Panel 2: Japan-related Object Collections in Western Countries Creating a Better Way to Share the Information about Japanese Collections in the UK Yoshi MIKI 1. Croydon case I would like to start this talk with an article I found in the UK s Museum Journal, a web newsletter the Museum Association UK circulates. The Association has a well designed website. I have learned current topics on the museum community and staff throughout UK by this way. The article was read below. Croydon Council to sell off 24 Chinese ceramics. Croydon Council has approved the sale of 24 items from its antique Chinese ceramics collection, despite objections from the Museums Association (MA), Arts Council England (ACE) and the local community. David Anderson, President of the MA and Director-General of National Museum Wales - Amgueddfa Cymru, said: Croydon s decision to sell valuable Chinese ceramics threatens not just its own reputation, but that of the museum sector as a whole. And the article follows. Museums Journal has learned that 89 objects are unaccounted for in Croydon Council s Riesco collection of antique Chinese ceramics, which is currently at the centre of a disposal controversy. A few community groups tried to appeal but they failed. There weren t enough support around them because the Collection was not well known in the community even it was sold with a few million dollars at the auction later. You will be surprised to know that you would find this kind of sale related to public museums quite often in UK, almost every a few months. I am not going to get into this tonight. But I thought I could learn a few things. It is necessary to raise the profile of art collection in order to avoid this kind of event. The Croydon Council s case made me think that raising a profile of the collection became our priority? To raise the profile, it is essential that we make the collection s information accessible to everyone. Research and catalogue artifacts are not enough. We need to make them useful, adding more information and make it available to everyone. I mean it should be accessible not only curators but museum educators, floor staff, volunteers, and the most importantly general public. Objects could be more powerful if they speak their selves. And then, how can we make an impact on general public? We now know that we have two major audiences today, one in a gallery and the other On-line. Typically, we, museum staff have a challenge to reduce a number of words on labels. We worry that visitors pay too much attention to the label, instead of looking at the object. But On-line, people are actively looking for something. People do not mind reading more information. We could reach out broad audience. At the same time, we do have a gallery where we can bring in visitors. Displaying objects also have a power to move people. 2. The Morse Collection at Peabody Essex Museum (Salem MA, USA) Recently, my colleagues and I opened a special exhibition Soul of Meiji - Dr. Edward Sylvester Morse s Japanese collection at Edo Tokyo Museum in Tokyo. We brought 350 artifacts from his Collection at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 267
Massachusetts. He was in Japan in 1890 s. The Peabody Essex Museum had his Japanese Gallery, called Weld Hall for about one hundred years until the year 2000. It has 1,300 objects of his collection and another 27,000 objects related to Japan. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston had his Pottery Collection Gallery in which he displayed over three thousand potteries for about 50 years until 1950 s. These galleries had gone for decades. It disappeared from in front of the audience. People, even museum staff forget what they have. They are packed in boxes and containers, sitting on deep in storage. They are not easy to access, even to museum staff. As Dr. Kurushima described, the National Institutes was able to include the Morse Collection in the research and catalogue project. The budget comes to the National Museum of Japanese History where we belong. We spend a few weeks each year at the Museum. After three years, we were able to catalogue enough to develop a special exhibition. We brought the part of the Collection to Tokyo. We made the exhibition catalogue both in English and Japanese. The information will be on line later with other Projects. We will be sharing all the findings with the staff of Peabody Essex Museum. This is our way to raise the profile of the Collection. Staff of the Peabody Essex Museum can see what they have in the catalogue. They don t have a curator for Japanese Collection. They already received a few inquiries from other Museums including the Smithsonian s if the exhibition can travel. 3. Accessible to everyone To raise the profile, we need resources increased for museum staff so that we can all raise the profile. According to A Guide to Japanese Art Collections in the UK by Greg Irvine of Victoria & Albert Museum and the Japan Society, there are over 150 museums, country houses, and castles have Japanese Collection. There are few Japanese specialists. Curators take care of many different collections at once and can t spend too much time on specific collection. In 2006, the Japan Foundation London Office organized a Seminar. Thirteen curators and collection managers around the Country gathered and discussed a variety of issues. 