| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SATO Kenji The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of Humanities and Sociology, Associate Professor, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 助教授 (50162425)
KANG Ung The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of Humanities and Sociology, Assistant, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 助手 (00334269)
TSUKIMURA Tatsuo The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of Humanities and Sociology, Professor, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 教授 (50143342)
TAKANO Akira Atomi University, Faculty of Humanities, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (50337474)
OZEKI Miyuki The University of Tokyo, Graduate school of Humanities and Sociology, Assistant, 大学院・人文社会系研究科, 助手 (10361552)
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| Research Abstract |
Because it spans a wide range of fields, including photography, painting, books and textiles, the Kamei Koreaki Collection has to date only been subject to partial investigation. But with the cooperation of the Kamei Onkokan in the town of Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture, our project has largely been able to achieve its goal of a comprehensive investigation and analysis of the primary sources of the collection. We have organized the photos he took during his period of study in Berlin and resolved the process by which he mastered photographic techniques. We have clarified his copies of Renaissance paintings during his period of study in London, his study of art history at Berlin University and his exchanges with artists after his return to Japan. Along with our analysis of the contents of the Kamei Collection at the University of Tokyo Library, we have traced the route by which he obtained books in Germany. In the textile portion of the collection we have simply produced an overall picture
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of the collection due to its enormous size.
In addition, our project has been able to contribute to an understanding of the man who compiled the collection, Kamei Koreaki. There are two major backgrounds to Kamei's activities. One comes from the ways the intellectual and religious aspects of the Meiji Restoration contributed to his perspective as the head of the former Tsuwano domain and a member of the new aristocracy and his strong sense of responsibility to contribute to the construction of the state. The other, which may also derive from his origins in the aristocracy, was his strong interest in culture. The 1890s, when he returned from his study at Berlin University, corresponds to the period in which Japan began to take on the appearance of a modern state, as symbolized by the promulgation of the Meiji Constitution. During this time, the world of art was also searching for a new artistic image in the wake of the tensions between early Meiji tendencies toward Western art and the subsequent reaction toward nationalism. Kamei hoped to actively take part in the debate but his efforts were left unfulfilled due to illness.
By elucidating Kamei's interactions with his contemporaries-such as his adopted father, lord of the former Tsuwano domain, Kamei Koremi, Nishi Amane, his brother the architect Matsugasaki Tsumunaga, the German architects responsible for the planning of the central bureaucratic offices of Tokyo, Ende and Beckmann, the sculptor Naito Yozo, and the painter Takahashi Genkichi - we have been able to bring into relief another aspect of the history of cultural exchanges between Japan and Germany.
A portion of our research results can been seen in the special exhibit, "The Cameraman Count : Kamei Koreaki," on display at the Shimane Prefectural Museum of Art, October 8 through November 28, 2004. We also made efforts to make public unpublished photos in the report of our research results. Less
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