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A Study on the Conservation Condition of Gold Foil on Outdoor Stone Monuments
Get PDFThe grave of Sumiyoshi Omura, made of stone with gold foil decoration, has been located in a stone shelter since it was built in 1838. The gold foil at the upper part of the grave is well preserved (about 85%)but not at the lower part (only about 1%).In addition,
about 65% of the gold foil on the southern part of the grave remains, while about 4% remains on the northern part. The illuminance and intensity of ultraviolet rays were measured at 4 spots of the grave for one year. As a result it was found that both the
illuminance and intensity of ultraviolet rays were low where the gold foil is well preserved and high where the gold foil is lost. It is expected that appropriate environment in order to preserve gold foil well can be discussed based on these results.Specifically,the limit of integrated illuminance and integrated ultraviolet irradiance required for conservation of outdoor gold foil can be calibrated and pointed out.journal articl
Control of Pollutants in a Display Case
Get PDFOne problem in the museum environment is air pollutants in airtight display cases, some of which cause adverse effects on artifacts inside.Their gases,especially acetic acid gas, are mainly emitted from interior materials used in display cases. There are two systems for reducing the level of pollutants inside the enclosure.One is an active adsorption filter fan system and the other is a ventilation fan system that takes the clean air from the exhibition room.The present paper reports on the test using these systems to control acetic acid gas pollutants in a display case.
Several measurements were conducted to see air distribution, air exchange rate and acetic acid gas concentration in a display case. The display case used in the experiments was made for environment test. Performance of active adsorption air filter within enclosures and ventilation effect by the fan were also measured.
As a result it was found that acetic acid gas concentration in the display case decreased to 30% by using an adsorption filter fan system and it became of equal level to that in an exhibition room by using a ventilation system. Effects of control of pollutants
by each system were evaluated by using ventilation volume with clean air (i.e. equivalent ventilation volume). Changes of gas concentration in the display case were estimated through prediction formula using factors of equivalent ventilation amount and operating period of the fan. From the results it was estimated that good air environment in the display case was maintained by operating an adsorption filter fan system for about two hours a day.journal articl
Investigation of the Coloring Materials and the Techniques for Painting Buddha Images on the East Wall of Cave 285, Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang
Get PDFThe present study focuses on the coloring of three Buddha images in the three paintings on the east wall of cave 285, Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, China, that depict Buddha preaching,comparing their materials and techniques.The east wall faces the west
wall,which is most important as the main wall of cave 285;therefore the east wall also has an important position in the cave. Although the three Buddha images are all wearing the red kasaya (袈裟)robe,differences can be seen between the two images on either side of the cave gate and the one on the upper side of the cave gate in the selection of coloring materials and techniques. In that sense, some clues have been found to consider the possibility of dexterous distinction employed in the use of materials and techniques depennding on subjects and the possibility of production by different groups of painters.journal articl
Overview of Disaster Preparedness for Cultural Properties
Get PDFSince the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, disaster-damaged cultural properties preserved and people who are engaged in their preservation have become diversified.As a result, in recent years, local governments, museums, universities and volunteers have
constructed a framework of mutual cooperation in case of disaster.This framework is the foundation of disaster preparedness for cultural properties.journal articl
Project for Investigation of Damage Situation of Cultural Heritage in Nepal: Structural Survey of Historic Buildings 2015 Project for International Contribution to Cultural Heritage Protection
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Regarding the Ichiryû sôshô keizu (Illustrated School Lineage) of the Shinran School in Medieval Japan, Through a Survey of Works Preserved at Chôshôin, Kyoto and Kôshôji, Hiroshima
Get PDFThe Ichiryû sôshô keizu ( 一流相承系図, Illustrated School Lineage, hereinafter referred to as the Illustrated Lineage) was solely used by the Meikô sect of the medieval period Shinran School, headquartered in Kamakura, as they expanded their activities to Kyoto and western Japan. The Illustrated Lineage was intended to provide a visual representation of the teachings of Shinran (1173-1263), founder of the Jôdo Shinshû Pure Land Buddhist School, which had been inherited by Meikô and were in turn conveyed to his followers. It presents an array of seated portraits across the horizontal handscroll format, with red lines connecting the individual figures. Thus the document clearly presents the connections within the lineage.
