Creating a New Museum: Keio Museum Commons Vol. 4 — Preservation, Research, Education, and Public Access in University Museums

2021/01/22

In this series, we have introduced the vision for a new university museum that the Keio Museum Commons (KeMCo) aims for, as well as its initiatives to date. In particular, the third installment provided a detailed introduction to KeMCo StudI/O, which integrates and utilizes information from cultural properties themselves (analog) with digital technology. Following this, in this installment, I would like to introduce the activities related to "collections," which is another pillar of KeMCo, and describe the vision for the museum after its opening.

Please take a look at the font used for the KeMCo facility name (Fig. 1). Every letter has an opening somewhere and is not closed by a line. This embodies KeMCo's vision to be an open facility that collaborates with various organizations within the university. One of the rooms symbolizing this is the "Open Depot" (Photo). The Open Depot is a glass-walled anteroom adjacent to the stairs leading from the first-floor entrance to the third-floor exhibition room. In this room, sandwiched between two storage rooms, tasks such as inspecting works when they are loaned out, research work, and exhibition preparations are carried out. This is an unprecedented attempt for a museum, allowing visitors to catch a glimpse of and feel the daily work of curators involved with the artworks. The reason for making such a bold choice is the result of KeMCo's emphasis on being a site for education and research using cultural properties. The fifth floor is equipped with a workshop room for classes using cultural properties, including museology training. In addition, from the building's design stage, various possibilities were considered and devised so that various spaces within the building, such as the Open Depot, exhibition rooms, and landings, could be utilized for education, research activities, and exhibitions. After opening, I hope that the entire building will be an exhibition room, a classroom, and a lab—a place where students, faculty, and visitors can freely think about and engage in dialogue regarding cultural properties.

KeMCo has four storage rooms, which mainly house cultural properties collected in various forms since the founding of Keio University, as well as the Century Akao Collection, which will be described in detail later. Many of the modern art works managed by Keio University that have graced the campus are introduced in "Selections from the Keio University Masterpieces" (edited by Keio Museum Commons, 2020; currently on sale at the Information Plaza, etc.), so please take a look. In addition to well-known masterpieces such as the seated statue of Yukichi Fukuzawa by Meiji-era sculptor Ushihiro Okuma and the statue of Tekona by Shikai Kitamura donated to commemorate the construction of the Old University Library, the collection includes many modern and contemporary paintings and sculptures. While these works have undergone conservation and restoration through the Art Management and Operation Committee, it could hardly be said that every effort had been made for their safe and appropriate preservation and storage. It can be said that the activities related to "collections" that KeMCo has been working on prior to its opening roughly converge into the collection and organization of information on works and storage planning for these traditional Keio University collections and the Century Akao Collection, with the aim of making them public.

From here, I would like to add an introduction to the Century Akao Collection, which is a new addition. The Century Cultural Foundation was established in 1979 by Yoshio Akao (1907–85), the founder of Obunsha, for the purpose of preserving materials related to writing culture. Kazuo Akao (Keio University alumni), who succeeded the founder, established the Century Museum (Hongo, Bunkyo-ku) and served as its first director. Together with the scholar of ancient calligraphy Shigemi Komatsu (1925–2010), he energetically collected works, and the Century Akao Collection grew significantly. Currently, it consists of 2,325 items, including calligraphy, paintings, metalwork, lacquerware, and sculpture. This includes a complete set of materials passed down through a family of Kohitsu (ancient calligraphy) appraisers, and the number of items is expected to increase through future research. Emphasizing the need for this vast collection, in terms of both quality and quantity, to be examined and considered by a wide range of researchers, the Century Cultural Foundation deposited 1,740 of these items with Keio University in 2008, where they were stored in the Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko). To fulfill its mission, the Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) has engaged in precise research on the Century Akao Collection, while also opening the results to the public through exhibitions and supporting further research activities. Meanwhile, the Century Cultural Foundation moved the Century Museum to Waseda Tsurumakicho in 2010 and worked on research and dissemination regarding the collection through exhibitions until July 2020. In 2018, the Century Cultural Foundation proposed the donation of art works and materials to Keio University, along with a donation to preserve and utilize them, leading to an agreement to construct a new facility to house and exhibit them collectively. The following year, preliminary research for the donation began in cooperation with the Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko). Although there was a period when operations were temporarily suspended due to the impact of the new coronavirus, packing of all stored items was completed by the end of 2020, and finally, in March 2021, they are waiting to be moved into KeMCo and the Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko).

