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Materials for Art Research: Album of Nihonga, in the Charles Stewart Smith Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Get PDFThis article focuses on an album of Meiji-era Nihonga held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Although now separated into individual painting leaves, the album originally consisted of 96 Nihonga by seven known and little-known artists. This unique album assemblage was one of the thousands of Japanese artworks purchased by the American industrialist Charles Stewart Smith (1832-1909) from the Irish journalist and collector Francis Brinkley (1841-1912) when Smith was in Japan from 1892-1893. The album contained thirty-seven leaves by Kawanabe Kyôsai (1831-1889), twenty-one by Watanabe Seitei (1851- 1918), twelve by Kawabata Gyokushô (1842-1913), six by Hashimoto Gahô (1835-1908), sixteen by Seki Shûkô (1858-1915), three by Okada Baison (1864 -1913), and one by Ôide Tôkô (1841-1905). In terms of the production date of each image, inscriptions on the works indicate that the earliest was painted in 1887, and the latest work in 1892.
Among the eighteen works by Kawanabe Kyôsai, there are images that have the same compositions as those found in the Preparatory Drawings of the album for the Englishmen (ca. 1887, Kawanabe Kyôsai Memorial Museum, Tokyo). From the notation “hyakumai gachô no uchi” on those preparatory drawings (found in the 100-leaf picture album), the array of production dates and the fact that the number of works by Kyôsai exceeds those of others in the album – occupying more than a third of the whole album – we can conclude that Brinkley had divided responsibility for the album leaf production among artists other than Kyôsai, and had prepared and sold this album to the Smiths prior to their return to America. Of the artists, today’s high regard for Hashimoto Gahô within the history of Japanese modern art, which began during his lifetime, remains intact, while Watanabe Seitei is relatively unknown by the general public. Today, there is an ongoing re-evaluation of Kawabata Gyokushô’s activities at the time and his works. In general, the three remaining artists, Seki Shûkô, Okada Baison, and Ôide Tôkô, are also little known today. But, at the time, these three artists had received honors at the various exhibitions that marked a painter’s official debut in the art circles of their day, while also displaying works at various world fairs, and participating in exhibitions and mutual critiquing sessions organized by Okakura Tenshin. Thus each artists was recognized, to some degree, at the time. Their lack of further achievements meant that they were gradually forgotten during the intervening decades.
In terms of the background that led to the production of this album, we can consider the intermingling of the art exhibitions of the day, art education systems, the export of fine and decorative arts from Japan, such as ceramics, the art market in North America and its reception of Nihonga, and the presence of the painters, dealers and educators who were responsible for these various elements. Through the confirmation of the production process of this album and the related works and artistic activities by the involved modern Nihonga painters, and a reevaluation of all of these factors, we can shed light on these painters who have slipped between the cracks in the formation of the history of modern Japanese art, and reveal one aspect of how modern Japanese art collections were formed and received in North America at the time.journal articl
Tenth-century Japanese Painters –Various Aspects of Wayô-ka (Shift to Japanese Aesthetics) as Seen from East Asian Painting History
Get PDFMi Fu (1051-1107), active at the end of China’s Northern Song dynasty, wrote about Japanese full-color landscape paintings in his Hua Shi. He stated that in the latter half of the 10th century, specifically in the Southern Tang dynasty (937-976, also known as Jiangnan), these works were being compared to those of Li Sixun (651-716) of the Early Tang. Which specific phenomenon in mid-Heian period Japanese painting history is this comment referring to? This article explores the stylistic development of Japanese painting in the 10th century, a time when Japanese full-color landscapes were being brought to the Southern Tang, and provides an overview of the issue primarily through the use of historical documents related to the painters of that period.
From the latter half of the 9th through the 10th centuries, Japanese paintings gradually distanced themselves from the Tang, developing their own distinctive style in this historically important period of Japanese painting in a phenomenon that has traditionally been termed wayô-ka, or the shift to Japanese style. And yet, today with the exception of the murals on the first floor of the Five-Storied Pagoda at Daigoji that date to 951 (Tenryaku 5), there are no other known works that clearly date to this period.
Conversely, the Kokon chomonjû of the 13th century Kamakura period states that prior to Kose no Kintada, active around the middle of the 10th century, the paintings created “looked like living things,” and that after his younger brother Kinmochi, the style changed to that then current. This suggests that a major change occurred in painting style during that period based on the comments in Hua Shi. Unfortunately there are no works extant today that convey the aspects of this change. Thus it is necessary to use painting examples from around the 10th century and historical documents of the period to elucidate these aspects. This article uses historical documents focused on these painters to examine this issue.
In other words, following the shift in the valuation of painters, we can experiment with reconstructing the stylistic shifts that occurred during this period. In this shift it appears that at one point the viewpoint that saw Japanese paintings as uniquely Japanese was abandoned in the evaluation of these painters. In China at the time, they established all manner of critiques in painting histories and painting theories centered on paintings and painters. How the painters and paintings seen in these books were evaluated can be surmised to have heavily influenced the evaluation of painters and paintings in Japan. For example, the comment in the Kokon chomonjû stating that the depicted works look like living things, undoubtedly reflects on the evaluation of Wu Daozi stated in the Late Tang Tangchao minghua lu or the Lidai minghuaj ji. Then I would like to use extant works to give a detailed image of the 10th century Japanese color landscape works compared to the early 8th century works of Li Sixun as discussed in the Hua Shi. The paintings I discuss are the Wintry Groves and Layered Banks (Kurokawa Institute of Ancient Cultures), by Dong Yuan, who studied the Li Sixun style of full color landscape painting, and two Japanese paintings, namely the 13th century Landscape Screens at Jingoji and the 12th century Tale of Genji Handscrolls at the Tokugawa Art Museum. Then with the artist name Li Sixun as keyword; working back from these examples, we can clarify the stylistic relationship between the landscape paintings of the two countries during that period. Further, this type of painting phenomenon shares the attitude of shedding the style of Wu Daozi, who led Chinese painting styles from the High Tang, as indicated by works and historical documents remaining from both China and Japan at the time.
In other words, this article indicates first that the change in evaluation of painters in Japan corresponded to the changes in painter evaluation in China at the time. Then regarding the details of the stylistic shift of the 10th century, we can clearly surmise its details from the extant works from that brief period. Second, the state of movement between Japan and China of works born from those stylistic changes, can be seen through the movements of Japanese priests visiting Song China, and the reception of works by the Fujiwara family regents and their circle. Further, I would like to indicate that the painting views of the people related to the Fujiwara family who evaluated the painters of the day were related to the painting evaluation methods of the Five Dynasties through Northern Song dynasty. The “shift to Japanese style” premise that it was only objects that were brought to Japan is false, rather, both the images of painters and their evaluation standards were also brought to Japan at the same time.
Through the investigations in this article I would like to reposition the painting style change known as “a shift to Japanese style” that occurred in the 10th century in Japan to a position amidst the broader flow of East Asian painting history.journal articl
Materials for Art Research: Okada Saburôsuke’s Letters to Kuroda Seiki
Get PDFThe Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties retains 13 letters from Okada Saburôsuke addressed to Kuroda Seiki. While this indicates the depth of their connection, the total number is extremely small, compared to the number of letters from other artists close to Kuroda.
Examination of these letters reveals script by several different hands, so clearly several different people acted as transcribers for Okada’s letters. The main reason that Okada asked others to write his letters for him was that he himself believed his handwriting was poor and thus did not want to write. However, there was an even greater, and more suitable, reason than just not wanting to write for the transcription by others of the eight letters written while he was in Kyoto and Nara.
In 1896 (Meiji 29), Okada set out for Nara to study ancient art, prior to traveling to France as a Ministry of Education overseas student, upon the recommendation of Okakura Kakuzô, then president of the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkô. During his stay in Kansai Okada was gravely ill first with a cold and then typhoid, and was forced to recuperate in Kyoto. In other words, more so than bad handwriting, during his illness and recuperation he was not able to actually sit up at his desk and take up a writing brush. He was helped during that period by Ishida Masutoshi, Nakamura Katsujirô and his older sister, Nakano Suga. They wrote his letters for him during that time.
Given that these letters cannot be considered to have been penned by the author himself, in the case of Okada Saburôsuke, not only were the number of letters extremely few, they also have the special characteristic of being written by others. And yet for those reasons, when we consider Okada Saburôsuke’s letters, determining which of the contents were actually his thoughts and which those of his amanuenses provides an opportunity to consider the human network around Okada at the time the letters were written.journal articl
Material for Art Research, Letters from Foreign Students Studying in Japan to Kuroda Seiki: Reproductions, Transcriptions, Interpretations
Get PDFin the Western Painting Division of Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko
addressed to Kuroda Seiki that are now in the collection
of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties,
Tokyo. These include letters from Huang Fuzhou, the first
Chinese student to study at the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko; Li
An (Shutong), the second Chinese student at the school,
and two other Chinese students who enrolled later, namely
Wang Jichuan (Yangyang) and Yan Zhikan. There is one
letter from Ko Eui-dong, the second Korean to enroll at
Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko. And there are two letters from Wang
Jichuan. This makes the total of six letters.
