On November 20, the Council for Cultural Affairs (Commissioner: MIYATA Ryōhei) submitted a report on 124 buildings to be registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties to HASE Hiroshi, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes the Kawana Hotel Main Building (Itō City, Shizuoka Prefecture). (Japanese)
On November 20, the Council for Cultural Affairs (Commissioner: MIYATA Ryōhei) submitted a report on the following places to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty or Historic Sites to HASE Hiroshi, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes nine places such as the Tekigai Villa (Suginami Ward, Tokyo), where important meetings were held before the war against the United States, to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty; and two places such as the Nishiyama-Goten Residence, also called Seizan-sō (Hitachiōta City, Ibaraki Prefecture) where the Lord of Mito domain TOKUGAWA Mitsukuni spent his later life, to be designated as Historic Sites; and three places such as Jikkoku Pass (Higanesan Mountain, Atami City and Kannami-chō, Shizuoka Prefecture), known as for its scenic beauty offering views of Mount Fuji as well as for its sacred land, to be selected as Registered Monuments. (Japanese)
On October 30, the Japanese government announced seven recipients of the Order of Culture and 16 recipients of the Person of Cultural Merit for the fiscal year 2015. In relation to art, textile artist SHIMURA Fukumi was awarded the Order of Culture, and lacquer artist MITANI Goichi was awarded the Person of Cultural Merit. (Japanese)
On October 16, the Council for Cultural Affairs (Commissioner: MIYATA Ryōhei) submitted a report on one building of the Iwashimizu Hachimangū main shrine (Hachiman City, Kyoto Prefecture), which is the oldest and the largest among the existing Iwashimizu Hachimangū shrines, to be designated as a National Treasure as well as eight buildings to be designated as Important Cultural Properties, to HASE Hiroshi, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list of Important Cultural Properties designation includes the former Abashiri Prison (Agashiri City, Hokkaidō), where radial wooden cells are perfectly preserved, and the Residence of Toda Family (Kamiita-chō, Tokushima Prefecture) who supported the indigo industry, located by the lower Yoshino River. (Japanese)
The year 2015 marks the 400th anniversary of the opening of the art village, later called ‘Kōetsu Village’ in Takagamine, Kyoto in 1615 by HON’AMI Kōetsu, one of artists thought to have inspired the founding of Rinpa, and the 300th anniversary of the death of OGATA Kōrin. Exhibitions that commemorate the occasion were organized across the nation. In Kyoto, several cultural events titled ‘Rimpa 400 Year Celebration Festival’ were organized, including ‘Rinpa: The Aesthetics of the Capital’ at the Kyoto National Museum (October 10 – November 23) and ‘400th Anniversary of the Rinpa School: The “RINPA” Image’ at the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (October 9 – November 23). In addition, ‘Korin and Modern Art’ was held at the MOA Museum of Art (February 4 – March 3) and ‘Irises and Red and White Plum Blossoms: The Secret of Kōrin’s Design’ was held at the Nezu Museum (April 18 – May 17), at both of which ‘Irises’ (Nezu Museum collection) and ‘The Red and White Blossoms’ (MOA Museum of Art collection) were exhibited together. Outside of Japan, the Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Gallery organized an exhibition titled ‘Sōtatsu: Making Waves’ (October 24 – January 31, 2016). (Japanese)
The winners of the 27th Kokka Prize, an award for remarkable research on Japanese and East Asian art, were announced. The Kokka Prize was given to a monograph titled ‘Tō Sō sansuiga kenkyū’ (Chūō kōron bijutsu shuppan, 2015) by TAKENAMI Haruka (Kyoto City University of Arts). The Kokka Special Prize was given to an article titled ‘Nōmen geijutsu no keisei’ (Kokka, Vol. 1431 & 1436, 2015) by TANABE Saburōsuke (Professor Emeritus at Musashino Art University). The Kokka Exhibition Catalog Prize was given to an exhibition catalog titled ‘Buddhist sculpture of Kyushu region’ (Fukuoka City Museum, 2014) by SUEYOSHI Takeshi. (Japanese)
On September 19, the exhibition titled ‘Shunga’ opened at the Eisei Bunko Museum (until December 23). As international recognition and research into shunga continues to grow, the exhibition was organized with full support of the Eisei Bunko Museum, following the Shunga exhibition held at the British Museum from 2013 to the following year. This was the first ever full-scale exhibition of shunga held at a museum in Japan, which attracted a great deal of interest with a record number of visitors. The exhibition travelled to the Hosomi Museum (Kyoto City) (February 6, 2016 – April 10). (Japanese)
On September 10, the laureates of the 27th 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 YOKOO Tadanori (Japan) in the Painting category, Wolfgang Laib (Germany) in the Sculpture category and Dominique Perrault (France) in the Architecture category. (Japanese)
The Agency for Cultural Affairs has decided to reinstate support for the Nitten exhibition, which is run by the Nitten, in the fiscal year 2015 and to reintroduce the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, following the revelations of organizational corruption in the award of the Calligraphy section in 2013. The Agency also informed the Japan Art Academy that the selection process should return to normal from the fiscal year 2015 though it had requested that former Nitten judges be excluded from the candidate pool of new members. (Japanese)
On September 1, the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games decided to withdraw the official emblem for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. The entry by SANO Kenjirō was selected as the official emblem in July 2015. However, its originality became disputed, and its use was withdrawn at SANO’s request after a lawsuit was filed in August seeking an injunction against its use due to its resemblance to the logo of the Théâtre de Liège in Belgium. TOKOLO Asao’s design was subsequently chosen as the official emblem through another public competition. (Japanese)
