NARA NATIONAL MUSEUM

◆Greetings

The Nara National Museum is located in a corner of Nara Park surrounded by the Tōdai-ji Temple, the Kōfuku-ji Temple and Kasuga Taisha Shrine. Under the cooperation of temples, shrines and other owners of cultural properties, we are engaged in conserving and studying cultural properties including artworks and archaeological artifacts related to Buddhist art. In addition, we hold exhibitions to encourage the understanding of the excellence and fascination of Buddhist art cultivated through deep faith in Buddhism, as well as the profound culture and historical background of the Buddhist art.
Through this website, we hope to be able to provide various information about the museum to many people. We hope that this website provides an opportunity for visitors to be interested in our activities and cultural properties. If you are interested, you are welcomed to visit the museum and directly experience the excellence and beauty of cultural properties. You can always access up-to-date information regarding exhibitions and other events through this website. It may be helpful to check the latest information before you visit the museum. We hope this website might help to provide an opportunity for you to be more interested in cultual properties.

Kenichi Yuyama
Director, Nara National Museum

◆History

The foundation of the first museum in Japan was originally motivated by the Paris Expo, France in 1867. In 1871, the Natural History Bureau was founded under the Ministry of Education, and the Yushima Seidō (Yushima Confucius Temple) was converted to a museum. This was the first step in the Nara National Museum history. In Nara, the Nara Hakubutsu Kaisha (Nara Natural History Company) was founded as a half-government and half-private organization in 1874, and the company exhibited valuable temple treasures including the treasures of Shōsōin (Imperial Storehouse) in the cloister of the Big Buddha Hall, Tōdai-ji Temple. This expo continued until 1890. Many of cultural properties have been threatened to be damaged or lost because of the Haibutsu Kishaku Movement after the Meiji Restoration (a movement to abolish Buddhism) at that time, but this expo motivated the public to recognize these artworks us valuable cultural assets.
Above all, the Haibutsu Kishaku Movement was very serious in Nara. In the face of the increasing public interest in the conservation of cultural properties arises, the government set up the Ad-hoc National Treasure Research Bureau in the Imperial Household Agency, and conducted research with cultural properties throughout the nation in 1888. Furthermore, the government brought museums under the jurisdiction of the Agency in 1886. In 1889, the government accomplished to found the Imperial Nara Museum together with the Imperial Museum (Tokyo) and the Imperial Kyoto Museum. The Imperial Nara Museum opened in April, 1895, and later was renamed the Nara Imperial Household Museum. This was at a time when the Imperial Household Agency was renaming imperial museums as imperial household museums during the regulation reform of governmental organizations in 1900.
The purpose of founding a national museum in Nara was for the museum to conserve a large collection of masterpiece artworks and treasures owned by local temples and shrines, and also to open to the public in order to let them to know the value and to cooperate conservational activities. In the Shōwa Era, the collection donated from temples and shrines gradually increased and it became too large for the storehouse (the current Nara Buddhist Sculpture Hall). For this reason, another storehouse was built in 1937.
At that time, the museum held featured special exhibitions (currently known specified theme as the spring special exhibition) in addition to the Exhibition from the Permanent Collection. They include noteworthy exhibitions such as: the Tenpyō Culture Commemoration Exhibition (1928), the Exhibition of Buddhist Sculptures by Unkei and other Sculptures in Kamakura period (1933), the Special Exhibition of Illustrated Scrolls and Buddhist Paintings (1936), the Fujiwara Art Exhibition (1938), and the Exhibition of Sutras Presented by the Heike Family (1940). In 1931, the Nara Imperial Household Museum held the Shōsōin Onmotsu Kogire-ten (Exhibition of Fragment textile Treasures of the Shōsōin Imperial Storehouse) to present the result of the restoration work the institute had been developing.
In 1946, the museum held the first special exhibition after the World War II, the Exhibition of Kyoto Imperial Palace Treasures, and in following October, the institute held the 1st Shōsōin Exhibition, which saw 150 thousand visitors in 22 days despite the poor infrastructure and living circumstance after the war. The museum was transferred to the Ministry of Education in May, 1947, and was renamed the National Museum Nara Branch. The Law for the protection of Cultural Properties was enacted in 1950, and the Committee of Protection of Cultural Properties was founded under an extra-ministerial bureau of the Ministry of Education, with which the museum became affiliated. The museum, which had been a branch of the Tokyo National Museum, became independent and was named the Nara National Museum, in 1952.
During and after the Meiji period, cultural properties were donated to museums for preservation. After 1950's, the government began to encourage local shrines and temples to construct storehouses for the preservation of the cultural assets, and many shrines and temples successively asked for the return of the cultural properties they donated. The museum used to show solely masterpieces, however under the stated situation, they reconstructed the exhibiting practice to show more specifically categories; Buddhist sculptures, Buddhist paintings and related decorative arts. This policy has been basically maintained to present day. In and after 1955, the spring special exhibition expanded a series of new themes, such as: Suijaku art (art of Shinto/Buddhism syncretism), Buddhist embroideries, ritual instruments of Mikkyō (Esoteric Buddhism), imported Buddhist art, treasures of sutra mounds, articles dedicated in Buddhist sculptures, gilt bronze Buddhist sculptures, etc.
In June, 1968, the Agency for Cultural Affairs was founded in place of the Committee of Protection of Cultural Properties, and the Museum was transferred to the Agency. The New Wing buildings were completed in March, 1972.
The exhibition from the permanent collection of the Museum is based on the studies on Buddhist art. The displays were categorized by religious sects or background, such as Shakyamuni, Mahayana Buddhism, the Jōdo sect, the Mikkyō sect, the Zen sect, Suijaku, etc. On Buddhist art, exhibition held in Main Museum Building and the New West Wing. In accordance with development of the studies on Buddhist art, exhibitions have been held in more specific about subjects.
When the New East Wing was completed in 1997, the Museum widely reviewed its exhibition plans. The Main Building is now used as a sculpture gallery. Masterpieces of Buddhist sculptures created in Japan are exhibited in the mainhall. In other rooms, Buddhist sculptures are displayed by subjects such as sculpture genre and productive methods. Buddhist sculptures from China and Korean peninsula are exhibited in other galleries. The New West Wing holds specified the Exhibition from the Permanent Collection including archaeological artifacts, paintings, written materials, and decorative arts. However, the Exhibition from the Permanent Collection are occasionally closed because of other special exhibitions. The New East Wind is mainly used for holding the Spring Special Exhibition and the Autumn Shōsōin Exhibition. It is also occasionally used for other special displays.
In recent years, the museum has been the shared utilization of academic information as well as the development of information systems in various fields. Considering these circumstances, the Nara National Museum planned to found an institute for the purpose of academic studies on Buddhist art, as well as the creation, collection, arrangement, conservation and publication of materials related to Buddhist art. The museum founded the Buddhist Art Library in April 1980. The library was initially located in a corner of the museum office building, but the former Nara Prefecture Commerce and Industry Exhibition Hall (designated as an important cultural property) became the official building of the library in April, 1983. The Library now provides the archives of book and photographs to the public.
Restoration and maintenance work is indispensable in conserving cultural properties. The museum invited outside professionals to have its lacquerware repaired in the studio of the museum. The museum decided to found a long-awaited, accomplished facility for the restoration of sculptures, paintings, and books. The building of the Conservation Center was completed in 2000, and it officially began its operation in 2002. Since then, the Center has been involved in the restoration of many cultural properties including: national treasures, important cultural properties, and special items designated by local governments. Also, the Center has steadily made significant achievements in the field of academic studies.

◆Buildings