When the Illustrated Lineage is used in a consideration of extant artworks, it is apparent that it was first used by the community at Bukkôji, developed by the Meikô sect and founded in Kyoto by Ryôgen (1285-1336). There are many instances where the Ichiryû sôshô keizu is known by the alternate name Ekeizu ( 絵系図, Portrait Lineage). However the Ekeizu title is a naming that appears in a criticism of the creation of the Illustrated Lineage by Kaku’nyo (1270-1351), the leader of the Honganji community that stood in opposition to the Bukkôji community. The section titled “Jodai” ( 序題, Preface), attached to the beginning of the Illustrated Lineage since its formation, uses the Ichiryû sôshô keizu title, and thus we should consider that the presenter and recipients of the scroll thought of it in those terms.
Today there are seven extant versions of the Illustrated Lineage that were used by the Meikô sect. Four of those works have a preface brushed by Zonkaku (1290-1373). Of those four, the version handed down at Bukkôji, Kyoto (hereinafter referred to as the Bukkôji version) which has a preface dated to 1326 (Kareki 1), can be seen as best conveying the appearance of the original. However, today the Bukkôji version is made up of eight sheets of paper. From the fourth sheet onwards the scroll consists of sections pasted from two other illustrated lineage types. Originally the section from the fourth sheet onwards (hereinafter referred to as the Chôshôin version) was separated and handed down at Chôshôin, located in front of Bukkôji. A closer examination of the Bukkôji version and the Chôshôin version detached from it reveals an admixture of laymen and women among the seated images of priests and nuns, and this is the only extant version with this feature. This admixture corresponds to one of Kaku’nyo’s criticisms of the Bukkôji community found his Kaijashô (Impeaching Misconception). However, it shows the original style of the Illustrated Lineage, so the Bukkôji version and its detached Chôshôin version can be seen as indicating the original appearance of the Illustrated Lineage.
In the current survey of the Chôshôin version, the author made a number of discoveries not mentioned in previous surveys or studies of the work. This article clarifies the production process of the Chôshôin version based on these new discoveries. In addition, the article goes on to mention the Illustrated Lineage version preserved at Kôshôji, Hiroshima (hereinafter referred to as the Kôshôji version) that was the subject of a similar survey. Through the examination of these two versions, the author confirmed that the portraits presented in seated form in the illustrated lineages employed the visages of then contemporary priests, nuns and laypeople (figures shown without the shaved pate of priests) and can thus suggest that the Illustrated Lineage should be understood as part of the nise-e(likeness portrait) category of medieval Japanese painting.
In both the Chôshôin version and the Kôshôji version of the Illustrated Lineage, the garments and composition of the figures are all drawn in the same stereotypical patterns. Thus the only individuality of the portraits can be found in the depiction of the faces. This characteristic is also seen in the retsu’ei zukan (handscrolls presenting seated portrait images of past emperors and ministers). I would like to emphasize here that it is only the faces in nise-e works that reflect the appearance of the actual subject. In fact, this feature of nise-e is not generally understood. This fact reminds us of the “Nyusai kanzatsu” (Nyusai’s observation) scene in the Shinran den e (Illustrated Biography of Shinran), which was planned and accompanied by text written by the abovementioned Kaku’nyo. Only Shinran’s face appears in that scene, his whole body is not depicted. This can be said to correctly convey how nise-e were produced.
In addition, if we also consider that the Illustrated Lineage is presented as a handscroll of seated portraits, then that handling can clearly be linked to the lineage of the above-mentioned retsu’ei zukan scrolls of seated portraits of past emperors and ministers.journal articl
Ōzatsuma-ke keizu and Kineya-ke keizu, edited by Kineya Kangorō III
Get PDFThe document commonly known as Ōzatsuma Kineya Keifu is the composite title for two related documents, Ōzatsuma Keizu(fu) and Kineya Keizu(fu) . Both were edited by KINEYA Kangorō III (Negishi no Kangorō, 1815-1877). His earlier name was KINEYA Rokuzaemon XI; his Ōzatsuma name was ŌZATSUMA Gendayū XII. The document is said to have been compiled in 1868.
Keizu (or keifu) normally indicates a genealogy, but this document is not merely a lineage showing the relations between the people named; there are additional accounts of the achievements of prominent people; these accounts are particularly long for those who were the head of the musico-social group at the time. As for the content, its dates are not always accurate, but it is considered an essential source for understanding the history of nagauta and jōruri, and for research of the relations between teacher and student. In spite of this reputation, its overall character cannot be said to have been accurately grasped.
The first point that needs to be remedied is that both of these genealogies have been studied exclusively from the 1914 printed edition. As the original manuscript of this edition was not of good quality, misprints occurred.
This paper first traces the previous research on these genealogies conducted by KUROKI Kanzō, MACHIDA Kashō, UEDA Ryūnosuke and TANABE Shirō. Next, I will compare the format and content of the seven extant versions of the text, that is, the six versions of the text that UEDA presented, to which I add the Tōhoku University Library book. Building on the usage of UEDA and TANABE, I divide the seven books into two groups, and call them as follows. The first group comprises three single-volume books: the National Diet Library book, the book that formerly belonged to KIKKAWA Eishi, and the Ongyoku sōsho book (reproduced in print). The second group comprises four two-volume books: the Tokyo University of Arts book, the Waseda University Theatre Museum book, the Tōhoku University book, and the Historiographical Institute of Tokyo University book. (Although both genealogies are separate independent documents, when counting the copies it is usual to count them as one item.)
The first group of books are copies of the text as revised in Meiji 3 (1870), and the second group are copies of the text as further revised in Meiji 5 (1972). None of these manuscripts are in the hand of the original compiler.
Since the first books have only gone through one revision, they must be closer to the original. Particularly the National Diet Library book was probably not added to by any other person, so it can be considered to be the closest to the original document. Incidentally, I consider that UEDA’ s conjecture that group one derive from the Uekidana lineage and that the second group were from the Negishi lineage is dubious.
By consulting the books from the first group, especially the National Diet Library book, in combination with one from the second group of books, we have an extremely useful source to understand the achievements of the 9th, 10th and 11th generations of KINEYA Rokuzaemon, who occupied such an important place in the history of nagauta in its middle period.
As an appendix, I have reproduced those parts of the text in which the editor has provided records of the activities of the 9th, 10th and 1th generation Kineya Rokuzaemon. (The editor himself was the 11th generation Rokuzaemon.)departmental bulletin pape
Research Note: The Cultural Properties Database of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo – The Aims, Elements and Realization of Publications Archives Focused Databases
Get PDFResearch results at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (NRICPT) are primarily disseminated as published reports. In the past, Internet dissemination of such information was limited to occasional PDF versions of publications and brief departmental “Monthly Reports.” Internally each NRICPT researcher, section or department had its own data management and preservation methods, and thus there was little connection between the data within the NRICPT.
Yet, clearly all individual research results share a cultural properties research factor, and this inability to uniformly disseminate these reports is undesirable. Many important research results remain unutilized either because they are not published on the Internet or their whereabouts are unknown. Thus the NRICPT Department of Research, Archives and Information Systems hopes to introduce an information management system to centrally manage the NRICPT’s data output, gathering all NRICPT research results in a single location, and then sharing those results within the NRICPT and with the public.
In addition to research result publications, the NRICPT houses a diverse and massive amount of materials, including photographs, analytical data and printed documents. These materials vary greatly in format, and given that they were mainly collected as part of specific research efforts, their pragmatic and effective organization in tandem with their relevant research results is desirable.
Cultural properties reports contain different data elements based on their cultural property type and research contents nature, and this means it is hard to create a unified data element list. Hence a flexible scheme is needed to centrally manage data with some unshared attributes. The creation of a highly expandable system with potential for longterm growth would facilitate our cultural properties archives requirements.
Our new archive database is composed of two components. One is the NRICPT internal database assembling the research results and data scattered throughout the NRICPT, the other is a data selection from the NRICPT internal database suitable for dissemination to the general public. This public database will be accessible through searches conducted either in the NRICPT library or on the NRICPT website. The separate back and front end sections of the NRICPT Archive Database carry out these two functions. The back end is used for the internal database, the front end, for the public database. This separation allows changes to either end independent of the other.
We began constructing the NRICPT internal database, namely the back end system of our archive database, in fiscal 2013, and work continues today. This project has been developed as a prototype for a core “publications archive.” Our ultimate aim is to construct a system that can manage and share the cultural properties information, research information and research results currently scattered throughout the NRICPT.
The “Tobunken Research Collections” page is the archive database’s front end system designed for general use. Users of this page can cross-search the external public database constructed primarily by the Archive Section. Revision of that system was begun in 2013 to resolve issues in the NRICPT’s existing OPAC, and the database was transferred to the new system in March 2014. The newly redesigned system provides a cross-search function, a modernized display, multilingual display options, and is useable across different types of computers, operating systems and platforms.
We met these requirements by constructing our search system on the basis of the WordPress content management system (CMS).
As noted above, the NRICPT Archive Database has separate back and front end functions which can be changed independently, thus resulting in a structure that is robust across evolving operating environments. Although scalability remains an issue, we hope to create an excellent and economical NRICPT Archive Database to centrally manage and disseminate the NRICPT’s research information.journal articl
Exhibition Reviews: The Curator’s Gaze: Creating History
Get PDFOf the exhibitions listed above, I begin my comments with a discussion of the 1940s exhibition, focus most of my thoughts on Japanese Painters under War, and then discuss the Life=Work and War and Peace exhibitions.
