Tokyo National Museum Research Articles

The Imperial Museums of Meiji Japan: Architecture and the Art of the Nation (review)

Reviewed by: The Imperial Museums of Meiji Japan: Architecture and the Art of the Nation Don Choi The Imperial Museums of Meiji Japan: Architecture and the Art of the Nation. By Alice Y. Tseng. University of Washington Press, 2008. 285 pages. Hardcover $60.00. Interest in the architecture of modern Japan has never been greater. In 2010, for instance, Sejima Kazuyo and Nishizawa Ryūe won the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field's most prestigious award. In fact, since the Pritzker's founding in 1979, more Japanese architects have been recipients of these prizes than their counterparts [End Page 227] in any other nation except the United States. Monographs and coffee-table books on Andō Tadao, Maki Fumihiko, Shigeru Ban, and other Japanese architects continue to multiply. From the point of view of academic scholars, however, the English-language literature on modern Japanese architecture has long suffered from two faults. First, until fairly recently, many writers on the subject were trained as architects or critics rather than as historians or Japan specialists. As a result, many works treated contemporary topics for a professional audience rather than historical ones for academic readers. Second, the Meiji, Taishō, and early Shōwa periods have received considerably less attention than the decades from 1950 to the present. These two circumstances are linked: researching historical subjects involves different skills and goals than writing on contemporary topics. In the past decade, though, scholars have begun to craft a distinct body of English-language scholarship. In 2001, Jonathan Reynolds published Maekawa Kunio and the Emergence of Japanese Modernist Architecture, arguably the first scholarly monograph in English on a Japanese architect. Jordan Sand's House and Home in Modern Japan appeared in 2003, and Gregory Clancey's Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Seismicity, 1968-1930 in 2006. In their reliance on Japanese-language sources and archival research, these books set new standards for English-language scholarship on modern Japanese architecture. In addition, the authors' willingness to tie together themes from diverse fields distinguish these works from much of the scholarship that has been published in Japanese. Clancey's Earthquake Nation, for example, investigates architecture not as an a priori discipline but as something that interweaves technical, social, political, and aesthetic issues. Alice Tseng's The Imperial Museums of Meiji Japan: Architecture and the Art of the Nation is a worthy addition to this small but provocative collection of books. During the Meiji period, museums in Tokyo, Nara, and Kyoto were among the most ambitious architectural projects undertaken by the government. Josiah Conder, the designer of the first of these buildings—the museum in Ueno Park that was the forerunner of what is now the Tokyo National Museum—influenced Meiji architecture as much as anyone. As a practitioner, he designed the iconic Rokumeikan. As the first professor of architecture at the Kōbudaigakkō, or Imperial College of Engineering, he trained the Japanese students who would dominate the teaching and practice of monumental Western-style architecture throughout the Meiji period. Katayama Tōkuma, one of his first pupils, designed the other three museums at the core of Tseng's book: the Imperial Kyoto Museum, the Imperial Nara Museum, and the Hyōkeikan (the structure to the west in the present trio of main buildings in the Tokyo National Museum complex). Chapter 1 of Imperial Museums examines the origins of the terms most fundamental to Tseng's study: hakubutsukan (museum) and bijutsu (art). Both words were created in the early Meiji period to represent concepts from the West. Tseng explores the ambiguities and complexities of these terms, explaining them not as simple translations but as concepts birthed from governmental desires to create and control the roles of art. Chapter 2 presents Josiah Conder's museum as a Meiji version of London's South Kensington Museum. As one of the landmark buildings of the early Meiji period, the Ueno museum has received considerable attention from Japanese scholars, but mainly for its technical and formal innovations. Tseng's contribution is to examine the building as the material manifestation of the Home Ministry's desire to "enrich the minds [End Page 228] of the general public and educate designers and manufacturers...

