Photo/Illutration “Chinese Lions” (Provided by the Museum of the Imperial Collections)

Masterpieces of Japanese art handed down by the imperial family for generations are to be designated as national treasures for the first time.

They include “Chinese Lions,” which is painted on a folding screen by Kano Eitoku (1543-1590) and regarded as one of his most important works, and “The Mongol Invasion,” a picture scroll dating from the Kamakura Period (1185-1333).

The Council for Cultural Affairs submitted a report July 16 to the education minister proposing that four paintings and a work of calligraphy be given the double status of important cultural properties and national treasures.

No artworks administered by the Imperial Household Agency have ever been given those designations under the Law on Protection of Cultural Properties.

The five works are all part of the imperial family’s cultural heritage and currently owned by the Imperial Household Agency’s Museum of the Imperial Collections. Also called the Sannomaru Shozokan, the museum stands in the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

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“The Mongol Invasion” (Provided by the Museum of the Imperial Collections)

“Chinese Lions” is regarded as an outstanding example in the history of Japanese paintings. Bold brush strokes are used to paint Chinese-style figures of lions walking grandly. Eitoku was a painter active during the Azuchi-Momoyama Period in the late 16th century.

“The Mongol Invasion” is a horizontal picture scroll that revolves around the story of Takezaki Suenaga, a feudal vassal who fought in both of the Mongolian Invasions of 1274 and 1281. It is deemed to be a valuable, quasi-contemporary visual documentation of historical events resulting from the Mongol empire’s aspirations of expansion.

Also to be designated national treasures are: “Colorful Realm of Living Beings,” a famous painting by Ito Jakuchu (1716-1800) of the Edo Period (1603-1867); “Legends of Kasuga Shrine,” a picture scroll from the Kamakura Period; and “Byobu Dodai” (drafts for inscription on screens), a work of calligraphy by Ono no Tofu (894-966) of the Heian Period (794-1185).

The work by Jakuchu would be the first of his to be designated a national treasure.

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“Colorful Realm of Living Beings” (Provided by the Museum of the Imperial Collections)

The Law on Protection of Cultural Properties, the basis for designating national treasures and important cultural properties, is aimed at protecting and utilizing selected cultural assets of importance.

The five artworks have eluded those legal statuses because they are already administered and protected by the Imperial Household Agency.

The national treasure status is given to important cultural properties of note. The five items will be given both statuses at the same time.

The Museum of the Imperial Collections opened in 1993 to store and display artworks donated by the imperial family to the government following the death of Emperor Hirohito (1901-1989), posthumously known as Emperor Showa.

An expert panel of the Imperial Household Agency in 2018 recommended the use of easily recognizable labeling, such as national treasure and important cultural property, on the grounds that many valuable items in the museum’s possession were not broadly appreciated.

“The national treasure status will allow items in the museum’s possession to be reassigned a place in the more general context of Japan’s masterpieces,” noted Toshiyuki Okuma, a professor of art history with Nihon University. “It will allow them to be treated on an equal footing with other works as something genuinely good and thereby obtain a more public nature.”

Okuma previously served as chief researcher for the Museum of the Imperial Collections.

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