Treasures of the Shiryohensanjo at Ibaraki Pref Archives

[Travis Seifman]

Dear colleagues,

I have just become aware of an exhibition of treasures from the UTokyo Historiographical Institute (Shiryohensanjo), being held at the Ibaraki Prefectural Archives and History Museum in Mito, Feb 7 to Mar 22.

The exhibit features some 80 objects, some of which will be rotated out or in at the beginning of March. They range from the mid-12th century to the very beginning of the 20th, and include a number of Important Cultural Properties and National Treasures. Most are textual documents, but a notable Wakô handscroll, a folding screen with images of Commodore Perry and his ships, a handscroll depicting the Rezanov mission, and a handscroll depicting the Ansei Earthquake are a few of the pictorial objects that will be on display.

I suppose depending on one's specialty or period, different things might pop out to you, but glancing over the object list, I noticed copies of the Azuma kagami; volumes from the Uwai Kakken nikki and other selections from the Shimazu-ke monjo; a copy of Haedong chegukki; and a number of items related to Minamoto no Yoritomo, Minamoto no Sanetomo, Ashikaga Takauji, Uesugi Kenshin, Imagawa Yoshimoto, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Sanjonishi Sanetaka.

The Museum will also be holding a number of special lectures and hands-on (taiken) events, including taiken workshops on traditional Japanese bookbinding and the copying or reproduction of historical texts.

For more information see here: https://rekishikan-ibk.jp/special/post-12573/.

All my best,

Travis Seifman
Art Research Center
Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto