Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties - Publications
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A Study of "Eiji-fu" (2): Scores of Japanese Music Transcribed by Kineya Eiji in the Collection of Yoshimura Ijuro VIII
Get PDFKineya Eiji (1894-1979) is a nagauta shamisen performer who was active from the 1910s to the 1970s. He was designated a Living National Treasure in 1964 for his numerous performances on the kabuki stage as well as for his study and acquisition of repertories in danger of no longer being performed.
In fiscal year 2012, “Eiji-fu” (scores transcribed by Eiji) was organized and it was found that 210 of them had been published. An inventory of these scores was compiled and presented in Research and Reports on Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 7.
The present study is a report on nagauta scores that Eiji himself transcribed. These scores are considered to have been important source materials in compiling the published scores. Currently, scores transcribed by Eiji are collected at three places. This is a report of investigation on those in the collection of Yoshimura Ijuro VIII, grandson of Kineya Eizo III who was Eiji’ s teacher.
The scores were transcribed on 58, A5-size notebooks. Eiji used his own system of notations to express the melody played by shamisen . Since the notations are simpler than those of the published scores and since there are some corrections, it is assumed that they were compiled as Eiji’ s draft. At this point, it has been found that there are a total of 192 pieces and that some seem to have been transcribed more than twice. An inventory is attached at the end of this report.
It is hoped that this study will provide a hint to an understanding of Eiji who took great care in transmitting the songs accurately.departmental bulletin pape
Report on Kabuki Photographs Taken by Umemura Yutaka (5)
Get PDFThe Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage has continued to sort out photographs of kabuki taken by UMEMURA Yutaka (June 15, 1923 to June 5, 2007) since the fiscal year 2008. The particulars of the donation of the photographs taken by UMEMURA, their characteristics, and UMEMURA’s achievements can be found in the report by TSUCHIDA Makiko, the present author’s predecessor, in Research and Reports on Intangible Cultural Heritage, No. 3.
UMEMURA was a photographer who worked for a publisher specializing in theater, especially on kabuki . His photographs appeared mainly in the monthly publication Engekikai . UMEMURA worked as a photographer in this company for 57 years, from the November 1950 issue, the first of the publication after World War II, until the May 2007 issue immediately before his death. His photographs are extremely interesting, covering a wide range of topics: stage photographs taken at various theatres, snapshots of actors who responded to special feature interviews, and even photographs of such details as stage sets and properties. These photographs taken over a long period are in themselves valuable record of the history of post-War theatre.
Recorded in this report is a list of 2,753 negative films which were sorted out in fiscal year 2013. The photographs listed were taken by UMEMURA Yutaka between February and November of 1975 and include those printed in Engekikai.departmental bulletin pape
Conservation Environment of the Decorated Tombs in Ukiha City, Fukuoka
Get PDFFor the decorated tombs which have been designated as historic site in Ukiha City, Fukuoka Prefecture,a temperature-humidity measurement was performed to evaluate the conservation environment in the stone chamber or shelter. At first the decorated tombs were classified into three groups according to whether a mound or a stone chamber is left and whether preservation maintenance has been carried out: (a) a mound or a stone chamber is not left,and remaining wall stones are directly covered by shelter,(b)a mound or a stone chamber is left,and a shelter closing the entrance of the stone chamber has been built, (c)a mound and a stone chamber both remain but no preservation maintenance has been undertaken.
As a result, it was found that in type (a) the effect of the shelter was restrictive although the shelter reduced the influence of sunlight and temperature change was small. Type (b)was maintained in a stable environment at high humidity, and the effect of the
shelter at the entrance of stone chamber was confirmed. The environmental condition of type (c)was kept well but, compared with (b), the outside influence was observed slightly more.journal articl
Saltwater-soaked Paper Documents Treated with Squelch-drying Technique -Evaluation of Residual Salts in Documents after Treatment-
Get PDFWhen paper documents are affected by seawater, such as by tsunami, squelch-drying technique is one of the choices among possible treatment methods. The squelch-drying technique is generally performed repeating the following steps:1. cutting polyester sheets and newspaper to the size of documents; 2. wrapping each document with a layer of polyester sheet and newspaper (15 to 20 sheets at least)as a water absorbent, and putting it into an oxygen-barriered film bag;3. sealing the bag with a heat-sealer using a vacuum pump.
In the present study,documents were soaked in 3.5% saltwater to evaluate the amount of residual salts in them after treatment. Documents processed by squelch-drying technique or air-drying technique were oven-dried and weighed to estimate the weight of residual salts. Concentration of chloride ion extracted from the samples was also, measured to estimate the amount of residual salts on sheets of selected pages.
As a result, it was found that the squelch-drying technique could not remove the residual salts of the documents completely but that salts were reduced to some extent compared with the case of air-drying. Thus, the squelch-drying technique can be a promising option to rescue wet documents as one of the initial responses.journal articl
Scientific Research of Archeological Metal Objects from Lchashen Site in Armenia
Get PDFThe National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo and the History Museum of Armenia have been jointly conducting capacity development workshops on conservation of archeological metal objects which are part of the collection of the History
Museum of Armenia. This paper reports the results of scientific research in the conservation work of archeological metal objects in Armenia and those of additional research in Japan following the previous report.
Objects studied are copper alloy ware excavated at Lchashen site in Armenia. These were produced during the Late Bronze Age (BC.15-BC.14)and show black overall. The surface products are observed to be hard and fragile. These features indicate the possibilities that the buried environment was not ordinary or that the materials used were particular. So scientific research was conducted for the purpose of inferring the corrosion process of these objects and clarifying their metal compositions.
Optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used for observation. For elemental analysis, handheld x-ray fluorescence analyzer (XRF) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS)attached to SEM were used. In addition,the crystal
structure was identified by X-ray diffractometer (XRD).
As a result,it was found that the surface products of the objects include sulfur in great amount and that these are copper sulfide (I)(Cu????S)or a similar compound. Moreover, it was revealed that tin is unevenly distributed on the stripped side of the surface products. This means that copper did selective corrosion to sulfur.It can be considered that this was caused by a reaction to hydrogen sulfide generated by sulfate-reducing bacterium under an anaerobic environment. It was also found that the material of the objects is bronze generally used in this period.journal articl
Korean Buddhism in the Modern Era and the Production of Buddhist Paintings
Get PDFThe vast majority of Korean Buddhist paintings surviving today were produced during a period of about one hundred years between the mid-19th century and the early 20th century. Buddhist paintings from this period, although numerous, have been mostly considered qualitatively inferior to those from earlier times, with iconographic eclecticism and technical coarseness being the two flaws pointed most frequently.
The body of modern-era Korean Buddhist paintings far exceeds, in size, that have survived in China or Japan. Their number is equally impressive also when compared to other periods in the history of Korean Buddhist painting. This is not just because this period is closer to our time, allowing more paintings to survive to the present. It would be reasonable to assume that social conditions during this period were also favorable for the production of Buddhist paintings, and there was a higher level of production than during previous periods. As a matter of fact, towards the late 19th century, the social atmosphere was such the support for Buddhist temples and Buddhist art was quite openly provided both by the general population and the royal house, and Buddhist paintings were produced in large numbers, as a result. The level of production of Buddhist paintings was as lively in the early 20th century under the socalled bonsan system, a Buddhist temple network put into place by the Japanese colonial administration.
Buddhist paintings produced during this period display a degree of diversity which was unprecedented, in terms of iconography and techniques, as they incorporated foreign iconography and techniques and foreign cultural elements brought into the country following the opening of the ports, including elements of Japanese Buddhism and Western elements. In iconography, in particular, motifs from nonreligious paintings and Taoist figure paintings were largely borrowed, and the incorporation of elements from woodcuts such as Chinese Buddhist woodcuts or novel illustrations, and Japanese Buddhist iconography allow for rich variety.
The modern period, corresponding to the period from the later part of Joseon to the Korean Empire and the Japanese occupation, was a time of turbulence and change for Joseon. Social and political upheavals of this period, however, had a positive impact on the diversity of visual arts, acting paintings, echoing the mood of the day. Such diversity of modern-era Korean Buddhist paintings, both in terms of iconography and techniques, has been long overlooked. It is, therefore, high time to begin to give recognition to this vast and richly-varied body of Buddhist paintings.journal articl
Introduction to a Study on the Division of Labor in the Textile Industry
Get PDFThe system of division of labor in the textile industry has continued to this day and is seen not only in Nishijin, Kyoto, which has been the center of the textile industry since after the Onin War (1467-1478) but also in centers of local textile industry like Yuki-tsumugi and Echigo-jofu . Yet there is no previous systematic study of this phenomenon in the field of research of the history of textiles. Thus, as a first step in clarifying this phenomenon, focus is placed in this paper on textiles as well as materials and methods of their manufacture as special products of various regions. Special products of a particular region contain information that is indispensable in considering the fundamentals of division of labor, such as which textile manufacturing skill that existed in a given region led to the development of a particular type of textile and whether raw materials were procured in the same region as the place where a particular type of textile was manufactured. In this study, entries related to textiles mentioned in books introducing local special products by regions, such as Kefukigusa (ca. 1638), Nihon kanoko （1691）and Yorozu kaimono choho-ki (1692), are selected and categorized. Consideration is also given from the point of view of such matters as the procurement of raw materials to see what raw materials and weaving/dyeing techniques were used, based on entries in other documents of the time related to textiles.departmental bulletin pape
Study on the Paint Materials and Technique Used for Nio-do Style Suit of Armor in the Momoyama Cultural Period
Get PDFNio-do style suit of armor was a novel design suit of armor in the Momoyama cultural period(from the end of the 16th to the first half of the 17th century). Characteristics of this suit of armor are the appearance of a naked male body and flesh(skin)-colored coating.
The present paper is a report on the observation and analysis of this flesh(skin)- colored coating and makie technique used to make the Nio-do suit of armor owned by Ichinomiya City Museum.
Several elemental analyses including those using a microscope,PY-GC/MS and X-ray diffraction pattern,as well as cross-section analysis by observation were conducted on small pieces of coating layers. As a result,it was found that the flesh(skin)-colored
coating is a mixture of white lead(2PbCO3・Pb(OH)2)and vermillion(HgS)to which dried oil was blended. As for the makie,small gold(Au)grains were used in the technique of hiramakie (Kodaiji makie)with harigaki and kakiwari, characteristic of makie of the
Momoyama cultural period.
In Japan,dried oil paint was first used in the Asuka-Nara period(from the end of the 7th to the first half of the 8th century),but its use was discontinued until the Momoyama cultural period when,according to old documents,oil painting technique was imported
from Europe. Then,in the Edo cultural period,dried oil paint such as mitsuda and chang paint appeared.
It is assumed that this oil painting material and technique was applied in making the flesh(skin)-colored coating of the Nio-do style suit of armor and that the makie technique was one that is characteristic of the Momoyama cultural period.journal articl