The Imperial Museums of Meiji Japan. Architecture and the Art of the Nation

In pre-modern Japan there was no museum, not even a word or concept for ‘museum’. Many collections of what now we call works of art existed, but were in the hands of private individuals and temples. The first Japanese museum, today's Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park, did not grow, like many of its European counterparts, out of a wish or need to house and display to the public an already formed collection. Set up in 1871 in the early Meiji era (1868-1912), this museum building and collection resulted instead from the efforts of a few officials. During their travels in Europe in the 1860s they had recognized the importance of cultural institutions like museums and industrial exhibitions for their country's future, and they made the construction of a museum a priority for their new government. Initially, the museum in Ueno was expected to grow into a non-governmental institution like the British Museum or the South Kensington Museum, with independent funding and collections. Thirty years later, however, it came to belong to the imperial house. This jurisdictional change developed gradually from 1886, starting with the transfer of the museum's administration to the Imperial Household Ministry, a department soon to be detached from the constitutional government system and increasingly dedicated to the direct service of the emperor and his household. In 1889, it was named the Imperial Museum (Teikoku Hakubutsukan), although the government still owned the museum building and collection. And, in 1900 that name gave way to the Imperial Household (Teishitsu) Museum. Thus, ‘the Imperial Museums’ of Alice Tseng's monograph in strictly jurisdictional terms existed only from 1889 to 1900, a decade when the Imperial Household as the Museum's administrator constructed two satellite Imperial Museums on its own land in the ancient capitals, Kyoto and Nara.

Development of Collection Management System at Tokyo National Museum

Development of Collection Management System at Tokyo National Museum

Mori Hitoshi, ,Japanese Modern: Retrospective Kenmochi Isamu, exh. cat. Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai for the Akita Senshu Museum of Art, Akita, Japan, 2004. In Japanese and English. 237 pp., 162 color pls., 341 b/w ills., chronol., bibliog. 4,410 JY (c. $36).Kitamura Hitomi, ,Riki Watanabe: Innovating in Modern Living, exh. cat. Tokyo: Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, 2006. In Japanese and

Mori Hitoshi, ,Japanese Modern: Retrospective Kenmochi Isamu, exh. cat. Tokyo: Kokusho Kankokai for the Akita Senshu Museum of Art, Akita, Japan, 2004. In Japanese and English. 237 pp., 162 color pls., 341 b/w ills., chronol., bibliog. 4,410 JY (c. $36).Kitamura Hitomi, ,Riki Watanabe: Innovating in Modern Living, exh. cat. Tokyo: Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, 2006. In Japanese and

東京国立博物館の展示デザイン : 見やすい展示・居心地のよい展示室のために

東京国立博物館の展示デザイン : 見やすい展示・居心地のよい展示室のために

住吉如慶筆『伊勢物語絵巻』からみた江戸前期における寝殿造への憧憬と理解の水準 : 物語絵を通してみた近世における上流階級の住宅観に関する研究(2)

In this research, we aim to clarify the comprehension and yearning of upper class on Shindenzukuri through the images of "Narrative picture scroll of the Tale of Ise" drawn by Sumiyoshi Jokei in the 17th century. This scroll collected in the Tokyo National Museum was drawn in 1663-1670 and owned by Fushiminomiya Akiko who was the consort of the fourth Shogun, Tokugawa Ietsuna. We found that two types of the architectural images were intermixed in this picture scroll: one is Syoinzukuri style of that time (early modern era), the other is Shindenzukuri revival style of the Heian era. The upper class of the 17th century had understood Shidenzukuri as an image of the fantasy created by the Imperial court culture at that time and there was no historical understanding. However, the Imperial palace in the Heian era was presented in detail in this picture scroll.

Reexamination on foreign collectors` sites and exploration routes in Korea -with respect to U. Faurie-

Tstomu Ishidoya (1891-1958), a Japanese taxonomist and pharmacognosist, conducted his plant explorations on the Korean peninsula from 1911 to 1943. Especially from 1912 to 1923 Ishidoya, as a governmentemployee of Chosen Governor-General collected numerous specimens of woody plants which were later studied by T. Nakai. Collection numbers totalling 6,487 (= collections) were recorded according to Nakai's studies, while only 1,350 speciemens are confirmed to be preserved now in three Japanese herbaria (Tokyo Universtiy, Kyoto University and National Museum of Nature and Science). All collection sites were described by Nakai using romanized characters with Japanese pronunciation. For this study, one hundred seventy three locality names were reviewed using those of Ishidoya's specimens that are deposited at TI, KYO, and TNS; the database, Korean Biodiversity Information System (http://www.nature.go.kr), and the articles and literature of Nakai and Ishidoya. These are listed in the order of his collection dates.

