Yamagata Network’s Activity Report & Objective ~Part45

Introduction

The cleaning operation in Kamiyama City Northern Public Hall has started. This operation is held by members of society, in order to continue the operation during the university holiday. Borrowing the room in the public hall, preparing the operation, carrying out the operation. All are done by the members of society, after their daily work. We indeed owe a lot to their efforts and cooperation. I hope more people will participate in our activities. Besides, what great colleagues, I am really proud of their work.

On 10th February, school leavers who now live in Tokyo joined the cleaning operation in Yonezawa. Recently, we accepted the interview by a wonderful newspaper writer. He sincerely listened to our stories. Many fellows are supporting us. Let us do our best in each place next week!

[Last Week’s Activity Report]

1. On 7th and 9th of February, we carried out the cleaning operation in Kamiyama City Northern Public Hall.
2. On 7th February, the cleaning operation in TUCS was held.
3. Likewise, we had some continuous operation in workplace.
4. We accepted the interviews by newspapers.

[This Week’s Objective]

1. On 14th and 16th of February, we will have the cleaning operation in Kamiyama City Northern Public Hall.
2. On 14th February, the cleaning in TUCS will be carried out.

[Acknowledgement]

In terms of making the list for the Japanese books of Miyagi Prefectural Agricultural High School Library, we could finish the operation because of the students and lecturers of YWJC. Ongoingly, we will engage for listing the Western books. We express our gratitude for people who joined our operations. Among them, we would like to say thank you to Mr Toru Shindo, a lecturer of YWJC.

With regard to the public relations, we accepted the interviews by NHK Yamagata, Yamagata Newspaper, the branch office of Nikkei. Thank you for your visitation. Besides, Chido Museum in Shonai area immediately offered their cooperation, when the Yamagata Network had started our activities. In this time, the museum shared the pages of their magazine (vol.49) for us, and we could introduce our rescue operation for historical materials. We would like to express our gratitude to the museum.

Ibaraki Network News Letter vol.29

~Information about the inaugural meeting of the Chiba Network for Rescuing Historical and Natural Materials~

On 3rd March, the inaugural meeting for the Chiba Network for Rescuing Historical and Natural Materials (the Chiba Network for Rescuing Materials) will be held. The following is the information from them.

[The Inaugural Meeting for the Chiba Network for Rescuing Historical and Natural Materials]

Since the Eastern Japan Earthquake on 11th March last year, one year has nearly passed. The devastation in the Tohoku area is well known though, in Chiba prefecture, Asashi City and other regions were affected by the Tsunami, and the reclaimed areas alongside of the Tone River and Edo Coast were extensively waterlogged. Under such circumstances, in the Tohoku area, mainly the Miyagi Network for Preserving Historical Materials immediately sent the information of the extent of the damage, and the rescue activities were organised based on the Network. Hereafter, the great earthquake which is predicted to hit the Kanto Area in the near future. At present, in the Kanto area, Ibaraki and Kanagawa prefectures have already had the Network for rescuing and preserving historical materials. Chiba prefecture, which faces the coastline as well as the 2 prefectures mentioned above, established the Chiba Network System for Rescuing Cultural Heritage in 2009 though, regrettably, it still have not yet well-organised as the system which send and share information and effectively carry out the rescue activities when the disaster will occur. As the people who have engaged in the survey and research in various field in the prefecture, we consider that we have responsibility to implement the required rescue operations as soon as we can and to immediately share the information about the extent of damage for the historical and natural materials in Chiba Prefecture.

For this reason, we decided to establish ‘the Chiba Network for Rescuing Natural and Historical Materials’ with the associations concerned as follows: Inbagun City Liaison Council for Preserving and Application for Local Historical Materials, the Headquarter for Rescuing Cultural Heritage damaged by the Eastern Japan Earthquake in National Historical Museum, the Research Room for Japanese History in Chiba University, the Department of History in Chiba University, Study Society for Japanese History in Chiba, the Researching Group for Boso Historical Materials (so far). We have now started to establish the mailing lists. For the time being, we aim to organise the system to gather and share the information which are possessed by association, institution, and individuals, who have been researching the historical materials in the prefecture, in order to immediately carry out the rescue operation. The following is the inaugural meeting for launching the Network. We welcome to everyone who has an interest in us.