We can gain a basic grasp of the foreign students who
attended Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko through the self-portrait
graduation works today in the University Art Museum,
Tokyo University of the Arts, along with albums of
graduation photographs and other materials that are in the
University Library of Tokyo University of the Arts. See in
this regard, Yoshida Chizuko, Kindai Tôajia bijutsu ryûgakusei
no kenkyû – Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkô gaikokujin ryûgakusei
shiryô [Research on Modern East Asian Overseas Students –
Historical Materials Related to Foreign Students at the Tokyo
Bijutsu Gakko], Yumani Shobo, 2009. However there is
very little material about overseas students in general, with
nothing more than the occasional writing left by individual
students, or articles in newspapers or magazines. This dearth
of documentary evidence leaves us with few clues about
their motives for study in Japan or what their lives were like
during their time in Japan. Thus these six letters can be seen
as extremely important material that provides both critical
new information about the students and an understanding
of their own thoughts in their own words. For example, Li
Shutong and Ko Eui-dong were both leaders in the modern
Western style painting of their respective home countries of
China and Korea, and this makes their letters to their revered
teacher Kuroda Seiki of great interest to researchers.
In addition to these letters, the materials related to
Kuroda Seiki also include a letter from his acquaintance
Shigeno Shôichirô introducing the Chinese student Pan
Zijie who wanted to study at the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko. The
name Pan Zijie is thought to refer to the overseas student
Pan Shouheng, and thus we have also published this letter
from Shigeno in this article.
The following is a notation of the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko
enrollment periods for the above-named students and the
dates of their respective letters.
Letter 1. Huang Fuzhou: Entered school in 1905 (Meiji
38) and left before graduating in 1907 (Meiji 40). The
letter is dated December 1904 (Meiji 37), and thus dates
immediately before he entered the Hakubakai to prepare for
entrance to the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko.
Letters 2 and 3. Wang Jichuan (Yangyang): Entered school
in 1909 (Meiji 42), and graduated in 1915 (Taishô 4). The
two letters are dated to September 1909 (Meiji 41) when he
was preparing under Kuroda’s guidance to enter the Tokyo
Bijutsu Gakko, and to the following September 1910 (Meiji
42) when he was sending in paperwork related to his school
entrance.
Letter 4. Li An (Shutong): Entered in 1906 (Meiji 39) and
graduated in 1912 (Meiji 44). The letter is dated to June
1912 (Meiji 44), after he had graduated and returned to his
homeland, and then came back to Japan to buy teaching
materials for the Zhili Technical High School where he was
working.
Letter 5. Yan Zhikai: Entered in 1912 (Taishô 1) and
graduated in 1917 (Taishô 6), and then stayed on as a
graduate student at the school and traveled to the United
States in 1918 (Taishô 7). The letter is dated to 1918 (Taishô
7) and was a greeting letter sent while he was in the United
States.
Letter 6. Ko Eui-dong: Entered in 1909 (Meiji 42) and
graduated in 1915 (Taishô 4). The letter was written at the
Japanese home of the Korean Earl Ko Eui-kyong when Euidong
visited Japan eight years after his graduation.
Letter 7. Overseas student-related materials. Letter from
Shigeno Shôichirô. Written in November 1909 (Meiji 42),
introducing the prospective student Pan Shouheng, who
went on to enter the school in 1910 (Meiji 43) and graduate
in 1915 (Taishô 4).journal articl
A Study of Material Culture Exchanges of the Early Joseon Court Based on Korean Objects in the Môri Museum: With a Focus on the Ôuchi Clan and the Môri Clan
Get PDFThe Môri Museum of Art in Hôfu city, Yamaguchi Prefecture, is renowned in Japan for its collection of objects used and collected by the daimyô clan lords of the Môri clan. The majority of the objects in the Môri Museum were handed down from generation to generation as the family heirlooms of the Môri clan. This museum collection includes quite a few so-called karamono items, including Korean works such as paintings, tea bowls, lacquerware, seals, and a letter from the Joseon king.