A Standing Kannon in the Tokyo National Museum

Research Article| April 01 2003 A Standing Kannon in the Tokyo National Museum Donald F. McCallum Donald F. McCallum Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Archives of Asian Art (2003) 53 (1): 7–25. https://doi.org/10.1484/aaa.2003.0002 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Donald F. McCallum; A Standing Kannon in the Tokyo National Museum. Archives of Asian Art 1 April 2003; 53 (1): 7–25. doi: https://doi.org/10.1484/aaa.2003.0002 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsArchives of Asian Art Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © Asia Society2003 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Articles You do not currently have access to this content.

Tokyo National Museum in Ueno

Tokyo National Museum in Ueno

IV Book Reviews : Wonder and Joy: Children in Japanese Art (Bijutsu no naka no kodomo-tachi) [in Japanese and English]. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 2001

IV Book Reviews : Wonder and Joy: Children in Japanese Art (Bijutsu no naka no kodomo-tachi) [in Japanese and English]. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 2001

TOWARD STANDARDIZATION OF A HIGH-PERFORMANCE DISPLAY CASE

Tokyo National Museum has introduced a new free-standing display case for its new extension which was opened to the public in the autumn of 1999. The 'Heiseikan Gallery' provides space for a permanent exhibition of archaeological objects on the ground floor and also for special exhibitions that will be held about four times a year on the first floor. About 80 free-standing display cases for the first floor and 20 for the ground floor were installed. Nearly half a million people have visited exhibitions at the Heiseikan Gallery in the six months since it was opened, and we are expecting more than one million visitors in a full year. Although we have focused on several points such as seismic isolation, air exchange rate of the cases, airflow, chemically neutral environment, space for humidity buffers, a lighting unit, a door unit, slender frame, durability, relatively light weight for ease of movement, security, the first four points have been especially stressed. A seismic disaster hit Kobe City in January 1995, with the result that a large number of cultural objects in museums suffered big losses. The maximum acceleration of the earthquake was in excess of 800 gal (about 0.8g). Afterwards, museums and manufacturers gave serious consideration to measures against earthquake damage employing seismic isolators. Generally speaking, two main methodologies exist in order to decrease input acceleration from the earthquake by changing the period of osculation. One method utilizes the osculation caused by the return force of a spring; the other, the osculation caused by the return force of rolling on a curved rail, the same as a pendulum. The period of osculation of a seismic isolator using the former method depends on the weight of the object placed on the isolator, while the latter method is independent of the weight of the object. We selected the second method. The seismic isolator is installed beneath the base of the case. As the inherent period of the isolator is four seconds, seismic force is decreased to below 100 gal on the isolator even if the attack is on the same scale as the Kobe earthquake. Moreover, it is unlikely that the inherent period of an earthquake will coincide with that of the isolator, so that no resonance would take place between them. The isolator does not require any regular maintenance. Museum staff want the display case to be as airtight as possible, to obtain a stable relative humidity and to prevent dust or air pollution from entering. However, there have been no clear guidelines on how to achieve such requests. We have introduced 0.1 air exchange per day as the exchange rate of the case, to reduce daily and weekly interior RH fluctuations to less than one tenth of ambient [I]. When a buffering materiul is pluced in the case, the annual change will be decreased to some extent. It seems that extreme airtightness, that is, an air change rate of less than 0.0 I, is directly connected with cost and is rather disadvantageous for conservation due to the retention of harmful gases emitted by objects and the materials of the case. Of course, extreme airtightness is useful if interior harmful gases are completely excluded. Therefore, the air exchange rate adopted by us works to prevent harmful gases originating from both interior and exterior causes from staying in the display cases. The air exchange rate was ascertained by the tracer gas method, using carbon dioxide [2]. To homogenize the distribution of relative humidity within the case as quickly as possible when the door is closed, a small electric fan has been provided to create air circulation in the case. A previous simulation using a 5m3 volume display case proved that 0.03m.sec-1 airflow would create uniform relative humidity within 10 minutes [3]. As a result, we have placed a 0.0Im.sec·1 airflow electric fan over a tray of humidity buffer beneath the platform in the case. The airflow does not affect the surface of objects. The materials of the display case should be examined before construction and should be excluded if they are identified as emitting harmful gases. The Oddy Test has been introduced to check materials, and an environmental monitor has been used to estimate the chemical environment within the case. Nobuyuki Kamba is head of conservation in the Curatorial Department, Tokyo National Museum, 13-9 Veno Park, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-8712, Japan.

