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 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 winners of the 29th Kokka Prize, the award for remarkable research on Japanese and East Asian art, were announced. The Kokka Prize was given to a monograph titled ‘Chūgoku hangashi ron’ (published in 2017) by KOBAYASHI Hiromitsu. The Kokka Exhibition Catalog prize was given to an exhibition catalog titled ‘Kaihō Yūshō’ (The Kyoto National Museum, 2017) by YAMAMOTO Hideo. (Japanese)
On September 26, the exhibition ‘UNKEI – The Great Master of Buddhist Sculpture’ opened at the Tokyo National Museum (until November 26). The exhibition brought together works from the seated statue of Dainishi Nyorai at Enjōji temple, which Unkei is thought to have created in his mid-20s, to the seated statue of Daiitoku myōō at Kyōmyōin temple, which was created in his later years. It also traced how Unkei developed his unique style and how he was succeeded by his father, Kōkei, and handed down to his sons, Tankei and Kōben, through the works of the three generations. The exhibition also commemorated the reconstruction of the Central Golden Hall of Kōfukuji temple, where Unkei created his works in his youth. (Japanese)
On September 19, the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum announced in Tokyo that a painting by Sesshū, a monk-painter of the Muromachi Period, whose whereabouts had been unknown, had been found for the first time in 84 years. The work was one of twelve fan-shaped ‘Landscape in Imitation of Xia Gui’ paintings by Sesshū. It was listed in the auction catalog of the Kyūshū Electric Railroad, the predecessor of the Nishi-Nippon Railroad, when it was put up for sale in 1933, after which it disappeared. The work was included in the exhibition ‘Sesshū hakken!’, held at the Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum (October 31. – December 10). (Japanese)
On September 12, the laureates of the 29th 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 Shirin NESHAT, a female filmmaker based in New York, who has poetically and provocatively depicted the state of women in contemporary Islamic society in photography, video installations and film, in the Painting category; El ANATSUI, a Ghanaian sculptor based in Nigeria, known for his majestic metal wall-hanging created from discarded metal bottle tops, woven together with copper wire in the Sculpture category; and Spanish architect Rafael MONEO, who designs buildings that blend into the urban space in harmony with the environment while emphasizing the historical background of the land in the Architecture category. (Japanese)
On September 10, the Japanese Council of Art Museums (Chairman: TATEHATA Akira), which has approximately 380 national, public and private museums as members, published ‘the Principles of Art Museums and Guidelines for the Conduct of Art Museum Staff’ on its website. Consisting of eleven principles and guidelines, it sets out the basic principles of art museums and the standards to which art museum staff should adhere in the face of difficult social situations surrounding art museums, and various problems and issues they face. It was adopted at the General Meeting of the Japanese Council of Art Museums in May 2017, after five years of review by its Art Museum Management System Study Group. (Japanese)
On August 26, the Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design fully opened in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, following the relocation and new construction of the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, which opened in 1981 (closed in December 2016), due to its age, the partial opening on March 25, 2017, and the opening of the rooftop garden on April 29, 2017. Located in a corner of the Fugan Canal Kansui Park, the three-story building, designed by NAITŌ Hiroshi, has a site area of 12,500 m2. The museum aims to be a hands-on museum with the basic policy of ‘a museum that connects art and design’. The museum held the exhibitions titled ‘LIFE: In Search of a Paradise’ (August 26 – November 5) and ‘Art and Design, dialogue with materials’ (November 16 – January 8, 2018) to commemorate its opening. (Japanese)
On July 21, the Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report on 244 structures to be designated as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties to MATSUNO Hirokazu, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The list includes Sagae City Hall (Sagae City, Yamagata Prefecture), an early representative work by architect KUROKAWA Kishō, and Iiyama Resurrection Church, Diocese of Chubu, Anglican Church in Japan (Iiyama City, Nagano Prefecture), a wooden church building with a bell tower built in the early Shōwa Period. (Japanese)
On July 22, the exhibition ‘Fear in Painting’ opened at the Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art (until September 18). The exhibition commemorated the 10th anniversary of the publication of the bestselling book, titled ‘Kowai e’ (published in 2007) by German literature scholar NAKANO Kyōko. Focusing on ‘fear’, the exhibition stimulated the curiosity of the audience and was well received for its deciphering of the subjects and contexts of Western painting, which cannot be solely accessed through contemporary sensitivities, and the various meanings encompassed in each work of art. The exhibition toured to the Ueno Royal Museum (Taitō Ward, Tokyo) (Oct 7 – December 17) (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 ‘Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region’, which had been nominated by the Japanese government, excluding Okinoshima Island and its surrounding reefs, on the World Heritage List. On July 9, the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, held in Krakow, Poland, overturned the advisory body’s recommendation and decided to inscribe all constituent assets on the World Heritage List as Cultural Heritage Sites. (Japanese)
The winners of the 12th 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 TSUKADA Miki, Curator of the Setagaya Art Museum (for the exhibition ‘Manuel Álvarez Bravo Photographs: Mexico, Light and Time in Silence’) and MOTOHASHI Yayoi, Curator of The National Art Center, Tokyo, (for the exhibition ‘Alfons Mucha’). The Cultural Promotion Prize for institutions was given to INAX Museums for its 10th anniversary special exhibition ‘Making GAUDI’. (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)
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)
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)
The winners of the 11th 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 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 Prize 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 Prize 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)
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 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 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)
MUNAKATA Shikō’s print ‘Uchū san (Kanagawa no saku)’, which Kanagawa Prefecture had purchased in 1974 as an original for the creation of stage curtain for the Kanagawa Kenmin Hall and loaned free of charge to the Kanagawa Arts and Cultural Foundation, was found to have been replaced with a color copy in April 2014. Kanagawa Prefecture made it public on April 17, 2017. (Japanese)
On April 16, at a seminar on regional development held at a hotel in Ōtsu City, Shiga Prefecture, YAMAMOTO Kōzō, Minister of State for Regional Revitalization, indicated that curators working at museums lack understanding of tourism promotion and voiced his opinions that the biggest cancer is cultural curators and that that needs to be eradicated. The statement was based on a misconception that the British Museum had dismissed all curators who opposed the museum’s major renovation. Criticisms poured in from people working in the field of cultural properties. On the following day, April 17, the minister apologized and announced that he would retract its statement. (Japanese)
