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 18, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on six structures to be designated as Important Cultural Properties to HAGIUDA Kōichi, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes the former Shimazu family residence (Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo), designed by British architect Josiah Condor, and the Kanagawa Prefectural Government Office Building (Yokohama City), which is considered a pioneer in government building architecture, to be designated as Important Cultural Properties. In addition to the list, the Tatsuno region of Tatsuno City, Hyōgo Prefecture, and the Kasedafumoto region of Minamisatsua City, Kagoshima Prefecture, were also suggested to be the Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings. (Japanese)
On October 12, Typhoon Hagibis known as Typhoon No. 19 or Reiwa 1 East Japan Typhoon, which made landfall in eastern Japan, caused extensive damage to cultural properties. A windowpane was broken at the Tomioka Silk Mill in Tomioka City, Gunma Prefecture, designated as a World Heritage Site, and the plaster on the tower of the former Kaichi School Building in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, was exfoliated. At the Kawasaki City Museum in Kanagawa Prefecture, the underground storages were flooded where 230,000 items in the museum’s collections were damaged. Starting with removal of photographs and film footage, curators and specialist from museums and art galleries across Japan participated in a rescue operation to remove the damaged collection, which was completed in June 2020. (Japanese)
The winners of the 31st Kokka Prize, the award for remarkable research on Japanese and East Asian art, were announced. The Kokka Prize was given to a monograph titled ‘Bukkyō chōzō no seisaku to juyō – Heian jidai o chūshin ni –’ (published in 2019) by OKU Takeo. The Kokka Exhibition Catalog Prize was given to an exhibition catalog titled ‘Torei HIJIKATA: A Retrospective’ (held in 2018 at the Tottori Prefectural Museum) by YAMASHITA Mayumi. (Japanese)
On September 26, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, in accordance with Act on Regulation of Execution of Budget Pertaining to Subsidies, etc., announced that they would withhold the subsidies granted to the Aichi Triennale 2019 since Aichi Prefecture had failed to report a serious fact that threatened the smooth running of the Aichi Triennale 2019, an international art festival being held in Aichi Prefecture, despite protests and threats, forcing the cancellation of the planned exhibition ‘After “Freedom of Expression?”’. Withholding subsidies due to procedural errors was unprecedented. In response, a number of experts and organizations issued opposition statements. On October 9, the Japanese Council of Art Museums submitted a request to the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs to withdraw their decision on the subsidies. (Japanese)
On September 17, the laureates of the 31st 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 were William KENTRIDGE in the Painting category, who has expressed the pain of the dark history of his native South Africa through his unique amination known as ‘monochromatic drawing’; Mona HATOUM in the Sculpture category, who has continued to express the suffering of displaced people through installations and a variety of other forms of expression; and in the Architecture category, Tod WILLIAMS and Billie TSIEN, American architects whose works are highly regarded for their use of diverse materials and harmony with the environment. (Japanese)
The 25th General Conference of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) was held for the first time in Japan from September 1 to September 5 at the Kyoto International Conference Center. It was the largest international conference in the history of Japanese museums, with 4,590 participants from 120 countries and territories. Four plenary sessions and thirty sessions of international committees were held under the theme ‘Museums as Cultural Hubs: The Future of Tradition’. The ICOM Japan’s proposals for the ‘Commitment to the Integration of Asia into the ICOM Community’ and the ‘Commitment to the Concept “Museums as Cultural Hubs”’ were adopted as Congress resolutions. (Japanese)
On August 3, the exhibition titled ‘After “Freedom of Expression?”’ (venue: Aichi Arts Center) of the international art festival, Aichi Triennale 2019, which would be held in Aichi Prefecture from August 1 to October 14, was cancelled following protests against the content of the exhibition. The exhibition consisted of works that had been restricted in the past for political reasons, including ŌURA Nobuyuki’s ‘Holding Perspective (J: Enkin o kakaete)’, which featured the Shōwa Emperor, and Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung’s ‘Statue of a Girl of Peace (J: Heiwa no shōjo zō)’, which symbolized a former comfort woman. In response to numerous protest phone calls, faxes and e-mails, which included threats, the decision to cancel the exhibition was made out of concern for the safety of visitors and other concerned parties. In protest against this decision to cancel the exhibition, a number of artists, mainly from overseas, cancelled or changed their own exhibitions at the art festival, sparking a major debate on freedom of expression. The exhibition’s organizing committee subsequently filed an interlocutory injunction with the Nagoya District Court demanding that the exhibition be reopened. Following an agreement with the Aichi Triennale Organizing Committee, the exhibition was reopened from October 8 to October 14 before Aichi Triennale 2019 closed. (Japanese)
On July 19, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on 196 structures to be designated as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties to SHIBAYAMA Masahiko, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes a residential building, known as a ‘Star House’ for its distinctive shape, built in the Akabanedai housing complex (Kita Ward, Tokyo) during the post-war period of rapid growth. (Japanese)
