One can imagine a cool summer breeze when looking upon this set of dishes, each shaped with a crenulated mouth and glazed with blue. Around the rim and into the basin, the bowls have low-relief designs of flowers with underglaze yellow petals; their leaves and stems show white through the glaze. On each dish, the design continues over the rim onto one side.
View the original at Cleveland Museum of Art →Article 1 sets a purpose larger than preservation: to preserve cultural properties AND to make use of them, contributing to the cultural advancement of the people and to the progress of world culture. Article 4 turns that outward. An owner must recognise the object as a precious national asset, preserve it for the public, and make it public as far as possible. Ownership here carries a duty to show.
The cool part. "Living National Treasure" appears nowhere in the statute. Article 71 requires that when an Important Intangible Cultural Property is designated, the minister must also certify its holder or holding group. Japan does not register the pot, it registers the potter. Article 96 is the one that reaches ordinary people: if you uncover a shell mound, a dwelling site or a tumulus, you must leave it exactly as it is and notify the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs without delay, and the Commissioner can freeze the ground for up to three months.
Verify at e-Gov 法令検索 →Use it Take the ratio, not the picture. It sets a page better than a grid does.
Description source: museum curator text — not generated