The Century Akao Collection is known for its many excellent examples of calligraphy, such as sutra copies, ancient calligraphy (kohitsu), and Zen calligraphy (bokuseki). Examples include the "Kanfugen-kyo Sutra in Gold on Navy Blue Paper" (Motochika-gan-kyo), the Kohitsu-tekan "Musashino," and the "Ishiyama-gire" attributed to Fujiwara no Kinto (966–1041), which have been introduced in various ways. The ancient mirror collection boasts some of the best quality and quantity in Japan. The decorations made with precise engraved lines on bronze mirrors produced before the Common Era, and the characters inscribed on the inscription bands, will surely spark the imagination regarding ancient culture. Lacquerware items include, for example, the "Jingo-ji Sutra Chest." The set of sutra scrolls, sutra wrappers, and sutra chests stored at Jingo-ji Temple, which share the same origin, are designated as Important Cultural Properties.

Most of the paintings are works related to literature, such as the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, but on the other hand, there are many Buddhist paintings covering a wide range of content. Through repeated joint research with Professor Atsushi Hayashi of the Faculty of Letters, an expert in Buddhist painting, several noteworthy works were discovered. Among the most important is the "Portrait of Kobo Daishi" (Fig. 2), which bears the signature "Monk Genkai, 18th day of the first month of the fourth year of Katei." Based on the signature, this painting is thought to have been commissioned in the fourth year of Katei (1238) by the Shingon monk Genkai (1173–1251). Since Genkai was a person who went down to Kamakura in the first year of Bunreki (1234) to coincide with Kujo Yoritsune (1218–1256) going to Kamakura as Shogun, it is possible that this painting also originated from a temple in Kamakura.

There are also many excellent picture scrolls (emaki). The "Thirty-Six Immortal Poets Scroll" by Reizei Tamesuke (1263–1328) is noteworthy as a Kamakura-period scroll where the thirty-six poets are complete without being divided. The "Life of Priest Saigyo Scroll" by Karasumaru Mitsuhiro (1579–1638) is notable as a faithful copy from the same original as the scroll copied by Tawaraya Sotatsu (dates unknown, held by the Idemitsu Museum of Arts). The Tale of Saigyo has been studied across fields such as Japanese literature and art history, and the donation to Keio University, a comprehensive university, is expected to lead to further interdisciplinary research.

The diverse items in the Century Akao Collection, including the works mentioned above, along with Keio University's collection ranging from ancient sculpture to modern and contemporary artists, will be made public in exhibitions held at KeMCo. In addition, we are considering their use in educational settings, such as casual exhibition activities linked to classes and Object-Based Learning promoted by KeMCo. The KeMCo course launched in the fall semester of 2020 was conducted online due to the current situation, but we attempted to provide learning centered on objects in various specialized fields. Engaging in dialogue between students and faculty from various majors in front of works with an overwhelming amount of information is a stimulating experience for both. The birth of KeMCo, with its storage and exhibition facilities, expands the possibilities for research and education using actual works, not to mention museology education. For example, it is difficult to feel a sense of crisis regarding knowledge and experience of the fragility of cultural properties without actually seeing them. By seeing cultural properties as they are through the Open Depot and other means, rather than just their beautiful appearance in exhibition rooms, realizing the preciousness of how they have been carefully protected and passed down so that we can hold them today will serve as nourishment for students as they fulfill social roles in various fields after graduation.

I have briefly introduced the functions, research, and educational activities related to KeMCo's "collections," as well as the Century Akao Collection. By utilizing the Century Akao Collection together with the collections that Keio University has gathered and preserved, we can develop learning through cultural properties in a more attractive way. While I have shared a part of it in "Selections from the Keio University Masterpieces," we plan to unearth each topic through exhibitions and various other forms in the future. First, we are preparing to sequentially introduce some of the works mentioned in this text and the works introduced in the Masterpieces selection at the opening commemorative exhibition to be held in fiscal 2021. We hope that KeMCo will be open to Keio students, Keio University alumni, faculty, and the local community, and we would be grateful if you could visit and support us once we open.