This article investigates how the Môri Museum acquired these Korean objects. An examination of the existing fragmentary records and provenances of several Korean objects allowed the author to trace two possible theories on how these Korean objects entered the Môri Museum collection. One theory is based on the extant documentary evidence regarding the anonymous Flower and Bird Painting, which indicates that Môri Terumoto (1553-1625) obtained some Korean objects during Japan’s invasion of Korea in 1592. The other theory is based on the documents accompanying the Lacquered Case with Peony Scrolls Design in Mother-of-Pearl Inlay. The Ôuchi clan originally owned the group of Korean objects which includes this case, but these works were then inherited by Môri Motonari (1497-1571) after the Ôuchi clan unexpectedly collapsed in 1557.
The Ôuchi clan and the Joseon court had a close relationship during this period because the Ôuchi clan claimed ancestral descent from the Baekje Dynasty’s royal family. The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty records also indicate that the Ôuchi clan received preferential treatment and some official trade privileges. The frequent trade that resulted from this relationship meant that a great amount of material culture was exchanged between the Joseon court and the Ôuchi clan. However, only a few of the artifacts from this frequent Joseon - Ôuchi trade remain extant. This paper also seeks extant evidence demonstrating this active exchange between the Joseon court and the Ôuchi clan by attempting to trace the provenance of some of the Buddhist sculptures, bells, sutra scrolls, and paintings that have been handed down in temples that were supported by the Ôuchi clan.journal articl
Records and Materials in the Notes Made by the Artist Nakamura Hiroshi: Focusing on the Sightseeing Art Research Institute and the Tokyo Art Pillar Exhibition
Get PDFA mini-symposium titled “Aspects of Art Archives” was held on February 25, 2014 in the Seminar Room of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (NRICPT). In exhibitions examining post-World War II Japanese art held in Japan, there is often a display of archival materials, such as sketchbooks, letters, record photographs and video footage to assist with an understanding of the intentions of the artists in their creative process. Particularly in the case of artists and groups whose art form is performance or other actions, it would not be excessive to state that such archives are the only means by which we can verify the intentions of that expression. In recent years there has been a growing interest in postwar Japanese art in North America, and quite frequently overseas museums have begun to assemble archives of material on those artists deemed important in this period. The mini-symposium’s intention was both to look back on how Japan’s cultural properties research institutes, art museums and archival organizations handle archives of postwar Japanese art, and to also consider our desires regarding how such art archives should develop in the future.
Thus the theme of this mini-symposium was set as art archives in terms of contemporary art. The first section included individual presentations by the art historian Kajiya Kenji (then Associate Professor, Hiroshima City University, now Associate Professor, Kyoto City University of Arts), the archivist Uesaki Sen (Researcher, Keio University Art Center) and librarian Kikkawa Hideki (Associate Fellow, NRICPT). In their lectures they introduced the contemporary art archives in both America and Japan as seen from their various vantage points, and also gave keynote address-type elements such as the composition and methodologies of art archives. The second section consisted of a discussion among the speakers and symposium participants, based on those lectures and considering both the current state of art archives and our hopes for them in the future.
The lecture by Kajiya, an art historian specializing in American art history, was titled, “Art History in Art Archives.” Kajiya touched on the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum Archives of MOMA, New York, and the Special Collections of the Getty Research Institute, as he considered the function of archive materials in the study of contemporary American art. In addition, he also touched on the activities of the Oral History Archives of Japanese Art for which he is the director, noting what is desirable in the art archives essential for the study of postwar Japanese art, from the dual viewpoints of archive operator and user.
Uesaki’s talk was titled, “Archives and the Avant-Garde: Ephemerality of Expression and the Totality of Archive Materials,” and used the Sogetsu Art Center’s ephemera database as a model approach for avant-garde art archives. In this lecture he indicated that the archives of the group of materials known as ephemera do not contain the artworks themselves, but rather are the archives of all the miscellaneous materials closely related to the artworks. He further considered the process by which databases related to avant-garde art are planned and constructed, the meaning of organizing the different types of materials, the aims for archiving, and the philosophies inherent in archives themselves.
Kikkawa’s lecture was titled, “Records and Materials in the Notes Made by the Artist Nakamura Hiroshi: Focusing on the Sightseeing Art Research Institute and the Tokyo Art Pillar Exhibition.” The lecture introduced Nakamura’s production notebooks in the NRICPT collection. In these notebooks Nakamura recorded theactivities of the Avant-Garde Art Society of the latter half of the 1960s. These notebooks include materials regarding the operations of the Avant-Garde Art Society, such as meeting minutes, submission rules for exhibitions, photographs of display scenes and other materials. Kikkawa focused on the materials related to the Sightseeing Art Research Institute and the Tokyo Art Pillar exhibition, noting the meaning of such materials as research sources.
