 19, the winners of the VOCA Prize, which encourages young artists who create two-dimensional artworks, were announced. The Grand Prize of the VOCA was given to TOJŌ Shinnosuke (‘Atene Nagano Tokyo no kabe ni arudearō mosha’). ISHIBA Ayako (‘2 to 3, moshiku wa sore igai (sobo no ie)’) and Jong YuGyong (‘Let’s all go to the celebration square of victory!’) jointly received the VOCA Encouragement Prize. ENDŌ Kaoru (‘Uesu’) and mé (‘Akuriru gasu’) jointly received the VOCA Honorable Mention Prize. The Ohara Museum of Art Prize was given to KITAMURA Mika (‘TOPOS’). The VOCA exhibition 2019, where the winners’ works were exhibited, was held at the Ueno Royal Museum in Tokyo from March 14 to March 30 in 2019. (Japanese)
The recipients of the Asahi Prize for the fiscal year 2017 (sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun Foundation) were announced. In relation to art, art director KITAGAWA Fram received the prize for ‘revitalising local communities and culture with art festivals in satoyama and islands’. (Japanese)
On January 1, the winners of the 59th 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), artist and sculptor ENDŌ Toshikatsu won for his exhibition titled ‘ENDO Toshikatsu: The Archaeology of the Sacred’ held at the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama. (Japanese)
On February 26, the National Museum of Western Art announced that one of Claude Monet’s series of paintings, ‘Water lilies: Reflection of Willows’, collected by businessman MATSUKATA Kōjirō was found in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The work, purchased by Matsukata directly from Monet in 1921, which had been removed from its wooden frame and rolled into a cylinder, was discovered in September 2016 in a storage room in the Louvre. The work was subsequently returned by the French government to the Matsukata family, who donated it to the National Museum of Western Art in November 2017. The museum carried out restoration work on the painting and unveiled it in its special exhibition entitled, ‘The Matsukata Collection: A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey’, from June 11 to September 23, 2019. (Japanese)
On March 7, 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 2017. In the Fine Arts category, artist SUGITO Hiroshi for his exhibition titled ‘Hiroshi Sugito module and lacura’ and artist NISHINO Tastu (also known as Tatzu Nishi) for his exhibition titled ‘Tatzu Nishi in Beppu’ shared the prize. In the Criticism category, art historian Professor Emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, OMUKA Toshiharu for his monograph titled ‘Hijōji no modanizumu’ and art critic SAWARAGI Noi for his monograph titled ‘Shin nijutsu ron’ share the prize. In the Media Art category, animator YAMAMURA Kōji was awarded for his animation titled ‘Yamamura Kōji migime to hidarime de miru yume’. The three recipients of the Art Encouragement Prize for New Artists were artist IWASAKI Takahiro for his exhibition titled ‘Turned Upside Down, It’s a Forest’ in the Fine Arts category; director of a non-profit organization (NPO), Creative Support LET’S, for her social inclusion project titled ‘Hyōgen miman, Jikkenshitsu’ in the Development of Art category; and artist WADA Ei for his music project titled ‘Electronicos Fantasticos!’ in the Media Art category. (Japanese)
