Photographs of Historic Sites in China

The architectural historian Sekino Tadashi (1867–1935) surveyed temples, palaces, tombs, and other historical sites and structures across China in 1930–1935. The Asian architectural historian Takeshima Takuichi (1901–1992) accompanied Sekino as his assistant, keeping a record of the survey and taking photographs.

Even after Sekino's death, Takeshima continued the survey and undertook the task of safekeeping and sorting a vast number of related documents and other items. Although a portion of these were destroyed during the Second World War, Takeshima's relatives donated over 4,000 of his photographs to the museum in 2013. The dates and locations corresponding to most of these photographs are known because Takeshima sorted them appropriately, and thus, they serve as valuable records showing the state of various historical sites in the past.

In order to conduct a thorough study of these photographs, the museum cooperated with the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (University of Tokyo), which had received related materials from the Institute for Oriental Culture, to which Sekino and Takeshima had belonged. These efforts led to the publication of a catalogue in FY2014. This exhibition features a number of Takeshima's photographs, some of which even display historical sites and structures that no longer exist.