"The Exhibition of Japanese Art Treasures" and Okinawa

Abstract

In this paper I would like to discuss the cultural and political implications of the ”Exhibition of Japanese Art Treasures” mounted at the Ryukyu Government Museum in Shuri in 1967. The museum's new building had been completed in 1966 with the help of the US government, and that exhibition was held there with the assistance of the Japanese government, as a special event in recognition of the completion of the building. With three agencies-the Government of the Ryukyu Islands (GRI), the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (USCAR), and the Japanese government-involved in the process, this exhibition reflected the subtle cultural strategies of those agencies. Special attention must be paid in this context to the comments made by Okinawans who saw the Japanese exhibition: they expressed not only admiration regarding the works of art they saw but also a sense of connection and identification with Japan. Seen from an Okinawan perspective, this exhibition was a cultural entry point for Okinawa's return to Japan. As it presented itself on this occasion, Japan had been reborn from the militarism of World War II as a peace-loving country with highly refined cultural traditions, and the ”Exhibition of Japanese Art Treasures” in the recently restructured museum had, via its cultural and aesthetic message, a strong influence on the process of Okinawans becoming full Japanese citizens once again. That Okinawans would harbor such sentiments toward the Japan represented in the exhibition corresponded very well to Japan's intentions. Following the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951, the Japanese government had begun to engage in a public relations campaign for a reborn, postwar Japan, by holding the ”Exhibition of Japanese Art Treasures” abroad on various occasions. This objective eventually became most obvious in the ”Exhibition of Japanese Art Treasures” at the time of the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. The exhibition in Okinawa must also be understood as being based on this Japanese post-war strategy. With a hope for Okinawa's return to Japan, Okinawans thus accepted the Japanese art history represented in the exhibition as their own, which, however, included no Okinawan art works.