This Special Exhibition offered in celebration of the enthronement ceremonies of His Majesty the Emperor, "The Reproduction of Shosoin Treasures: Encountering Tenpyo Craftsmanship through the Recreation of 8th Century Works," brings you exquisite masterpiece replicas of Shosoin treasures.
The Shosoin treasures amount to some nine thousand objects stored in the Shosoin Repository, originally a storehouse for the temple of Todaiji in Nara. The majority date from the Nara period (710-794) and are categorized into subgroups, such as items related to Emperor Shomu (701-756; r. 724-749), furniture, musical instruments, games, military equipment, writing tools, Buddhist implements, calligraphy, and textiles. The treasures provide an intimate view of contemporaneous East-West trade, since they include richly exotic items brought during the Tang dynasty (618-907) from China and areas beyond. These Shosoin treasures are extremely fragile, having been preserved for close to thirteen hundred years, and as a result they are of necessity inaccessible to the public, except when a select number are displayed during exhibitions held each fall in Nara.
During the Meiji era (1869-1912), the project of reproducing the Shosoin treasures began, with the purposes of both conveying the appeal of these treasures to as many people as possible and passing on their superb techniques to future generations. Since 1972, the Office of the Shosoin Treasure House in the Imperial Household Agency, which oversees the treasures, has been conducting a full-scale reproduction project, meticulously replicating the materials, techniques, and construction of the treasures. Integrating the skill in traditional techniques of master craftsmen—among them artisans who have been designated Living National Treasures—with the results of cutting edge scientific investigation and research, these reproductions have been recreated not merely in their external appearance but also in their inner essence; they deserve recognition not simply as copies but as the ultimate in traditional craft objects.
This exhibition memorializes the celebration of the Imperial enthronement by bringing together masterpieces carefully selected from the hundreds of reproductions that have been made. We would be delighted if, as you encounter the beauty and skill of Tenpyo times brought back to life, you sense the significance of passing on Japanese traditional techniques as well.