東京国立博物館平成館考古展示室の照明

東京国立博物館平成館考古展示室の照明

Nationalism and preserving Korea's buried past: the Office of Cultural Properties and archaeological heritage management in South Korea

The origins of Korean archaeological heritage management can be traced to 1916, when Japan's Resident-general Government in Korea (Chōsen Sōtokufu: 1910-1945) promulgated the first comprehensive laws of historical preservation called the ‘Regulations for the Preservation of Korea's Remains and Relics’. They reflected a combination of late Meiji and early Taishō era laws tailored to the Korean peninsula such as Lost and Stolen Antiquities (1909); Temples and Shrines Protection Laws (1911); the Preservation of Stone and Metal Inscriptions (1916); and most significantly, the establishment of an administrative apparatus, the Committee on the Investigation of Korean Antiquities (1916). The Chōsen Sōtokufu Museum laws governing art exhibitions and display were compiled from Imperial Museum laws (Tokyo National Museum 1976) dating from 1890-1907 (Chōsen Sōkufu 1924: 215-30).

A Famous Fourteenth-Century Japanese Armor

Japanese arms in the Metropolitan Museum's Department of Arms and Armor, which numbers about 6,000 pieces, is generally accepted as the finest outside Japan. Indeed, the collection is so rich that in some areas it surpasses that of the Tokyo National Museum. One object in the collection stands out from the rest: a rare armor of the yoroi type, which dates to the late Kamakura period of the early fourteenth century (Figures 1-3). According to tradition, the armor is said to have belonged to Takauji Ashikaga (1305-58),' founder of the Ashikaga shogunate.

Indo-Pacific Fish Biology. Proceedings of an International Conference Held July 29-August 3, 1985, at The Tokyo National Museum, Ueno Park, Tokyo.Teruya Uyeno , Ryoichi Arai , Toru Taniuchi , Keiichi Matsuura

Previous articleNext article No AccessNew Biological BooksIndo-Pacific Fish Biology. Proceedings of an International Conference Held July 29-August 3, 1985, at The Tokyo National Museum, Ueno Park, Tokyo. Teruya Uyeno , Ryoichi Arai , Toru Taniuchi , Keiichi Matsuura George C. WilliamsGeorge C. Williams Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Quarterly Review of Biology Volume 62, Number 3Sep., 1987 Published in association with Stony Brook University Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/415577 Views: 1Total views on this site Copyright 1987 Stony Brook Foundation, Inc.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Education and information activities at the Tokyo National Museum

Education and information activities at the Tokyo National Museum

A comparative study of two Dutch maps, preserved in the Tokyo National Museum—Joan Blaeu's wall map of the world in two hemispheres, 1648 and its revision ca. 1678 by N. Visscher

(1983). A comparative study of two Dutch maps, preserved in the Tokyo National Museum—Joan Blaeu's wall map of the world in two hemispheres, 1648 and its revision ca. 1678 by N. Visscher. Imago Mundi: Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 20-36.

Heian Sculpture at the Tokyo National Museum. Part II: A Review Article

Heian Sculpture at the Tokyo National Museum. Part II: A Review Article

Heian Sculpture at the Tokyo National Museum: A Review Article. Part I

Heian Sculpture at the Tokyo National Museum: A Review Article. Part I

The Prints of the Tokyo National Museum

The Prints of the Tokyo National Museum