The Jinshin Survey: Preservation of Cultural Properties in the Early Phase of the Museum

The Yushima Seido Exhibition of March 1872 marked the establishment of the present-day Tokyo National Museum. Subsequently, Machida Hisanari and Ninagawa Noritane, who were staff members of the museum, conducted with others research of artifacts across Japan. In addition to field research at sites in Nagoya, Ise, Kyoto, and Nara, they gathered catalogs of treasured artifacts from around the country. Known as the Jinshin Survey, which refers to the year it began, was carried out in response to a decree for preserving antiquities and artifacts, and is recognized as the beginning of Japan’s activities for protecting cultural properties.

Many photographs were taken during the Jinshin Survey, in addition to sketches and rubbings by Machida, Ninagawa, and Uchida Masao, of treasures surveyed at temples and shrines. At the Shosoin Repository, which was opened for the first time in around 40 years since 1833, they created sketch reproductions and rubbings of ancient imperial treasures. Even today, these records are used to study the conditions of the Shosoin treasures at that time.

This thematic exhibition introduces aspects of research and protection of cultural properties in the early days of the Tokyo National Museum, focusing on the survey report Jinshin Survey Catalogue of Valuable Objects at Temples and Shrines, and historic photographs.