Art in Japan>Asian Art 100B.C.E.-1930>National Treasures of Japan

Original articles on art, artists, architecture, exhibitions, galleries, museums and cultural institutions around Tokyo, Japan.

National Treasures of Japan

by John McGee

Muqi, Kannon, Monkeys and a Crane, Southern Song Dynasty, 13th century,
ink and color on silk, National Treasure (Images courtesy Tokyo National Museum) 

The “National Treasures of Japan” exhibition is a tour-de-force. On view at the National Museum in Ueno Park, the show offers an unprecedented look at some of the major landmarks in the history of Japanese art and culture. The essential building blocks of Japanese painting, sculpture, calligraphy, ceramics and applied arts, as well as various archeological objects, have been drawn from a nationwide repertoire of masterworks and conveniently gathered in one location. 

Though the National Museum itself houses many wonderful treasures, others are spread throughout Japan. And, in at least one notorious case, National Treasures may even be owned by museums outside Japan. The export of the exquisite 12th century painted handscroll Minister Kibi’s Trip to China (currently owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and on special loan for this exhibition) at the beginning of the 20th century was a wake-up call for more powerful measures to retain and protect important historical and cultural artifacts within Japan. 

“National Treasures” commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties (LPCP). Enacted in May 1950, this law updated, clarified, and strengthened older laws that had sought, often unsuccessfully, to catalog, preserve and prevent the export of important historical items. The law covers seven categories of “tangible cultural properties”: painting, sculpture, crafts, calligraphy, classical books, documents, archeological materials and historic materials. In what is one of the most comprehensive cultural protection systems in the world, the law also protects historic sites, scenic beauty sites, natural monuments, and buried, folk-cultural, and intangible cultural properties. Under the LPCP, a total of 9,956 items are currently listed as Important Cultural Properties of which 845 qualify as National Treasures. A representative cross-section of 205 National Treasures make up this exhibition. 

While the majority of the assembled pieces are of Japanese origin, a percentage of the National Treasures on show are Chinese, particularly paintings, ceramics and calligraphy. 

The influence of Chinese art in the development of Japanese art cannot be overestimated. Buddhism played a major role and Chinese Buddhist art in this show helps contextualize the history and evolution of Japanese art. Following its sixth century introduction from China, Buddhism brought with it associated artifacts that served as pedagogical tools for disseminating the new religion across Japan. 

Kichijoten, Nara Period, 8th century, Yakushiji
Temple, National Treasure

T’ang dynasty (618-907 A.D.) Chinese Buddhist paintings served as models for the nascent Japanese art form. Two examples of early Japanese variations on Chinese themes book-end the exhibition: the first image in the show is the small, colorful votive of Kichijoten (8th c.), goddess of wealth and good fortune. Near the exit is a full-scale reproduction of one of the Horyu-ji murals (also 8th c.), depicting Amida, the Buddha of the Western Paradise. 

In the centuries following its introduction, Buddhism in Japan underwent various transformations as Japan went through stages of political stability and upheaval, openness to the outside world and isolation. Painting too, adapted and evolved. Pure Land Buddhism, a Japanese sect that focuses on Amida Buddha and his Western Paradise, became popular around the 12th century. Paintings such as Descent of Amitabha and 25 Bodhisattvas and Amitabha Rising from Behind the Mountains were meant to help worshippers visualize the arrival of Amida to gather the souls of the dead. 

In the 13th and 14th centuries, Zen (Ch’an in Chinese) painting was introduced from China. This style of monochrome ink washes and quick brushwork was a significant departure from the brightly colored, finely detailed Pure Land imagery. Muqi, a Chinese painter during the Southern Song dynasty, created one of the most influential paintings ever brought from China, casting his shadow over Japanese painting for centuries to follow. Kannon, Monkeys and a Crane is a 13th-century triptych which shows Kannon (Buddhist god of compassion) sitting in the middle, balanced on the left by a crane (symbol of Zen enlightenment) and on the right by a monkey and child (symbolizing attachment to worldly concerns) rendered in monochrome ink brushstrokes and washes that dissolve into plain silk. 

Perhaps the most famous Japanese inheritor of this tradition is Zen priest-painter Sesshu, represented in this show by two landscapes, one of which is in his characteristic ink-splash style, an abbreviated form that renders shapes with a mere flick of the wrist. 

Though Buddhism wielded influence over the arts for many years, during the Heian period (794-1185) political power shifted from the Buddhist temples to powerful clan families as the capital moved from Nara to Kyoto. A subsequent flourishing of court culture and the secular arts led to the development of uniquely Japanese artistic sensibilities not directly related to religion. For example, yamato-e painting, a lyrical, evocative style characterized by diagonal, bird’s-eye perspectives, roofless buildings that allow views of the interior, and a simplification of details, evolved alongside Japanese literature. Yamato-e often illustrated novels of courtly romance and intrigue such as The Tale of Genji. An important innovation that followed was the picture scroll or emakimono, which alternates text and images in a long horizontal roll, a distant ancestor of manga. The Tale of Nezame, subtitled “an aristocratic love triangle,” is a good full-color example of yamato-e, while the delightful Animals Imitating Humans scroll is playfully sketched in black and white. 

Adjoining the painting galleries are the calligraphy rooms. The ancient Japanese court adopted Chinese calligraphy for official and religious documents and it soon became a standard measure of culture and refinement. Japanese kana was distilled from Chinese kanji during the Heian period and became standardized around the 10th century. While business and scholarly writing continued to use Chinese for its authoritative and dignified air, kana quickly became the favored method for exchanging poems and letters between the aristocrats. Calligraphy in this exhibition includes 7th-14th century Chinese letters, certificates, and even a dictionary extract tracing the origin of the ideograph for “tree.” Japanese calligraphy here spans the 7th-16th centuries, including two visual dictionaries which follow the fascinating development of calligraphic styles from the 8th-16th centuries—from the formal, blocky Chinese kanji on unadorned paper to the loosely flowing, highly stylized, and barely legible kana on colored or gold flecked paper. 

At the end of the calligraphy section, a vitrine holds several outstanding ceramic pieces. A Yuan dynasty (13-14th c. China) flower vase with tobiseiji (celadon with iron brown spots) glaze and a Southern Song dynasty (12-13th c. China) tea bowl with a tortoise-shell temmoku glaze highlight the unfortunately small selection. Across the hallway are more ceramics and other applied arts: swords, armor, metalwork and lacquerware. There’s even a 13th-century mikoshi (portable shrine) with gilt bronze and mother-of-pearl inlay on lacquer. 

Next are the textiles, including T’ang dynasty (7th-8th c.) Chinese Buddhist brocaded silk fabric and several Kamakura Period (13th c.) garments from the venerable Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura. 

The many archeological objects offer a glimpse of pre-Buddhist culture, e.g. a staid haniwa (terracotta tomb figure), gilt bronze horse ornaments, the exuberant Jomon Period (3000-2000 B.C.) clay vessels, and a rotund dogu (a clay figurine). 

Heian Period Buddhist sculpture fills the next-to-last room from floor to high ceiling in extraordinary wood and gold lacquered trinities and other religious statuary from Horyu-ji (Nara) and Dojo-ji (Wakayama) temples, among others. 

Finally, the last room offers a look at some of the challenges of preserving the National Treasures, both the losses and successes. It is a fitting ending, though spectators themselves will no doubt have little difficulty preserving this most memorable experience.

This exhibition was held Apr-May 2000 at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park, Tokyo, Japan.

©2006 John McGee

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