4. Neutral Porter One of discussion they had at the previous seminar was the information on line. We need neutral porter, to show us what is available already. That s the key thing, an attractive web presence. I am sure some of you are working on this. I think it is great to have a neutral portal that doesn t have one collection only on it, instead a lot of information. This is what the National Institutes is trying to internationally. It will include art, ethnology, documents, oral history, and many others. We Japanese researchers are quite focused. We are so specialized. We need ten specialists to come and search the collection. At the National Institutes, we circulate the data we brought back. Then we add the information and send them back to the organization where it belongs. We have researchers in different fields. It will be written both in English and Japanese. If you agreed, they will be on line so that we can all share. But, to me, to catalogue is not our goal. Research and catalogue should give the objects a power. To make the information more accessible to public is what I like to spend time to think of. If I like to reach out our audience with the information we develop, I listen to our visitors first, to find out what people really want to know on the artifact. We could assist staff to create interpretational programs. Using artifacts and the information for teaching about Japanese art and culture is another way to raise the profile. In a gallery, people look first, get excited, and then want to know more. It motivates them. People might go online to look for more information. You can experience this if you 268 International Symposium Proceedings Siebold s Vision of Japan
go to Norwich, Sainsbury Institute s Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury Collection on ground floor. The object has a minimal explanation. But you feel the objects speak to us. By using the information we developed, we assist staff to keep visitor s curiosity moving. A well-prepared information will help to create a lively conversation in from of the object. What is our goal after the research & catalogue are completed or even when they are in progress? I would like to see curators, museum educators, and floor staff are pumped up and ready to use the information. I like to see the action. I would like to see staff and visitors share the information and their thoughts in front of the object. And there is something we can do to assist. 5. At castles and country houses Before I first visited the castles in Wales, I had seen images of castles in and out-pictures in which Japanese artifacts are surrounded by European art and furniture. But I didn t see people in it. I suspect it is very quiet and nobody around. As soon as I arrived, I noticed that this place is popular. I saw over a hundred cars in the parking area. I was told that these place draw 100,000 to 300,000 visitors annually. I enter the galleries. It is not quiet at all. Family, couple, and group of people are walking around and talking each other. There are floor staffs in each room. They hold a thick binder with information on objects. They are constantly talking to visitors, very busy. Later I checked the binder how much information they have on Japanese or Chinese objects, very few. I see the opportunity we can upgrade their conversation by providing more information what they need. People look at the object, get excited, and want to know more. This might be a different kind of information besides what we put up on-line. It is a kind of information in which we can heat up the conversation in front of the object. People talk about the history of the place, town and artifacts. People love to hear a good story related to them. You need to have a story we can get visitors exited. At castles and houses, the staffs leave me alone to do my research. I lift up object and put it down on a carpet. I start taking pictures, measuring, and taking notes. But visitors are too friendly to leave me alone. My friendly visitors and volunteer floor staffs never leave me alone. It is same when I visit a local art museum. They start talking to me from my back. Many of them want to know how the objects get here all the way from Japan. Then it is my turn. I ask them what they know about Japan. I hear many personal stories. They teach me the history of the museum and town. We connect each other and they connect with the object. The stories I hear from visitors and floor staff is valuable. I start understanding why the artifacts are beloved by people. Everyone drive for long hours to get here, just like me, and spend time with family and friends, looking at beautiful objects. Museums, castles, and houses where I visited in Wales don t have a large collection, less than a hundred, not even close to a thousand. I am not expecting to find a hidden treasure. I might. Rather, I treat everything I see as a treasure. Treasures in which represents our heritage. Each artifact can tell you something about Japanese art and culture, a large or small, expensive or inexpensive. It doesn t matter. People are attached to the object they have in their region. The most of Japanese artifacts are in a gallery. They are accessible. This is good. There is a lively conversation in a gallery. In some places, I feel like the whole residents of the town work in a gallery as a volunteer. I give presentations for staff and the volunteers. The discussion helps me to understand what they like to know about the objects. To create a lively discussion is another way to raise the profile of the collection. Everyone has a few or at least one question they want to know about Japan. One of Stewards, a floor manager, at a country house told me that she had been in the place for seventeen years. She didn t think she could learn so many things in one day she spent with us. She quickly 269