On August 5, the Japan Committee for the Protection of Displaced Cultural Properties (Chairperson: MIYATA Ryōhei) announced the return of some displaced cultural properties to Afghanistan. The Committee was established under the leadership of HIRAYAMA Ikuo, who served a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, following the destruction of the stone Buddha statues of the Bamiyan Valley by the Taliban in 2001. It has been protecting and preserving cultural properties that were illegally taken abroad during the political unrest caused by civil wars. The 102 displaced cultural properties will be returned after some of them are displayed in the special exhibition titled ‘Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul’ to be held at the Kyushu National Museum and the Tokyo National Museum in 2016. (Japanese)
On July 18, the Niihama City Museum of Art (Director: YAMANO Hidetsugu) opened in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture. It opened on the second floor of the Akagame Museum, inheriting and developing the functions and exhibitions of the Niihama City Native Museum, which subsequently closed in 2016. (Japanese)
On July 17, the design by British architect Zaha Hadid for a new National Stadium, the main venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, was withdrawn. The design, which was selected through an international competition in 2012, had received heavy criticism for its destruction of the landscape and the high cost of construction. A second competition was subsequently held on December 22, 2015, where the design by KUMA Kengo was selected. (Japanese)
On July 17, the Council for Cultural Affairs (Commissioner: MIYATA Ryōhei) submitted a report on 195 structures to be designated as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties to SHIMOMURA Hakubun, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes reinforced concrete bridges constructed in the early Shōwa period in the Kinosaki hot spring district in Toyooka City, Hyōgo Prefecture. (Japanese)
On July 17, the Council for Cultural Affairs (Commissioner: MIYATA Ryōhei) submitted a report on four people to be designated as Important Intangible Cultural Properties (Living National Treasures) to SHIMOMURA Hakubun, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes ŌSUMI Yukie, metalwork artist who has created a modern style of work with fluid lines and the unique colors of metal. (Japanese)
On July 15, the South Korean Prosecutors’ Office announced that they will return a bronze standing statue of Buddha, nationally designated as an Important Cultural Property, one of the two Buddhist statues that were stolen in 2012 from a shrine and temple in Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture, and brought into South Korea. The statue was handed over from South Korea to Japan on July 17 and were shown to the press at the Nagasaki Prefectural Tsushima Museum of History and Folklore on the following day. However, the decision on the other stolen statue, a seated Kanzeon Bodhisattva, designated as a Nagasaki Prefectural Tangible Cultural Property, was postponed because of a court injunction by Buseoksa temple in central South Korea preventing the return of the statue to Japan until it could be determined how it had originally been brought to Japan. (Japanese)
To mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the World War II, a series of exhibitions were held across the country to reconsider the relationship between artists and the war such as, ‘1940s – rediscovery of 20th Century Japanese Art IV’ held at the Mie Prefectural Art Museum (July 11 – September 24); ‘War and Postwar: The Prism of the Times’ held at the Izu Photo Museum (July 18 – January 31, 2016); ‘Japanese Painters under the World War II: How Did They Survive War?’ held at the Nagoya City Art Museum (July 18 – September 23); ‘Hiroshima Trilogy: 70th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing, Part 1 Life=Work’ held at the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (July 18 – September 27); ‘War and Peace’ held at the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum (July 25 – September 13); ‘Sengo nihon bijutsu no shuppatsu 1945-1955: Gakatachi wa dō “jiyū” o hyōgen shitaka’ held at the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma (September 19 – November 3); and ‘70th Anniversary of the End of WWII: Alternative Stories in 1940’s Art – From the Tragic War to Reconstruction and Rebirth, What did Japanese Artists’ Works During that Period Represent?’ held at the Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts (October 31 – December 23). (Japanese)
On May 4, 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 sites should be inscribed on the World Heritage List, recommended the inclusion of the ‘Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining’ (eight prefectures including Fukuoka Prefecture, twenty-three sites), which had been nominated by the Japanese government as illustrating the process by which Western technology merged with Japanese culture to rapidly form an industrial nation, on the World Heritage List. In response, on July 5, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, held in Bonn, Germany, decided to inscribe the sites on the World Heritage List as Cultural Heritage Sites. (Japanese)
The winners of the 10th Western Art Foundation Prize, which publicly honor individuals and organizations involved in curating exhibitions that have contributed to the understanding of Western art and academic research in the field of Western art, were announced. The Academic Prizes for individuals were awarded to ARAKI Natsumi, Curator of Mori Art Museum (for the exhibition ‘Go Betweens’), FURUTANI Yoshiyuki, Director of Curatorial Division at the Hiroshima Museum of Art (for the exhibitions ‘The Hague School – Intermediators from Barbizon and Van Gogh’ and ‘Normandy: Estuary of the Seine’), and TSUTATANI Noriko, Chief Curator at the Shimane Art Museum (for the exhibition ‘L’Arcadie au bord de l’eau – Le monde mythique de Puvis de Chavannes’), while the Cultural Promotion Prize for institutions was awarded to the Kyoto Costume Institute. (Japanese)
On May 16, the selection process for the Teijiro Nakahara Prize (sponsored by Asahikawa City, Hokkaido and its City Board of Education), which was established to contribute to the development of the Japanese sculpture world, took place. TOYA Shigeo’s ‘Kanshiteki’ was selected as the 39th prize winner. (Japanese)