1940s – Rediscovery of 20th Century Japanese Art IV
As more and more materials become available, we can see the diversification and scattering of formal expression as we look back on the art of the 20th century. On the other hand, in the case of the 1940s, it is not hard to imagine the exhibition planning difficulties, whether exhibition organization or work selection, that arise when confronting the period, a time indelibly marked with the effects of World War II. As I viewed the chosen display spaces, I realized that there must have been many times when I thought, if this artist is to be shown then are they best represented by this work or would that one have been better? Grateful for all of his help in the face of my thankless requests, when I asked museum director Mori Ichirô about this issue he has personally faced, he agreed, given that there were several times when adjustments had to be made given that the Japanese Painters under War exhibition was being held concurrently, and there were cases where works could simply not be borrowed because of exhibitions on the same types of subjects being held throughout Japan up through this autumn.
Japanese Painters under World War II: How did they Survive War?
The impression I had after walking once through the galleries was that the curators strongly emphasized their intentions through the ordering of the 14 displayed painters by their placing one in front of another, as they considered the selection of artworks and their display composition. For example, placing Matsumoto Shunsuke between Yokoyama Taikan and Foujita Tsuguharu, or choosing to display Oka Shikanosuke in the same room as Miyamoto Saburô. If you stand in the display area for Matsumoto Shunsuke, Standing Self-Portrait is right before your eyes, and you can see the large war paintings of Foujita in the adjoining room. When you turn and look the other way, there is Taikan’s Mt. Fuji. Was it the curator’s intention to show the Standing Self-Portrait as the artist, or human form, “living through the war years?” This painting was also used on the catalogue cover and advertising materials such as posters for the show. Possibly because of this frequent use, or because of how it was displayed, the image of this work came to be set off from its actual form and appears somehow heroic. At that time Matsumoto was an unknown artist, and that figure of a 30-year-old painter was nothing more than that of the young artist in town. The image of him included in that work maintains a subtle distance from of that unusual time of oppression, criticism, accommodation and propaganda, while at the same time being an unadorned, somewhat narcissistic image. And yet, he must have hesitated about putting that “unadorned form” on a number 100-sized canvas during the late war years, and instead the state of affairs on the home front was important in his ability to paint his weighty, tension filled A Bridge in Y-City that was shown with great difficulty.
Hiroshima Trilogy: 70th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombing
Part 1 Life=Work
The 70th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki: War and Peace
I saw these two exhibitions in mid September near the end of their display periods. Both of these exhibitions refer to the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings, not the 70th anniversary of the ending of the war, and were exhibitions planned from the bombed city of Hiroshima, and thus both conveyed a quiet yet potent message.
The Life=Work exhibition is the first part of a series titled Trilogy. The Life=Work exhibition catalogue includes a massage from Fukunaga Osamu that states, “This is an exhibition considering Hiroshima from three perspectives, its past, wounded by the atomic blast, and then looking for traces of recovery in considering ‘now’ and indeed ‘from now on’.” The exhibition is made up of “works by 13 artists whose works deeply reflect their own experiences, life and humanity.” The exhibition opens with A-Bomb Drawings by Survivors (Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum), recounting the experiences of A-bomb survivors. Along with these visual images of their own personal experiences and memories, reading the texts written on the drawings, one is impressed with the importance of these works, regardless of their skill level. This exhibition goes beyond the “paintings of the atomic blast” stated at the beginning of this commentary and includes not only paintings, and gives a sense of the true spirit and prayers of each artist, whether expressed through photographs, manga, installations, or simply living and producing artworks.
Finally I will touch a bit on the War and Peace exhibition. The content of Life=Work exhibition leans strongly towards the present and the future, while this exhibition jointly organized with the Nagasaki Prefectural Museum of Art focused on the major theme of considering war and peace through art. The first section Prelude to Total War began with the Napoleonic Wars of the 19th century, continued to Section II The Total War and Premonitions, and Section III The World’s Greatest War and Representations of Catastrophe, in its consideration of theperiods of World Wars I and II. Section IV 70 Years Later: The Shape of Memory in Hiroshima and Nagasaki records the expressions and memories of people up until today in the two bombed cities. A massive theme, there is both the sense that the flow of time up to the bombing was contracted, and the depressing thought that it was the period known as the modern that brought about this catastrophe.journal articl