Wed, Feb 19, 2025
"Treasures of Daikakuji: From Imperial Villa to Buddhist Temple"
The Daikaku-ji school of the esoteric Shingon Buddhism is headquartered at Daikaku-ji temple in Kyoto. “Treasures of Daikakuji: From Imperial Villa to Buddhist Temple,” the special exhibition now running at Tokyo National Museum’s Heiseikan, highlights the artistic treasures of the temple. Of all the sublime partition paintings (240 panels in total, all of which are designated as important cultural properties of Japan) that adorn the interiors of the temple, 123 panels will have been showcased at the museum by the end of the exhibition.
Since 2016, the temple is engaged in a 14-year conservation project to protect the centuries-old partition paintings. The exhibition is serving as an opportunity to present the partition paintings that have already undergone conservation treatment.
Before the treatment, the pigment layers of the partition paintings were deteriorating and losing their adhesive strength over time, which resulted in their peeling, flaking and cracking. Furthermore, the paper underlays were found warping. The partition paintings were not fit for long-distance transportation, and they would have never made it to Tokyo for the exhibition if they had not gone through conservation.
The conservation treatment mostly involved removing the main paper (the painting) from the paper underlay for cleaning and applying liquid glue to the pigment layers to increase their durability. Old backing paper was removed to replace with the new. The overall aim was to stabilize the condition of the main paper.
Masaki Utsunomiya, the representative director of conservation workshop Shubi Co. (Kyoto), which led the project, explained that in the process of investigating the damaged parts and removing the backing paper they had found numerous traces of past adjustments. “Some parts were altered when the paintings were moved from one place to another, and we were not sure how far we had to go to fix the problems,” he said.
When the partition paintings were moved from one building to another at some point, they were likely enlarged to fit in with the new setting. There were traces that indicated such changes, and others that revealed changes made to the composition of the paintings, such as by cutting out the sparrows, flowers and leaves from one part of the painting and pasting them onto another.
Daikaku-ji usually keeps the original partition paintings in a repository and only provides reproductions for exhibitions or otherwise. The special exhibition now running at the Tokyo National Museum is very special in that it provides a rare opportunity for viewers to admire the original paintings directly and on a grand scale. “I hope you can come and see the partition paintings that the temple says are much clearer and easier to see after the conservation treatment,” Utsunomiya said.
The opening ceremony of the special exhibition was held on Jan. 20, 2025, at the Tokyo National Museum and attended by Princess Hisako of Takamado. Daikaku-ji being the home to the Saga Goryu school of ikebana (art of flower arrangement), the venue was decorated with peonies and chrysanthemums with bamboo and pine on a small court carriage.
Daikaku-ji, a monzeki temple (a temple headed by priests of imperial or aristocratic lineage), was established in 876 on the grounds where Emperor Saga (reign: 809-823) had built a villa in the early Heian period. In the opening ceremony, Ryushu Yamakawa, the head priest of Daikaku-ji, said, “The exhibition, which marks the 1,150th anniversary of the temple’s founding, is held in hopes from the time of Emperor Saga that peace will prevail.” Princess Hisako cut the ribbon to open the exhibition.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun and other sources)
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