Introduction About JAHS

Introduction　About JAHS

The Japan Art History Society and the Present
An Outline of The Japan Art History Society
Join The Japan Art History Society

The Japan Art History Society and the Present

The Japan Art History Society is a relatively new art historical society, inaugurated in 1949 with a total of 201 members. On the other hand, the essential scholarly movement behind it was based on the modern concept of “art” (as well as other words translated from it) that entered from Europe in the nineteenth century and which began to systematize an understanding of Japanese and Asian art in the early Meiji period. The organizational support for this development were the reorganization of the Imperial Museum (Tokyo National Museum), which occurred in 1889, and the foundation of institutions such as the Imperial Museums of Kyoto and Nara (Kyoto National Museum and Nara National Museum), the Tokyo Art School (the Art History Department of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music), the Imperial University (Tokyo University) and its Japanese History Studies (the inauguration of lectures on Japanese art history). Ernest Fenollosa and Okakura Tenshin, who were associated with such developments, became, in fact, the first art historians of Japan.
The concept of “art” gave concrete shape to the formation process of a nation and the national identity of the Meiji period. Looking back at history, we can detect the same concept at work within the framework of “paintings and calligraphy” in catalogs compiled from the Muromachi to the Edo periods, such as the Gyobutsu on’e mokuroku, as well as in studies on paintings such as the Honcho gashi. In other words, these works became tools for the Muromachi Shogunate vis-a-vis the Imperial house or Japan vis-a-vis China. In this sense, these works may be thought of as Japan’s earliest works of art history.
Looking from another perspective, people such as Kano Eino and Noami, the authors of Honcho gashi and Gyobutsu on'e mokuroku, as well as Okakura Tenshin and Ernest Fenollosa, may clearly be seen as past members of our Japan Art History Society.
Presently, the total number of members in the society has climbed to as many as 2300, over ten times the inaugural membership, and the society can be included among the most far-reaching cultural institutions. Subject of study include, first of all, those that belong in a broad sense to the category of art, such as paintings, sculptures, applied arts, and architecture from the entire world as well as calligraphy from East Asia and the Islamic world. In addition, new scholarly topics not contained within the traditional concept of art are continuously accepted and subsumed within it, from studies of excavations and the accompanying ancient archaeological art, and modern art, including installations, and all the way to animation and cartoons. Again, previously non-existing frameworks of research are given form, such as problems like national identity, and the reexamination of society and regionalism from the viewpoint of art. Such research has substantially influenced other disciplines, and art history has thus become one of the most active fields in the humanities.
Support for this movement come from such events as the formation of Basic Law for the Promotion of Culture and Art in December 2001 and the corresponding change throughout society in awareness toward art. Again, application licenses for representation of scientific research expenses were traditionally not permitted for curators of art museums and other museums, and a sign of the new law is that such acquisitions are now possible, according to applications by individual museums. We do not doubt that the scholarly development of art history will lead to concrete and even richer cultural results through such changes in awareness.
This website will speak, not only to present members of the Japan Art History Society, but also to future members. I welcome from my heart the individuals, who, seeing this site and becoming interested in art history, eventually become members in our society.

May, 2002

Ogawa Hiromitsu
Delegate, Japan Art History Society

An Outline of The Japan Art History Society

The Japan Art History Society is a relatively new art historical society, inaugurated in 1949 with a total of 201 members. The present membership has since grown over ten-fold to stand at around 2300 and includes members affiliated with universities, those affiliated with museums, as well as students ? in roughly three equal portions.
Dividing the country into two parts, from the Chubu region eastwards and from the Kinki region westwards, each part has a system of affiliations and a central office. Presently the eastern office also serves as the head office of the society, with this responsibility changing every three years. Individual members belong to either the eastern or western part, based on the location of work or school.
Society presentations take place in either the annual convention, which occurs late May in alternatively the eastern or western part of the country, or in regular meetings in both the eastern and western parts of the country. Applications for presentations made by members are reviewed by a standing committee (for the regular meetings, by the region-based standing committees), who makes the decisions on whether or not it is suitable. Again, among the society publications is the Journal of the Japan Art History Society, and, upon the submission of an article according to the designated submission regulations, an editorial committee appointed by the standing committee will make the decision whether or not to accept for publication.
In addition to the Journal of the Japan Art History Society, members of the Japan Art History Society also work on editorial committees of art historical journals such as Kokka and Ars Buddhica, in addition to the bulletins published by each of the affiliated organizations. These constitute the places where valuable research by society members is published.
Standing committees located in the eastern and western parts manage the deliberation of policies and agenda of the society. Committee members from the east number eighteen and members from the west number twelve, according to the ratio of members, and are elected by votes cast by members belonging to each part prior to the national meetings. The period of duty for standing committee members is two years, lasting from the conclusion of a national meeting of the year elected until the start of the national meeting two years later. Every year half of the members, nine from the east and six from the west are replaced. Members who have been successively reelected, twice for a total of four years, are not eligible for membership in the following two years. Again, standing committees of the east and west can, if necessary, appoint standing committee members (appointed committee members).
The highest decision-making organization deliberated at standing committees resolves important agenda at general meetins held according to the national meetings. roposals are made at the general meetings and relevant items are deliberated at the meeting of the combined standing committees of the east and west held the day before.
A representative committee member is assigned to represent the society, manage various agenda, and realize policies. The period of duty is one year, with a maximum of four duty periods, and he or she is elected annually from among all the standing committee members at the conclusion of the national meeting. In addition, a representative committee member is placed in the part of the country to which the standing committee member, who is elected representative committee member, does not belong. Among the most important duties of the representative committee members is to impartially recommend, without bias to affiliated organizations, an examining committee member specializing in art history from among society members to the Scientific Research Expenses Subsidies of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science under its category of “aesthetics (various art disciplines) / art history.”

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ConcerningThe Journal of the Japan Art History Society

A periodical journal published by The Japan Art History Society. Since its founding in June 1950, it has been published, as of March 2002, a total of 152 times. In the 1950’s, an average of three to four issues were printed each year. Presently, two issues are printed every year. The editing of the journal is the responsibility of a ten-person editing committee, divided into one eastern and one western standing committees, each with five members. The eastern office edits the odd issue numbers and the western office edits the even issue numbers. Both the articles and the reference material introductions are contributions from members of the society. Presently, the due dates for the contributions are the end of May (for publication around March of the following year) and the end of November (for publication around the following October). The editing committee appoints a committee of readers (three members for each piece) to review the contributed manuscripts. Based on the results of this review, an impartial decision will be made to publish or not to publish. As a rule, the review committee is selected from the ranks of the society members, although non-society members will review some topics. The aim is to publish the contributed manuscripts as fast possible. According to the selected number of articles, the number of pages will vary, but, on the average, seven articles are published within each issue. Members of The Japan Art History Society will receive a copy of The Journal of the Japan Art History Society in the mail. Please note, however, that members who fail to pay their annual dues by the summer will not receive that year's journals.