The winners of the 14th 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 given to SEKI Akio, Chief of the curatorial section of the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (for the exhibition titled ‘EXOTIC × MODERN: French Art Deco and inspiration afar’; his job title at the time of exhibition) and MURAKAMI Hiroya, Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the National Museum of Western Art (for the exhibition titled ‘Le Corbusier and the Age of Purism’). The Cultural Promotion Prize for institutions was given to Toppan Inc. for its activities of continuous as well as high-quality displays at the Printing Museum, which was opened in 2000. (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 ‘Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan’, which had been nominated by the Japanese government on the World Heritage List. In response, on July 6, at the 43rd session of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, it decided to inscribe the site on the World Heritage List as a Cultural Heritage Site. (Japanese)
On June 24, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (Takebashi, Tokyo) announced that it had acquired a representative work by nihon-ga painter KABURAKI Kiyokata’s ‘Tsukiji Akashi-cho Town’ (1927). This painting won the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts Prize at the Teiten exhibition in 1927, was frequently exhibited at art exhibitions. It was also used as the design for a postage stamp in 1971 and was widely popular. However, it went missing after an exhibition that took place in 1975. In June, the museum purchased it from an art dealer in Tokyo, together with ‘Shintomi-cho Town’ and ‘Hama-cho Gashi Zone’, which were produced as a trilogy. They are now all in the museum’s collection. The trilogy was on public display at the museum from November 1 to December 15. (Japanese)
On June 24, the Idemitsu Museum of Arts (Marunouchi, Tokyo) announced that it had purchased 190 items from the Etsuko and Joe Price Collection, American collectors of Edo paintings over the years, including ITŌ Jakuchū’s ‘Birds, Animals, and Flowering Plants in Imaginary Scene’, a screen painting where plants and animals are depicted using a different arrangement of squares and colors. The couple had hoped to pass part of their collection to Japan due to their advanced age. (Japanese)
On June 21, 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 SHIBAYAMA Masahiko, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes three sites such as Mannōike pond (Mannō Town, Kagawa Prefecture), one of the largest reservoirs in Japan, where Kūkai was involved in the restoration project, to be designated as Places of Scenic Beauty; eight sites such as ruins of Iwabitsu Castle (Higashiagatsuma Town, Gunma Prefecture), associated with the Sanada clan of feudal lord during the Sengoku period, to be designated as Historic Sites; three sites such as Hirata Family Garden (Nakatsu City, Ōita Prefecture), which makes use of the landscape of Yabakei Gorge, to be registered as Registered Monuments; and ‘Nakijin Village Imadomari Fukugi Yashiki Forest and Village Landscape’ (Nakijin Village, Okinawa Prefecture), characterized by its green living environment created by windbreak forests, to be selected as an Important Cultural Landscape. (Japanese)
On June 8, 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 41st prize was awarded to MISAWA Atsuhiko’s ‘Animal 2018 – 01’. (Japanese)
On June 5, the Iwate Prefectural Museum (Morioka City) announced that a senior curator (terminated in March 2020) at the museum had, without the owners’ permission, repeatedly taken samples from metal objects excavated from archaeological sites in and outside the prefecture, which the museum was requested by local authorities for conservation treatment, and had analyzed them, for which the museum apologized. On December 16, the Iwate Prefectural Board of Education announced that samples were taken from two important cultural properties (‘kasha’ (incense burner) and ‘kebyō’ (flower vase) excavated from the Yanagi no gosho and Hiraizumi ruins in Hiraizumi Town, Iwate Prefecture) without the owners’ permission. The final report in 2022 reported a total of 103 cultural properties had been damaged. (Japanese)
On May 23, ‘the Citi exhibition Manga’ opened at the British Museum in the United Kingdom (until August 26). This exhibition introduced the history of Japanese manga up to the present day and its relationship with society, including KATSUSHIKA Hokusai’s manga, KAWANABE Kyōsai’s stage curtain for the Shintomi Theater and topical manga in the Meiji period. It was the largest-ever exhibition of manga outside Japan. It attracted 180,000 visitors, including many young people. (Japanese)
On May 17, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on seven structures to be designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties to SHIBAYAMA Masahiko, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes the former Kaichi School Building (Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture), built in the Meiji period, to be designated as a National Treasure; and six structures such Eiheiji temple (Eiheiji Town, Fukui Prefecture), the head of the Sōtō Buddhist sect, and Higashi Honganji Temple (Kyoto City), to be designated as Important Cultural Properties. (Japanese)
The winners of the 13th Yomiuri Aoniyoshi Prize (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 Prize was given to KITAGAMAE Yasuo (Nemuro city, Hokkaido), who has been engaged in research on Okhotsk culture and the conservation of its archaeological materials. The Encouragement Prize was given to the NPO Tanada Lover’s (Chair: NAGASUGA Yūichi, Ichikawa Town, Hyōgo Prefecture), which promotes the restoration of terraced rice paddies and the training of successors. The Special Prize went to Rekishi Shiryō Network (Representative committee member: OKUMURA Hiroshi, Nada Ward, Kōbe City), which rescues and preserves old written materials damaged in disasters. (Japanese)
On March 22, the Japan Art Academy (Director: KUROI Senji) announced the recipients of the 75th Japan Art Academy Prize. The Imperial Prize and the Japan Art Academy Prize were given to MAGAMI Kidō (for his calligraphy ‘Hekijin’, exhibited at the Forth Kaiso Shin-Nitten) in the Fine Arts category. The Japan Art Academy Prize was given to IKEGAWA Sunao (for his sculpture ‘Toki no tabibito’, exhibited at the Fifth Kaiso Shin-Nitten) and ARAKI Tsunenobu (for his craftwork ‘Tsuki izuru’, exhibited at the First Kaiso Shin-Nitten). (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 38th winner was TAKAHASHI Satoshi for his photobook titled ‘RESISTANCE Kanbojia kussezaru hitobito no negai’. (Japanese)
