Miho Museum Explained

Miho Museum
Native Name:ミホ ミュージアム
Map Type:Japan Shiga Prefecture#Japan
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Established:1997
Location:300 Momoya Shigarakicho Tashiro, Koka-shi, Shiga-ken 529-1814
Architect:I. M. Pei
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The Miho Museum is located southeast of Kyoto, Japan, in the Shigaraki neighborhood of the city of Kōka, in Shiga Prefecture. It is also the headquarters of the Shinji Shumeikai, a new religious group founded by Mihoko Koyama.

History

The museum was the dream of Mihoko Koyama (after whom it is named), founder of the religious organization Shinji Shumeikai[1] which is now said to have some 300,000 members worldwide.[2] Furthermore, in the 1990s Koyama commissioned the museum to be built close to the Shumei temple in the Shiga mountains. Meanwhile, the, the parent organization from which this Shumeikai came, had opened the "stunning" MOA Museum of Art in the mountains behind Atami in 1982.[3]

Since its opening in 1997, the museum has been run by the Shumei Cultural Foundation. Takeshi Umehara, a scholar of philosophy and religion, served as the museum's first director.[4]

Collection

The Miho Museum collection began with Japanese art, including Shinto and Buddhist art, paintings, ceramics, lacquerware and tea ceremony utensils, collected by Mihoko Koyama for over 40 years. The collection consists of 3,000 pieces of Japanese and Oriental art, of which 250 to 300 are on display at any one time. Special exhibitions of Japanese art from the collection are held several times a year in the North Wing, and permanent exhibitions of other areas are held in the South Wing.[5] [6] [7] [8]

As of March 2022, the museum owns six[8] of the more than 10,000 Important Cultural Properties of arts and crafts designated by the Japanese government.[9] These included two Buddhist statues,[10] [11] a Buddhist painting,[12] a Buddhist scripture,[13] a quiver,[14] and a tea bowl.[15] In November 2022, the Japanese government announced the designation of three hanging scrolls in the museum's collection as Important Cultural Properties. This brings the total number of Important Cultural Properties in the museum's collection to nine. Two of the hanging scrolls were made by cutting out sections of the Chōjū-jinbutsu-giga and reworking them into hanging scrolls. The other is a hanging scroll from the Masuda family's Jigoku zoshi (ja), which was cut out and reworked into hanging scrolls.[16]

The museum's collection also includes, a late masterpiece by Itō Jakuchū, one of Japan's most popular painters. This work made headlines in Japan in 2008 when it was discovered in an old house in the Hokuriku region.[17]

Among the objects in the collection are more than 1,200 objects that appear to have been produced in Achaemenid Central Asia.[18] Some scholars have claimed these objects are part of the Oxus Treasure, lost shortly after its discovery in 1877 and rediscovered in Afghanistan in 1993.[19] The presence of a unique findspot for both the Miho acquisitions and the British Museum's material, however, has been challenged.[20]

Many of the items in the collection were acquired in collaboration with the art dealer Noriyoshi Horiuchi over the course of just six years,[21] and some have little or no known provenance.[22] [23] In 2001 the museum acknowledged that a sixth-century statue of a Bodhisattva in its collection was the same sculpture which had been stolen from a public garden in Shandong province, China, in 1994, agreeing with the Chinese government to return it in 2007. At the time of the agreement, the Chinese government publicly stated that the museum had purchased the Buddha statue in good faith on the open market and had not committed any fraud.[24] [25]

Highlights of the collections have been featured in traveling exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1996,[26] as well as the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (Vienna, Austria) in 1999.[27]

Architecture

Mihoko Koyama and her daughter, Hiroko Koyama, commissioned the American architect I. M. Pei to design the Miho Museum. Pei's design, which he came to call Shangri-La, is executed in a hilly and forested landscape.[28] Approximately three-quarters of the 17,400 square meter building is situated underground, carved out of a rocky mountaintop.[29] The roof is a large glass and steel construction, while the exterior and interior walls and floor are made of a warm beige-colored limestone from France – the same material used by Pei in the reception hall of the Louvre. The structural engineer for this project was Leslie E. Robertson Associates.

Pei continued to make changes to the design of the galleries during construction as new pieces were acquired for the collection.[30]

