Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties - Publications
Not a member yet
4079 research outputs found
Sort by
Materials for Art Research: Thoughts on Hashimoto Gahô's Four Saints: Inoue Enryô's Philosophy and its Pictorialization
Get PDFThis article introduces Four Saints by Hashimoto Gahô (1835-1908). This work was formerly in the collection of the renowned Meiji period philosopher and educator Inoue Enryô (1858-1919), and was painted at his behest. This painting was exhibited in the first Hashimoto Gahô exhibition held at the Seikikai in 1899, and is today in the Toyo University Inoue Enryo Research Center collection.
This work presents the familiar Asian saintly figures of Sakyamuni and Confucius, alongside the Western philosophers Socrates and Kant. These wise men who vary in terms of period, region and beliefs are shown in a group portrait format, all standing facing the viewer. This unique work was created on the basis of the individualistic beliefs of Enryô, its commissioner. Enryô was the founder of the Shiritsu Tetsugakukan, predecessor to the present-day Toyo University, and based his own personal philosophical beliefs and educational methods on these “Four Saints.” Enryô organized philosophy festivals celebrating these Four Saints, and this painting was hung as the central worship object during these festivals. Prior to the creation of this work, Enryô had also had the Western style painter Watanabe Bunzaburô (1853-1936) paint an image of the Four Saints in 1885, and clearly he had a strong desire to see this concept pictorialized.
Section 1 of this paper provides an overview of the work. Documentary sources suggest three dates for the production of this work, namely 1890, 1893 or 1895. Judging from the gentle expression of the figures, the author agrees with the 1895 date theory. A comparison of this work with its preparatory drawings indicates that there are some differences in the garment handling between the preparatory drawings and the painting.
Section 2 examines the iconography of the wise men depicted in the work, confirming both their image sources and expressive characteristics. The images of Sakyamuni and Confucius were based on traditional iconography, with influence from the study work methodologies of the Kanô school. Enryô may have provided image sources for the pictures of Socrates and Kant, and the author indicates the existence of imagery thought to have been used as reference materials for this painting. Prior to this work there had been examples of the pictorialization of the concept of “unification of the three teachings” in Asian painting. This section considered how this painting fit into that framework and noted the differences between it and those earlier works.
Section 3 noted Enryô’s thoughts and philosophical views that formed the background for the production of this work. In particular, how were the four saints chosen, and how was the worship system of the four saints organized. The section further discuses the role and positioning of this work within that process.
Section 4 discusses the Watanabe Bunzaburô Four Saints that predated this work, notes the differences between Watanabe’s painting and this work and considers why Enryô commissioned another work of this subject from Gahô. Finally, the article concludes by focusing on the Nihonga painters in Gahô’s circle, considers the issue of images of saints during the Meiji period, the positioning of this work within that context and its nature.journal articl
Investigation Report on Techniques for Preserving Cultural Properties with Focus on Musical Instruments 1
Get PDFThere are many traditional performing arts in Japan that are accompanied by musical instruments. For the transmission and promotion of traditional performing arts, techniques for making these instruments and repairing them, techniques for the manufacture and repair of the tools necessary for making the instruments, and producing necessary materials are indispensable. The Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage has continued investigation on these techniques. The present report provides an outline of 20 cases of investigation conducted between February and December 2017.
According to the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties in Japan, there is a system to select preservation techniques and for registering persons or groups of persons holding such techniques. For this report investigation was conducted of holders of such techniques, whether they are registered or not, limiting the contents of investigation to the following 7 items so as to avoid imbalance of information, categorized them according to musical instruments and provided information for each holder.
(1) name of the person holding the technique
(2) year of birth
(3) address
(4) date of investigation
(5) investigator
(6) outline of the person holding the technique
(7) opinion of the investigator
Additional investigation is being conducted to supplement information where it is considered necessary. Results will be announced separately.
