Preserving Japan’s cultural treasures: Recoloring Nikko’s shrines and temples

The fourth installment of “Preserving Japan’s cultural treasures” is on efforts to keep the colors of world heritage Nikko shrines and temples in Tochigi Prefecture as brilliant as they are.

Toshogu, the shrine in Nikko, Tochigi Pref., dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu (founder of the Edo Shogunate), comprises eight buildings designated as national treasures and 43 buildings designated as important cultural properties, all of which were furnished applying the craft and decorative skills of the Edo period (1603-1867). The shrine complex harmonizes with the atmosphere of the sacred ground in the mountains to make up the unique landscape of Nikko.

Strolling through the precincts of the shrine, you will see here and there buildings fenced off for repairs, one of which is Shimojinko or the Lower Sacred Storehouse [one of the Sanjinko or Three Sacred Storehouses] built in the early Edo period.

Gold-leafed carvings of the kirin (a legendary creature in Chinese mythology) on the exterior of the storehouse are full of vigor, and the brilliant colors of the peony-arabesque pattern on the clapboards are overwhelming. The paint, however, has been peeling off, and metal fittings have been deteriorating from exposure to wind and rain.

Traditional coloring techniques preserved by the Association for the Preservation of the Nikko World Heritage Site Shrines and Temples (established in 1950) are essential in restoring the colorful wooden structures. Experts from the association prepare special colorants for the repair by mixing pulverized mineral pigments such as azurite and malachite with animal glue.

Okiage zaishiki, a traditional relief-painting technique, is used on the exterior walls of these buildings to emboss patterns. The ingenuity of craft as such to produce the dynamic beauty of form is seen everywhere. The same ingenuity is required to keep the ancient structures in shape.

Using traditional technique and material

In recent years, acquiring nikawa, the adhesive material made from animal skin and bones, is becoming increasingly difficult due to shortage of suppliers. With regard to pigments, synthetic products are now in the mainstream and natural minerals are said to be in short supply. Given the circumstances, some experts worry that traditional skills to handle traditional material would be lost.

In the area, about 100 kilograms of domestically produced lacquer is used every year for lacquering purposes. About 40 steps — removing degraded lacquer coatings, applying base coats of lacquer, recoating (three times) with color lacquer, etc. — are taken to repair the walls and other parts of a building. Hemp cloth is applied where more wall strength is required.

Wooden structures designated as cultural properties in Nikko are finished mainly with black, red and vermilion lacquer, and gold leaf. Lacquer is used to coat carvings, and also as a base coat for coloring to maintain strength and the beauty of appearance.

The Sukibei walls (about 160 meters in length) that stretch right and left from the Karamon gate — a designated national treasure — to surround the shaden or main shrine building are decorated with carvings of plants and birds. Repair work on the north side was completed in fiscal 2021. This fiscal year (2022), they will start coloring on the west side to restore the walls’ overall magnificence.

The techniques applied to conserve the world heritage Nikko shrines and temples were collectively registered as UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage in 2020. Restoring the wooden structures time and again is a definite part of Nikko’s history.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun)