SAINSBURY INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JAPANESE ARTS AND CULTURES ANNUAL REPORT 2008-09 2 SAINSBURY INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JAPANESE ARTS AND CULTURES ANNUAL REPORT 2008-09 3 CONTENTS 3 Mission statement and objectives 4 Foreword by the Chair of the Management Board 6 Director’s statement 10 Message from the Director and Principal of SOAS 12 Research networks 14 Research programmes Arts Cultures past Cultures present Japanese Literature in Art Colloquy series 32 Fellowships 36 Lisa Sainsbury Library 40 Publications 52 Third Thursday lectures 54 Calendar of events 58 Supporters 59 Management Board and staff 60 Management and finance 87 Japanese summary Detail from Kitagawa Utamaro, Myriad Birds (Momo chidori), 1790. © Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. 4 MISSION STATEMENT AND OBJECTIVES The Sainsbury Institute was founded in 1999 Our research objectives are to work with our The Institute continues its close collaborations through the generosity of Sir Robert and academic partners and funders: with institutional partners including the School of Lady Sainsbury to promote knowledge and Oriental and African Studies, University of London understanding of Japanese arts and cultures. • to increase progressively external (SOAS), schools of study at the University of East recognition and awareness for the quality, Anglia and the British Museum. It maintains its The mission of the Sainsbury Institute is to be scale and authority of our research in the programme of fellowships, public lectures and an active source of and conduit for innovative material and visual cultures of the Japanese international workshops as well as its research: positioning, revealing and interpreting archipelago; commitment to the web and web publications. the arts and cultures of the Japanese archipelago The Lisa Sainsbury Library in Norwich remains from the present to the past in regional, European • to act as a catalyst for related international central to the Institute’s vision and its collections and global contexts. research of institutional partners of standing; are a research resource of major importance that we are pleased to share with advanced scholars • to contribute to the development of synergy throughout Europe. benefits within the University of East Anglia and amongst the Sainsbury benefactions there. FOREWORD BY THE CHAIR OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD This is the first Annual Report of the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures that I have the privilege to introduce as Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia and ex officio Chair of the Institute’s Management Board. In so doing I would like to pay tribute to the work of my predecessor, Professor Bill Macmillan. During his three years as Chair of the Management Board, Bill Macmillan encouraged and guided the Sainsbury Institute as well as finding the time to visit Japan to further relationships with the Institute’s friends and funding partners there. I would also like to thank my fellow members of the Management Board. The Institute benefits greatly from their wise advice and I am deeply indebted to them for the time they give to the Board. One of the most rewarding aspects of becoming the Vice-Chancellor of one of this country’s leading universities is being part of the extraordinarily diverse range of activities in which the University and its associated institutes are engaged. The most innovative projects arise not from central direction but from the enthusiasm The headquarters of the Sainsbury Institute are located in the Cathedral Close, in the centre of Norwich. and vision of individuals and small groups. They are the experts, they know where the exciting opportunities lie and they are the ones who are 6 prepared to put in the effort to achieve the end Sainsbury Library at the Norwich headquarters benefactions at UEA (the Sainsbury Centre for results. of the Institute is a major research resource; Visual Arts and the Sainsbury Research Unit for The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of the Institute’s Fellowship programme helps the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas) will Japanese Arts and Cultures is an outstanding nurture the next generation of scholars; it hosts need to begin to replace the Gatsby core funding example of this kind of enterprise. Its mission lectures in London and Norwich given by world as the Charitable Foundation implements its differs from conventional university departments renowned experts; and its popular Third Thursday medium-term strategy of spending out its capital. in that teaching accounts for a relatively small lecture series has a dedicated – and increasingly I am confident that the Sainsbury Institute for the part of the Institute’s work while its research knowledgeable – following in Norwich and Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures will rise to this and outreach objectives are broadly defined Norfolk. challenge in ways which will both preserve the with the aim of setting the arts and cultures of The Institute is fortunate in that it has income vision of the founding benefactors and continue the Japanese archipelago in regional, European from an endowment fund set up by Sir Robert to build on the international reputation the and global contexts. It works to achieve these and Lady Sainsbury in 1998 and, in addition, it Institute has established in its first ten years. objectives on several different levels and in many receives regular annual grants from the Gatsby different ways, as described in the following pages Charitable Foundation to help meet some staff Professor Edward Acton of this Annual Report. The Institute’s strong links and premises costs. This funding has given the Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia with other organisations, including the School of Institute the opportunity to establish itself as one Chair of the Management Board, Sainsbury Institute Oriental and African Studies, University of London of the leaders in its field without the pressure for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and leading national museums in this country of having to generate income to cover its core and abroad, bring benefits to all; its international costs. It has, of course, needed to secure external research workshops, conferences and publications project funding and has done so successfully and advance the study of Japanese arts and cultures consistently since its foundation. The willingness at the highest levels of scholarship; its senior of research councils, charitable foundations staff are in demand to advise and work with and other organisations to support Sainsbury other universities and museums; and its work is Institute-sponsored projects stands as a testimony valued in Japan and by the Japanese diplomatic to the high regard in which its work is held. In the and cultural communities in the UK. The Lisa years ahead the Institute and its sister Sainsbury 7 DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT In January 1999 the Sainsbury Institute for that their initial gift that created the Sainsbury the Japan Foundation, the Japan Foundation the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures was Institute would have in its first decade? Endowment Committee, the Great Britain established by a generous gift from Sir Robert Impact is in fact currently high on the agenda Sasakawa Foundation, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese and Lady Sainsbury. In October 2001 the Institute of funding councils at a time of financial caution; Foundation, the Kajima Arts Foundation, the took up residence in 64 The Close, Norwich, the accurate assessment of impact is important Idemitsu Foundation of Culture and Social giving the Institute a physical presence in the for all sponsors, as decisions must be made in Welfare, the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, the tranquil Cathedral Close at the heart of the city view of reduced funds. For example, the Sainsbury British Academy and the Arts and Humanities of Norwich. The rehabilitation and maintenance Institute initiated an exhibition of paintings and Research Council. Those associated with the of the brick buildings that make up the Institute prints from the Museum of Asian Art, Corfu at the Sainsbury Institute are also very grateful to were facilitated by their son Lord Sainsbury of Edo-Tokyo Museum, which attracted over 120,000 those organisations which support collaborative Turville, whose continuing support through the visitors. The success of the exhibition has brought research projects involving the Sainsbury Institute, Gatsby Charitable Foundation has enabled the a greater recognition of the Corfu Museum’s serving to extend its own research activities, Institute to deliver cutting-edge research, to offer holdings in Japan and as well as in Greece itself. notably the Art Research Center of Ritsumeikan quality programmes and to attract innovative This success reflects the international – even global University, the Center for the Study of Traditional scholars. Indeed, during its formative eleven years, – impact of the Sainsbury Institute on cultural Culture at Kokugakuin University, and the this support has allowed the Institute to establish affairs. No organisation is protected from the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto. its own unique identity, which crosscuts normal movements of the financial markets, and higher Our eleventh year provides the opportunity to academic boundaries, bringing the best of research education in the UK is looking to its strengths. The review and revitalise. During my three-year tenure on Japanese arts and cultures to Norwich and to Sainsbury Institute, with its innovative scholarship as Visiting Professor in the Department of Cultural London and beyond. A large part of the strength and network of scholars, stands as a source of Resource Studies at the University of Tokyo, I had the of the Institute is due to its mission of encouraging excellence for higher education in the UK as it opportunity to observe at first hand developments the research of scholars from Japan, North America seeks to deal with economic strictures. that will affect the shape of Japanese arts and and Europe in collaborative research projects.