This report contains subjects that were investigated upon request from the Traditional Culture Division of the Cultural Properties Department, Agency for Cultural Affairs. With these, information is shared with the Agency upon acquiring acknowledgment from the persons investigated.departmental bulletin pape
Regarding the Standing Manjusri of Chûgûji – Buddhist Precepts and the Kasuga Faith
Get PDFThe Standing Manjusri of Chûgûji, Nara (on deposit at Tokyo National Museum) is a rare example of a sculpture made out of paper. The sutra texts and volumes that were originally the sculpture’s basic structure were removed during Shôwa period restoration work and today are preserved separately. Based on the inscriptions in those texts, this sculpture was commissioned by Shinnyo (1211- ?) and made at Chûgûji in 1269. This paper is a reexamination of those items removed from the sculpture and in reference to the state of affairs at Chûgûji at the time and the life and actions of Shinnyo, considers the sculpture’s doctrinal background. The article further notes that this sculpture is of the standing
Manjusri with five topknots iconography, not described in Buddhist ritual guidelines, and considers similar examples dating from the Kamakura period.
First, the article considers a sutra scroll fragment with an ink inscription stating “Chûgûji hongyô nari” 中宮寺本経也 among the materials enclosed in this sculpture. The term hongyô, literally main sutra, is thought to mean that the contents of this fragment were the basis for the doctrine and religious beliefs of Chûgûji at the time. This fragment has been previously introduced as part of the Daihannyakyô (Prajmaparamita sutra, 大般若経), but this article compares its text with other sutras and clarifies that it is actually a section of the Bonmôkyô (Brahmajala sutra, 梵網経). A further comparison between this fragment and a copy of the Bonmôkyô in the Daitôkyû Memorial Library indicates that it is highly likely that both the fragment and the Daitôkyû Memorial Library version were printed from the same woodblocks. Further, both are known to have been based on the Bonmôkyô connected to Shôtoku Taishi. Thus this fragment can be considered an extremely important printed scroll fragment for Chûgûji, a temple traditionally said to have been founded by Shôtoku Taishi.
Examination of the sculpture’s iconography focuses on the standing Manjusri with five topknots form. Earlier research identified this iconography form as the Honji-butsu form of a Shinto deity as used in the old capital Nara. While
it is hard to believe that there was absolutely no iconographic influence on this sculpture made in Nara, we can discern this sculpture’s iconographic characteristics. In this process I examined the Shinto beliefs of the sculpture’s commissioner Shinnyo, and confirmed that he believed in the Kasuga deity as the protector of the Buddhist precepts and of the Five Kasuga Shrines. It seems that Shinnyo was particularly a follower of Wakamiya, and thus offer the interpretation that this sculpture was made as a Honji-butsu Buddhist equivalent image of Kasuga Wakamiya.
Regarding the Manjusri faith in the Kamakura period Nara revival of the Buddhist precepts, there has been a considerable amount of earlier research done on the Saidaiji school Buddhist precepts with their wealth of extant historical documents and related sculptural and pictorial works. However, conversely, we must also note the important presence of Tôshôdaiji. Tôshôdaiji flourished in the Nara period as the central location for the Buddhist precepts as transmitted by Ganjin (688-763). Then after a period of interruption in the Heian period, the priests of Kôfukuji planned a revival of these precepts. Because Kôfukuji and Kasuga Taisha were seen as equivalents at the time, the Tôshôdaiji Buddhist precepts also incorporated elements of the Kasuga faith. And naturally there was a close interchange of personnel and doctrine between the Saidaiji school and Tôshôdaiji. And yet, while the two temple groups were mutually connected from that period onwards, they were religious groups moving in different directions. When we consider that fact, we can see that this sculpture is an important example of Tôshôdaiji school Buddhist precepts that closely incorporated elements of the Kasuga faith.journal articl
Research Note: Changes in Korean Paintings: A Process of Complications and Searching
Get PDFContemporary Korean painting is an art form that continues on from traditional painting in Korea. Its contents, style and name have gone through a long period of complexities and discoveries. Traditional Joseon period painting was included in the East Asian Art section of the Korean Fine Art Exhibitions organized as government sponsored exhibitions during Japan’s period of colonization of Korea. It was further transformed by absorbing elements of Western painting methods and Nihonga style. After independence, there was a drive to build a national arts form. Korean painting was re-examined as part of that process of self-identity. Practitioners of ink painting sought Joseon period literati painting as their model, while painting with colors was considered to be heavily influenced by Japan and thus was shunned by the Korean domestic art world of the day. From the latter half of the 1950s onwards, the Informal style that had swept through the art world extended into the realm of ink painting. By the 1960s, young painters who had graduated from Seoul National University began to fully develop a form of abstract painting in ink. While the 1970s saw the wholesale burgeoning of Dansaekhwa, or monochrome painting, there was also a traditional painting boom, which led to a heightened interest in Korean painting, particularly ink painting. Conversely, some artists shunned traditional materials such as paper, brushes and ink and instead turned to previously unused materials, as they sought new forms of abstract expression that boldly extended into the realm of contemporary art. The 1980s marked a major turning point in Korean painting. First, regardless of the fact that it had been heralded since the 1950s and had not been the subject of many critical opinions, the term Korean painting ( 韓国画) came to be publicly used in exhibitions and art textbooks. A search for new directions in ink painting emerged primarily amongst Hongik University graduates, while Park Saeng-Kwang with his nationalist themes emerged and finally revived the coloristic painting that had long been seen as too closely tied to Japan. The influence of postmodernism took hold fully from the 1990s onwards, with diversification of content and forms, and artists challenging themselves not only in painting but also through installations and mixed media works. Through these efforts they tested the connections between traditional styles and contemporary topics, further broadening the expression of Korean painting.