developed a special tour on Japanese objects for visitors. She said she had fun showing them around. I have been traveling small towns, visiting museums, castles, and country houses. I meet curators, educators, stewards, docents, and visitors locally and internationally here in Wales talk about Japanese collection. I research objects and catalogue them. I take them back to study. Then I come back with the information my colleagues shared. It has my personal touch because I know exactly what this particular staff wanted to know about. The developments on the catalogue and interpretation could work in cooperation. They both are the necessities of raising the profile of the collection. As the part of the research project, National Museum Wales is planning to open a special exhibition on Japan in 2016 with the Agency of Culture of Japanese Goverment and the National Institutes assistance. We like to develop the exhibition with Japanese artifacts from both Japan and the region, and make people proud what you have in UK. Now, I like to show some of artifacts I saw in Wales. 6. Japanese Collections in Wales Chirk Castle was built in 1310. For us, it is more important that the Castle was purchased in 1595 by Thomas Myddleton. He was one of founders of English East India Company. It has two beautifully decorated lacquer cabinets and a good example of Japanning cabinet. One lacquer chest, a few ceramics from Arita, and Hirado. The lacquer chest is stunning. It goes back to the first half of 17th century. It has a style of mid 1600 s. It could go back a little earlier. Because of the association he had with East India Company, I like to think the possibility he purchased it before he died in 1630 s. We started looking into the inventory record. We found the Castle s inventory record of 1741 at National Library Wales. Although it was written in English, it is very hard to read. Staff, volunteers, and I are trying to identify them. We found some words like Chest and china. We are going back to the National Library, hopefully to find an earlier inventory record. This is the process of developing interpretation. We work together to make a story. It carries namban style with heavily decorated outside with shirk skin. But the inside has very different style of drawings, a beautiful drawing. The most of staff and floor staff saw the inside for the first time. It excites us. Although the outside was aged, the inside was remarkably kept in a good condition. I assume it was kept closed for the most of the past 350 years. Aberystwyth School of Art, Gallery and Museum The art center in the University has a permanent gallery for their good collection of ceramics. A studio ceramics collected between 1920 and 1936 including Barnard Leach and Shoji Hamada. Later in 1970 s, they collected contemporary ceramics. In the art department s very classy building, you will find interesting artifacts in director s and curator s office. Their office is surrounded by wall display case. I climb up and find 19th century Satsuma, Bizen ware, and some metal work and woodblock prints of early 20th century. For an example, wood prints of Shoujiro Urushibara who came to Aberystwyth and he taught the technique. His image of stone henge is unique. He left a series of flower images, too. School of Art Department has many students on painting, printing and photography. We are hoping to use the information we develop to encourage to use the collection for their creative work. The National Museum Wales has a unique collection. Among them is a group of artifacts to talk about Japanese Tea Ceremony. It was formed by a Potter Bernard Leach. His uncle was the first 270 International Symposium Proceedings Siebold s Vision of Japan
Director General of the Museum. He had a clear idea what to display in the gallery. The woodblock prints collection was recently digitalized by professor Akama of Ritsumeikan University and his assistant. We now have all collection digitalized. And we are working on to add more information on each object. Powis Castle is a beautiful place. They have a few significant objects. Two lacquer knife boxes in which have a record of 1774 inventory and cabinet, a table which was made by boards from lacquer cabinet. There are a few large Imari vases. To me, the lacquer knife box is unique. The Peabody Essex Museum and the National Museum of Japanese History has very similar pieces. The one at NMJH was named as an important culturally property from the Agency of Culture. Although National Trust manages the property, the owner family has a strong control on their collection. We can t publish the images. May be that makes you visit the Powis Castle. (National Museum of Japanese History) 271