This Research Note is a summary of the individual papers from Session 1 of the symposium, as summarized by the speakers themselves. In addition, it reproduces the discussion held between the speakers and the symposium participants in Session 2 of the symposium.journal articl
Fugen Bosatsu (Skt: Samantabhadra, National Treasure, Tokyo National Museum): An Art Historical Analysis of Its Painting Methods and the “Shôgon” Concept in Heian Period Buddhist Paintings
Get PDFAs one element of the joint research on Heian period Buddhist paintings being conducted by the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (NRICPT) and the Tokyo National Museum (TNM), a team including photographer Shirono Seiji has been producing highresolution digital images of the works using, in particular, different lighting angles. In section I of this article the author, one member of that study team, indicates points that can be connected to art historical issues about the National Treasure-designated Fugen Bosatsu (Tokyo National Museum), and then in section II, re-considers the differences between the concepts of sôshoku and shôgon in Heian period Buddhist paintings.
Section I
1) Figure background. There is a use of graded shades of several of the colors on the depicted flowers and leaves, particularly the outline areas, and this gradation is related to giving a gentle impression. The photographs indicated the unexpected use of a coating of ultramarine blue pigment in the ground areas.
2) Shading. The red shading used on the bodhisattva’s skin is extremely intricately wrought, so that it almost disappears as it reaches the boundary areas. This set of photographs revealed no sense of vermilion particles in the red areas. The reversed shading used in the mo (skirt) was the opposite of expectations, created not by a layering of white on top of a red ground, but rather a layering of red/white/red. The composition of the color changes, including these features, can be seen as essentially the same as those found on the Kokuzo Bosatsu (Skt: Ākāśagrbha, National Treasure, TNM) and the Senjû Kannon (Skt: Sahasrabhuja, National Treasure, TNM), though points of difference exist.
3) Lines on the body. The lines used on the bodhisattva are not simply pale ink lines, but rather a softened effect was produced by brushing a thin white pigment over pale ink lines. Research is needed on whether or not this technique is related to those used in Yamato-e paintings.
4) Colors. The jewelry worn by the bodhisattva is created through a buildup of brushed on pigment. The edges of the hair that look like a single color of blue are actually a three-step application of blue colors working outward. This is probably related to a desire to enhance the expression of the roundness of the hair. The orange cloth draped over the elephant’s saddle is decorated with designs worked in curved lines of kirikane (cut gold leaf ) and straight orange lines. These straight orange lines are not pigment, but rather are shallow indentations created with a sharp implement. This detail was unexpected, as it is not visible in normal photographs or in direct viewing.
5) Gold leaf and kirikane (cut gold or silver leaf ). The leafshaped decoration in gold worn by the elephant appeared to show the use of urahaku (gold leaf applied to the back surface of the painting silk), but in fact, this gold leaf was applied to the front surface of the silk. The gold leaf appears to have intertwined with the silk threads, creating a soft expression. Colored pigments were then applied on top of this gold leaf. The red belt that circles the elephant’s body bears a lattice work design in gold kirikane, and has three or four lines of dark color following the mass contours of the elephant’s body. These were not simply drawn lines, but rather color was brushed on top of each kirikane line. There is little use of the awase-haku form of combined gold and silver leaf usage found on many Heian Buddhist paintings. Instead, the painting’s expression emerges from the changing visual effects created by the relationship between gold kirikane and the ground plane. The positioning of kirikane was not the final step in the painting process, rather, from these images we can understand that pigments were painted on after the application of kirikane. This suggests that kirikane was not seen as something separate from painting pigments, but rather was considered in fusion with them. This survey makes us realize the differences between the actual facts of the works themselves and the images of those work that we have built over time from their previous descriptions and earlier generations of photographs.