Pei had earlier designed the bell tower at Misono,[31] the international headquarters and spiritual center of the Shumei organization. The bell tower can be seen from the windows of the museum.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Lindelauf. Perrin. Luck, trickery and treasure in Koka City. 26 August 2014. March 8, 2009.
  2. Web site: Encyclopedia of Shinto.
  3. Web site: Creating a museum as a sacred, powerful place. https://web.archive.org/web/20190108021906/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2002/07/27/general/creating-a-museum-as-a-sacred-powerful-place/#.XDQIpHZ_q3A. The Japan Times. 27 July 2022. 8 January 2019. 3 June 2023.
  4. Web site: Concept A Real-World Shangri-La. https://web.archive.org/web/20230324164915/https://www.miho.jp/en/intro/history/. Miho Museum. 24 March 2023. 31 May 2023.
  5. Web site: Promoting Beauty, Peace and Joy Through Art. https://web.archive.org/web/20230327030954/https://www.miho.jp/en/collectionindex/. Miho Museum. 27 March 2023. 31 May 2023.
  6. Web site: https://bijutsutecho.com/exhibitions/11464. https://web.archive.org/web/20230329030607/https://bijutsutecho.com/exhibitions/11464. ja:美の祈り Universal Symphony. ja. Bijutsu Techo. 29 March 2023. 31 May 2023.
  7. Web site: https://artexhibition.jp/topics/news/20230424-AEJ1340232/. https://web.archive.org/web/20230424225252/https://artexhibition.jp/topics/news/20230424-AEJ1340232/. ja:【レビュー】「美の祈り Universal Symphony」展　MIHO MUSEUM（滋賀県甲賀市）で6月11日まで. ja. The Yomiuri Shimbun. 24 April 2023. 24 April 2023. 31 May 2023.
  8. Web site: https://discoverjapan-web.com/article/84133. https://web.archive.org/web/20230129222339/https://discoverjapan-web.com/article/84133. ja:現代の桃源郷に広がる建築美と貴重な古代美術品の魅力に浸る. ja. Discover Japan Inc.. 4 March 2023. 29 January 2023. 31 May 2023.
  9. Web site: https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/shitei.html. https://web.archive.org/web/20230428164127/https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/shitei.html. ja:文化財指定等の件数. ja. Agency for Cultural Affairs. 5 April 2023. 28 April 2023. 29 April 2023.
  10. Web site: Standing Jikokuten. https://web.archive.org/web/20230531091449/https://www.miho.jp/en/collection/n30/. Miho Museum. 31 May 2023. 31 May 2023.
  11. Web site: https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/211283. https://web.archive.org/web/20230330182339/https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/211283. ja:地蔵菩薩立像. ja. The Agency for Cultural Affairs. 30 March 2023. 31 May 2023.
  12. Web site: Enmaten. https://web.archive.org/web/20230531091417/https://www.miho.jp/en/collection/n37/. Miho Museum. 31 May 2023. 31 May 2023.
  13. Web site: https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/168641. https://web.archive.org/web/20230531093307/https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/168641. ja:紫紙金字金光明最勝王経巻第二. ja. The Agency for Cultural Affairs. 31 May 2023. 31 May 2023.
  14. Web site: https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/207596. https://web.archive.org/web/20230203123559/https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/207596. ja:紫檀螺鈿宝相華鳳凰文平胡籙. ja. The Agency for Cultural Affairs. 3 February 2023. 31 May 2023.
  15. Web site: https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/144254. https://web.archive.org/web/20230129134727/https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/144254. ja:耀変天目. ja. The Agency for Cultural Affairs. 29 January 2023. 31 May 2023.
  16. Web site: https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/pdf/93793501_01.pdf. https://web.archive.org/web/20221122225828/https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/pdf/93793501_01.pdf. ja:文化審議会の答申（国宝・重要文化財（美術工芸品）の指定等）. 17, 18, 19. ja. The Agency for Cultural Affairs. 18 November 2022. 22 November 2022. 31 May 2023.
  17. Web site: https://wedge.ismedia.jp/articles/-/509. https://web.archive.org/web/20230529145857/https://wedge.ismedia.jp/articles/-/509. ja:キーパーソンに訊く 若冲ブーム. ja. Wedge Online. 8 September 2009. 29 May 2023. 31 May 2023.
  18. Curtis. John. The Oxus Treasure in the British Museum. Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia. 1 September 2004. 10. 3. 334. 10.1163/1570057042596397.
  19. Southampton. Kathy Judelson. Pichikyan. I.R.. Rebirth of the Oxus Treasure: Second Part of the Oxus Treasure From the Miho Museum Collection. Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia. 1 January 1998. 4. 4. 306–383 [308–309]. 10.1163/157005797X00126.
  20. Muscarella. Oscar White. Museum Constructions of the Oxus Treasures: Forgeries of Provenience and Ancient Culture. Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia. 1 November 2003. 9. 3. 259–275. 10.1163/157005703770961778.
  21. News: Melikian. Souren. A Splendid Art Collection Goes On Display in Japan. 26 August 2014. November 6, 1997.
  22. Book: Art and Cultural Heritage: Law, Policy and Practice . Hoffman, Barbara T. . . 2006 . 978-0-521-85764-2 . 54f.
  23. News: Italy to ask Japan for return of 'looted' antiques . McCurry, Justin . . 11 January 2007 . 8 March 2012.
  24. News: Sims. Calvin. Japanese Agree A Stolen Statue Will Be Sent Back to China. https://web.archive.org/web/20140827033200/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/18/arts/japanese-agree-a-stolen-statue-will-be-sent-back-to-china.html. 27 August 2014. 26 August 2014. April 18, 2001.
  25. Abe. Stanley. Review: Return of the Buddha: The Qingzhou Discoveries by Lukas Nickel. Artibus Asiae. 2002. 62. 2. 296. 3250269. 10.2307/3250269.
  26. Book: Arnold. Dorothea. Ancient art from the Shumei Family collection. 1996. Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York. 9780870997730 . 34286025.
  27. Book: Seipel. Wilfried. Schätze des Orients: Meisterwerke aus dem Miho Museum. 1999. Skira; Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. Milan, Wien. 9783854970033. 42651340.
  28. News: Baker. Kenneth . Miho Lets Art Speak For Itself. The San Francisco Chronicle. 18 November 2007.
  29. Book: Rosenblatt, Arthur . Building type basics for museums. 2001. John Wiley and Sons. 0-471-34915-1. 32. registration. shinji shumeikai..
  30. News: Dobrzynski. Judith. A Trek Well Worth Taking. 26 August 2014. August 28, 2013.
  31. Web site: Shumei – Art and Beauty. 2010-11-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20151226031242/http://www.shumei.org/artandbeauty/misono_tour.html. 2015-12-26. dead.

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