Korean painting has undergone various tremors, from shedding Japanese influence to the establishment of nationalistic art, and the competing forms of East Asian painting and Korean painting, traditional and contemporary, abstract and representational, and ink painting vs. painting with colors. Through all this, Korean artists continually sought an answer to the question, what is Korean painting? The answers to this half-century long debate about Korean painting must be found in the future by discerning new ways of breaking free, of reciprocity and positioning itself uniquely within East Asian art.journal articl
Materials for Art Research: Deciphering Kuroda Seiki’s Letters
Get PDFThis article on Kuroda Seiki-related letters in the Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural Properties collection focuses primarily on letters, postcards, telegrams and memos addressed to Kuroda. The article deciphers a total of 256 of these materials. The article also includes one letter sent by Seiki's brother-in-law Hashiguchi Bunzô, and 12 items sent by his close friend Sugi Takejirô, which were written in French and hence not deciphered. The majority of the deciphered texts were written in kuzushiji (running character script), which meant that we first produced typescript versions of the materials.
These materials were deciphered using visual image data and the photographs produced from that data. The items were grouped by the families from which they were sent, namely, the Kuroda family, the Kabayama family, the former clan lord Shimazu family, the Sugi family (Sugi Takejirô), the Hashiguchi family and the steward Shinozuka family. Each of the items was given a material number to aid in the photography process, which are noted in this article as material numbers. The material numbers and family groupings were not chronological in order, and since this would prove inconvenient for understanding their contents and use of their data, the materials were regrouped without family distinctions, and reorganized in overall chronological order. These catalogue numbers were then used to create a comprehensive catalogue. The catalogue includes the basic data on each item, along with the major contents of the item detailed in the notes column. Given that Kuroda Seiki was a painter, those letters related to art were extracted and a catalogue made of that grouping.
Regarding the senders of the letters, a chart of data organized by sender was created, along with each family's data distribution chart and a brief genealogy of each family, with the exception of the Shinozuka family, in order to clarify their relationships with Seiki.
A list was also made of the individual data on the recipients of the letters (albeit the majority were addressed to Seiki).
The next issue of Bijutsu Kenkyu will introduce photographic facsimiles of letters amongst these materials that were sent by Hashiguchi Naouemon, who studied in France at the same time as Seiki, his uncle Kuroda Kiyotsuna who conveyed his understanding of Seiki's final decision to become a painter, and his close friend Sugi Takejirô who expressed his understanding of the Hakubakai and his anticipation about the new art movement.journal articl
Early Modern Period Buddist Paintings and Buddhist Propaganda in Korea
Get PDFThe “early modern period in Korea” refers to the 100-year period spanning the last decades of the Joseon dynasty and the 35-year-long colonial period, when the country first came into full contact with Western civilization. Buddhist paintings produced during this relatively short period account for about 70% of the Buddhist paintings extant in Korea, and differ from earlier works in terms of the images portrayed and the expressive techniques employed.
It is interesting to note that the Buddhist paintings produced during this period display the themes and customs prevalent at that time and aspects of the civilizations introduced to the country during that same period, as well as embodying newly adopted forms of Buddhist images.
As for the expressive techniques used, many of the Buddhist paintings produced in the period indicate attempts at diversity, including the adoption of Western styles. It is thought that such works had some influence on Buddhist propagation among the general populace, largely by using visual virtuosity to attract attention.journal articl