Section II
The observations made in Section I indicate that there was a tendency in Heian Buddhist paintings to fuse the elements of line, pigment and kirikane, and that fusion was closely related to the expressiveness of the work overall. However, as indicated by Tamamushi Satoko and others, in the early modern era in Japan the Japanese term sôshoku （装飾）came to be used as the translation of the English terms decoration or ornament. Through the extensive use of this term sôshoku, it seems that in particular this kirikane has come to be seen as a “decorative item,” thus cutting off kirikane from the work’s entirety, making it an independent form. The problem is that with the appearance of the term sôshoku, the term shôgon（荘厳）, which appears extremely frequently in Buddhist sutra texts and has come to be used in Japanese, has been re-envisioned as a special type of sôshoku. However, looking at how the term shôgon was originally used, this term is not only sôshoku or decoration, but also includes a sense of the “shape” or form of the Buddhist deity, and further contains a sense of a religious symbolic meaning. A subject for future study is hence a reconsidering of the meaning of shôgon as a fundamental concept broadly supporting the expressiveness of Heian period Buddhist painting, and that reconsideration might then lead to a reconsideration of the meaning of the expression used in Heian period Buddhist painting.journal articl
Topics of the Ninth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and Issues Raised through Discussions
Get PDFThe ninth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was held at UNESCO Headquarters from 24 to 28 November, 2014. During the session, 34 elements of intangible cultural heritage were inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (Representative List). The inscribed elements included “Washi, craftsmanship of traditional Japanese hand-made paper.” With this nomination papermaking craftsmanship for Hon-minoshi and Hosokawa-shi were added to that of Sekishu-Banshi, papermaking in the Iwami region of Shimane Prefecture. This was the first time that a State Party had added elements to its already inscribed intangible cultural heritage on the Representative List.
One of the big issues discussed at the Committee was whether the referral option for the files nominated for inscription on the Representative List should be redefined or not. Referral option has been used since 2011 for the evaluation of nomination files that lack “technical details.” The Subsidiary Body, however, repeatedly suggested that lack of technical details is not clearly defined, and that they experienced difficulty in implementing that option. At this Committee, application of referral option was broadened to include lack of substance on the nomination files. Usage of noninscription option was accordingly limited to elements that could not be considered intangible cultural heritage as defined by the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Another big topic discussed was the establishment of the single Evaluation Body substituting the existing Subsidiary Body and Consultative Body. The Evaluation Body would evaluate and give recommendation to nominations for inscription on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, to proposed programmes, projects and activities that best reflect the principles and objectives of the Convention, and to international assistance requests greater than US$25,000. It would be comprised of six individual specialists from the States Parties other than the Committee Members and six accredited NGOs. Different from the current Subsidiary Body, the Evaluation Body would not represent the Committee Members. Combined with the redefinition of the referral option, greater pressure from the Committee Members could be a matter of concern to abort the referral recommendation to inscribe any nominated element.
In addition, necessity of capacity building for the States Parties was repeatedly emphasized. As UNESCO’s Secretariat reported, most of the nomination files that the States Parties submitted had missing or incorrect information and had to be sent back to their respective nominating States Parties. This was due to lack of experience with document preparation as well as an imperfect system for documenting intangible cultural heritage that should be protected. States Parties should avoid seeking merely to inscribe an element on the Representative List. Support is needed to create a framework for identification and protection of differing intangible cultural heritage. This is, after all, the initial goal of creating a nomination file. Japan can play a role in providing this support.departmental bulletin pape
Research of the Adhesive Effect Enhanced by the Use of Beating Brush and Aged Paste on Second Lining Pounding Procedure for Mounting
Get PDFHanging scrolls are a traditional Japanese ornamental art which allow paintings and calligraphy to be unrolled and hung on a wall or in an alcove for display and rolled up and stored in a box.Hanging scrolls should hang straight when unrolled and roll smoothly for
proper storage without damaging the artwork beneath. For this purpose, scrolls are lined with several layers of Japanese paper and adhered together with weak, aged paste made from wheat starch,which gives the paper the flexibility required when the scrolls are rolled up for storage.While this old paste facilitates rolling a scroll because it does not become hard even when dried, it does not have sufficient adhesive effect to grip Japanese paper. In order to increase the adhesive power of this aged paste,craftsmen employ a traditional technique of pounding the paper with a special “beating brush.”
This pounding technique is an important part of the fabrication process of hanging scrolls, but it is a difficult task for each generation to pass down properly to successors. The present study is intended to verify the effects of the pounding technique on aged paste and Japanese paper.We prepared samples having been made with the pounding technique and investigated their adhesive properties by peel test.In order to verify the importance of this traditional technique and the traditional materials, we compared and analyzed the differences in adhesion depending on the skills of the craftsmen and the types of adhesive used.We also investigated the condition of the surface of the adhered papers by using an electron microscope.
Judging from all the results in this research,it may be said that using the beating brush and aged paste for the second lining procedure is effective.journal articl