The winners of the 30th Kokka Prize, the award for remarkable research on Japanese and East Asian art, were announced. The Kokka Prize was given to an article titled ‘Hishikawa Morobobu to ukiyoe no tanjō’ (published in ‘Kokka’, Vol. 1465, 2017) by TANABE Masako. The Kokka Special Prize was given to a monograph titled ‘Nihon kaigashi ronkō’ (published in 2017) by ARIGA Yoshitaka. (Japanese)
On September 19, the exhibition titled ‘1968: Art in the Turbulent Age’ opened at the Chiba City Museum of Art. Focusing on the period around 1968, when society was in uproar with the rise of mass protests of the All-Campus Joint Struggle Committee (known as Zenkyōtō) and the Vietnam anti-war movement, and radical and eccentric culture such as underground scene and counterculture flourished, the exhibition presented approximately 400 works and materials on the avant-garde art movement and social background of that period. It also attempted to convey the excitement of the time by recreating the light show at the go-go club MUGEN, which opened in Akasaka. The exhibition toured to the Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Riverwalk Gallery (December 1 – January 27, 2019) and Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art (February 10 – March 24, 2019). (Japanese)
The work titled ‘Sun Child’, a 6.2-meter-tall sculpture, by contemporary artist, YANOBE Kenji, was installed in front of the Komu Komu educational and cultural complex in Fukushima City. Since its unveiling on August 3, it was put in the center of criticism. In response to backlash, Mayor KOHAYA Hiroshi announced at a press conference on August 28 that the city decided to remove the sculpture. The work, a standing statue of a child wearing a hazmat suit, was created in 2011 in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and was intended to express hope and a world free from nuclear disasters, but it was being criticized one after another for promoting harmful rumors about the disaster at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plan, leading to its removal. With the artist’s agreement, the sculpture was removed from September 18. (Japanese)
On July 27, 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 29th winner was IWAMA Hiroshi. The artist was commended for his attempt at a full-scale development of figurative art and his sustained willingness to question what sculpture is. (Japanese)
On July 20, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on 209 structures to be designated as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties to HAYASHI Yoshimasa, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes the Alps Wing of Mampei Hotel (Karuizawa Town, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano Prefecture), which combines a European medieval townhouse style with taste of Japanese style; and the Saikai Bridge (Sasebo City and Saikai City, Nagasaki Prefecture), a large-scale steel bridge with the longest span in the East Asia when built in 1955. (Japanese)
On July 20, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on three people to be designated as Important Intangible Cultural Properties (Living National Treasures) to HAYASHI Yoshimasa, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes KOMIYA Yasumasa, studied under his father Yasutaka, a Living National Treasure, who mastered the traditional techniques of Edo komon, realizing the exquisite patterns represented by the ‘renko pattern’ by paying thorough attention to the fabrics suitable for dyeing, Japanese stencil paper and glue; and YAMAGISHI Kazuo, studied chinkin (sunken gold) under MAE Taihō and makie lacquer technique under MATSUDA Gonroku, who refined his skills with originality and ingenuity and expanded the possibilities of expression by effectively interweaving the techniques of chinkin and other techniques. (Japanese)
On July 11, the laureates of the 30th 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 in the Painting category, Pierre Alechinsky, a Belgian contemporary artist and a member of the avant-garde art group ‘CoBrA’ (1945 – 1951), who expresses his inner feelings in versatile styles, employing his free brushwork influenced by calligraphy and the quick drying properties of acrylic paints; in the Sculpture category, NAKAYA Fujiko, known worldwide as a ‘fog artist’, who first presented her ‘fog sculpture’ made of artificial fog using water at the 1970 Osaka World Exposition and has since produced more than 80 works, including installations, performances and environmental sculptures using fog in the world; and in the Architecture category, and Christian de Portzamparc, a French architect and urban planner, who became famous for his work called ‘City of Music’ and is highly regarded for his work such as on the Nexus World Housing in Fukuoka City. (Japanese)
