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Huang Goodman · Art Forgotten

Art Forgotten

Art from public museum collections. A mismatched real Japanese law, and some other factoids.

Every object, image and description comes from the museum's own catalogue record, and every object links to its original. Japanese records are machine-translated into English; the museum's Japanese is kept beside the translation because it is the authoritative form. Each law carries its official number and links to e-Gov 法令検索, the Japanese government's statute database.

Drinking Cup from Dining Set with Plum Blossoms and Cracked-Ice
{Drinking Cup from Dining Set with Plum Blossoms and Cracked-Ice · Seifū Yohei II (Japanese, 1844–1878) · c. 1875–78 · Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0}

Each piece in this collection has a delicate low-relief design of flowering plum branches over intersecting lines that resemble cracked ice on frozen water, signed in gold on the base. Yohei II created many underglaze blue pieces similar to those made by Kiyomizu Shichibei. However, he also made works in different styles later in his career, starting from around 1873. In 1873, he was appointed purveyor to the Industrial Center of Kyoto Prefecture, a title linked to Kyoto's efforts to reach an international market through the port of Kobe. From 1875 until his death, he was involved in national projects to showcase Japanese ceramics worldwide. It's suggested that this set could be an early work of Yohei III, who was apprenticed to Yohei II, and he may have signed it with his teacher's name. The designs feature flowers resembling Japanese textile patterns, reminiscent of Yohei II's plum blossom vases in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In this collection, the formal exhibition tree designs have been transformed into the approachable blossoms of a home setting. Though the designs are consistent across the pieces, each handcrafted flower petal and pistil, and ice crack line, are unique. The bottoms of two bowls:

Each item in this set has a delicate low-relief design of flowering plum branches over scattered, intersecting lines meant to resemble the cracked-ice surface of a frozen body of water and is signed on the base in gold pigment. While Yohei II produced many fine works in underglaze blue, like those produced by Kiyomizu Shichibei, he also made works in quite different styles later in his career, from the early 1870s. In 1873, he was appointed purveyor to the Industrial Center of Kyoto Prefecture, a designation associated with Kyoto’s efforts to reach an international market through the port of Kobe; and from 1875 until his death, he was involved in national-level projects to present Japanese ceramics across the world. It was during this period that Yohei III was apprenticed to Yohei II, and it has been suggested that this set may in fact be an early example of Yohei III’s work, which he signed with his teacher’s name. Decorated with flowers resembling Japanese textile motifs, the set calls to mind the design of Yohei II’s  pair of vases with plum blossoms in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Here, the elaborate trees created for a formal public exhibition setting have been translated into the approachable blossoms of the genteel domestic environment. While the designs are consistent across the pieces, each raised flower petal and pistil and each incised line in the ice was done by hand, so the cups, bowls, and dishes are similar yet unique.

View the original at Cleveland Museum of Art →
The law
アイヌの人々の誇りが尊重される社会を実現するための施策の推進に関する法律
Act on Promoting Measures to Realise a Society in which the Pride of the Ainu People is Respected
平成三十一年法律第十六号 · Act No. 16 of 2019

Article 1 describes the Ainu as the indigenous people of the northern part of the Japanese archipelago and of Hokkaido in particular, and cites international circumstances concerning indigenous peoples as a reason for acting. It requires the government to set a basic policy, and lets municipalities draw up regional plans for approval by the Prime Minister.

The cool part. The definition in Article 2 is the part to sit with. Ainu culture means the Ainu language, and the ways of living, music, dance, crafts and other cultural products inherited among the Ainu, and cultural products developed from these. That final clause refuses to freeze the culture at a date, and treats what is made next as equally the thing being protected. The Act then reaches into trademark law, reducing or waiving registration fees for regional collective trademarks used by approved projects.

Verify at e-Gov 法令検索 →

Use it The border is the idea. Use it as an edge treatment and leave the centre empty.

Description source: museum curator text, translated — not generated