The winners of the 13th 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 HIRANO Itaru, Curator of the Museum of Modern Art, Saitama (for the exhibition titled ‘Diego Rivera and His Contemporaries’) and YASUI Hiroo, Curator of the Mitsubishi ichigokan Museum, Tokyo, (for the exhibition titled ‘Redon – The Secret Garden’). The Cultural Promotion Prize for institutions was given to the Kajima Foundation for the Arts for its research promotion through research grants, publication support and international exchange support for the exhibition titled ‘Lucas Cranach the Elder: 500 Years of the Power of Temptation’ (National Museum of Western Art) and others. (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 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)
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 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 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)
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 May 18, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on ten structures to be designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties to HAYASHI Yoshimasa, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes the former Tōyama Family Residence (Kawajima Town, Saitama Prefecture) and the former Kawakami Family Residence (Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture), known for their pre-Shōwa period Japanese-style architecture that skillfully blends tradition with modern techniques. In addition to the list, the Otazuki area of Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture, known as the ‘town of storehouses’, was also suggested to be the Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings. (Japanese)
In 2018-19, the major event titled ‘Japonismes 2018: les âmes en résonance’ was held in Paris and other parts of France to introduce Japanese culture to commemorate 160 years of friendship between France and Japan, starting with the exhibition titled ‘teamLab: Au-Delà des Limites’, which ran from May 15 to September 9, 2018, at La Villette in Paris. Under the agreement between the governments of Japan and France, the Japan Foundation played a leading role in ‘Japonismes 2018: les âmes en résonance’, which introduced art, theater, film and food culture. In addition to the abovementioned exhibition, a series of exhibitions were held, including the exhibition titled ‘Fukami: une plongée dans l’esthétique japonaise’ (July 14 – August 21, 2018) at Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild and the exhibition titled ‘Jakuchū (1716-1800), le Royaume coloré des êtres vivants (Jakuchū (1716-1800): The Colorful Realm of Living Beings)’ (September 15 – October 14, 2018) at Petit Palais in Paris. (Japanese)
On May 8, the University of Tokyo and the University Tokyo Co-op apologized and announced that USAMI Keiji’s major work titled ‘Kizuna’, which had been displayed on the wall of the University’s Central Cafeteria, had been disposed on September 14, 2017, following renovation work on the cafeteria. The work was commissioned in 1976 as part of the University Tokyo Co-op’s anniversary celebrations. In response to this incident, the university organized a symposium ‘Beginning with Keiji Usami’s Kizuna …’ on September 28, 2018, which questioned the future of cultural resources in the university and beyond. (Japanese)
The winners of the 12th 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 Fukae Suge-zaiku Hozonkai group (Chair: SHIMATANI Mayumi, Higashinari Ward, Osaka City), which has carried out on the traditional techniques of making suge-grass weaving such as suge hats. The Encouragement Prize was given to Kunisaki Peninsula-Usa GIAHS Promotion Association (Kunisaki shichitō shinkōkai) (Chair: HAYASHI Hiroaki, Kunisaki City, Ōita Prefecture), which works to ensure the survival of shichitōi grass in the Kunisaki region of Ōita Prefecture, known as a material for high-quality tatami mats. The Special Prize went to Ancient Capital Asuka Preservation Foundation (Koto Asuka hozon zaidan) (Chair: WADABAYASHI Michiyoshi, Asuka Vilalge, Nara Prefecture), which works to preserve and utilize the historical heritage of the Asuka region of Nara Prefecture, which was the center of antient Japan. (Japanese)
On April 25, the exhibition ‘Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of Its Transformation’ opened at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi Hills (until September 17). The exhibition explored the inheritance of modern Japanese architecture, which had been attracting worldwide attention, from traditional architecture since antient times, and introduced a hundred projects ranging from Jōmon period dwellings to the latest architectural proposals through displays of architectural documents, models, and interactive installations. (Japanese)
AZAMI Takako’s painting titled ‘Sakuragi yōgo zu’ was selected as the 7th Higashiyama Kaii Memorial Nikkei Nihonga Award, which was established to honor the achievements of nihonga artist, HIGASHIYAMA Kaii, and to recognize the next generation of nihonga artists. The exhibition featuring these works along with other selected paintings was held at the Ueno Royal Museum from May 18 to 28. (Japanese)