Date: Saturday, 3rd March, 2012 from 5pm-7.20pm

Place: the Multimedia Lecturer Room, 1F, in the Building for Humanities Department, Chiba University (Get off at Nishi-Chiba Station, and the 10-minute walk)

[Schedule]

Greeting: Prof Masatomo Goto (Chiba University)

Explaining the Purpose: Prof Hiroshi Kurushima (National Historical Museum)

Individual Report:

• Mr kazuhiro Shin (Natural History Museum & Institute, Chiba)

“The sequence of starting the Network for Rescuing Materials, and its problems –the origination of the Chiba Network System for Rescuing Cultural Heritage leading by the Association of Prefectural Museum”

• Mr Yasushi Kawaguchi (Katori City Board of Education)

“The extent of damage of the cultural heritage in Katori City and the efforts for reconstruction”

• Mr Hiroyuki Hujikata (the commissioner of Study Society for History in Chiba)

“The rescue operation for historical materials in Sakura City”

Discussion and Adoption

Overview and Greeting: Prof Kenji Sugawara (Chiba University)

Yamagata Network’s Activity Report and Objective ~Part44

~From the blog of 6th February of the Yamagata Relief Network for Cultural Heritage~

Introduction

Thank you for your cooperation every day. Because of the month switching from January to February, I will restart after the short suspension.

Recently the Yamagata Network News Letter vol.1 was published by Ms Moe Igarashi, Mr Kazushi Yamada, Mr Hiroyuki Koaji, Mr Masaki Amamoto, Ms Eriko Goto, Mr Hideyuki Sudo. Thank you very much when you were busy and had meetings although it snowed heavily. Hereafter, these news letters will be put around many places in Yamagata Prefecture to appeal for our rescue operations for historical materials and effort for disaster prevention activities. Furthermore, they are available to freely send on, so we need your cooperation for setting and spreading out this news.

[Last Week’s Activity Report]

1. On 23rd January, the cleaning operation in Yamagata University was held.
2. On 24th January, TUAD and TUCS carried out the cleaning operation.
3. On 26th January, TUAD again held the cleaning operation.
4. On 27th January, YWJC had a cleaning operation in their campus.

[This Week’s Objective]

1. On 7th and 9th of February, the cleaning operation will be held in Kamiyama City Northern Public Hall.
2. We will start to advertise about the 3.11 meeting.

Miyagi Network News vo.159

~The Report of the Rescue Operation for Old Family in Ishinomaki City~

Yoshiyuki Saito, a member of the Miyagi Network for Historical Materials

On Sunday 29th January, we held the rescue operation for the K family in Ishinomaki City, alongside of Kitakami River, where was flooded by the Tsunami. The K family is said to have moved from Tome to Ishinomaki in the early Edo Period, and throughout the period they worked as the town doctor here. After the modern times came, besides being doctors, they worked as assembly members of the town; for this reason they are known as an important family. Their estate consists of big main house, 2 subsidiary buildings, a whitewashed warehouse and barn. Because of the size of the estate and a quaint atmosphere, we and the local historians had always been interested in it before the Earthquake.

Destroyed wall

By the Tsunami of 11th March, this house was flooded by the 1~2 m wave and it caused the ground floor to be covered by mud, and scatter the furniture. Last December, from the descendant family we received the information that the buildings were scheduled to be demolished by March, and then if we had interest in their properties, we could carry out the survey. Therefore, we visited them and asked them to look around the building. In the main house, there were innumerable Fusuma(*1) which had undercoating documents from the Edo(*2) period to the Meiji(*3) period, likewise, we found old archives in the barn and whitewashed warehouse. For this reason, we confirmed the necessity of preserving operations and we projected to carry out the rescue operation cooperated with the Miyagi Networkand the group of preserving Ishinomaki-Sengokubune.

Old archives discovered in the barn

On the day of the operation, having 8 voluntary workers from both groups, we started to work from 10 am. As we surveyed the main house, barn and whitewashed warehouse, we completed preserving 30 cardboard boxes of old documents and 20 pieces of Fusuma by 4pm. Almost all of them were waterlogged, and terribly covered with mould because 10 months had already passed after the Tsunami. We wondered whether it would be significantly difficult to repair these historical materials and how many materials could be restored; we however transferred them to the secretariat office in Tohoku University for the time being.

confirming the condition of Fusuma

Because it snowed a few days before the operation, the day was the coldest day this winter and the operation was held under the hard circumstances. Despite these difficulties, thanks to the good collaboration between the secretariat office which had well-experienced preparation and the members who worked excellently, we could finish preserving a large amount of historical materials within the estimated time. We express our deepest gratitude to the people concerned.

NB: The photos are all from the homepage of the Miyagi Network for Preserving Historical Materials.

*1 Fusuma: sliding door made from paper and wood, used to partition off rooms in a Japanese house. Sometimes they have beautiful traditional pictures, or old historical documents on the underside to strengthen against being torn part.

*2 Edo: A division of Japanese history which spanned from 1603 to 1868.

*3 Meiji: A division of Japanese history which spanned from 1868 to 1912.

Yamagata Network’s Activity Report & Objective ~Part42

~from the blog of 22th January of the Yamagata Network for Cultural Heritage~

Introduction

Sorry for not updating for such a long time. In the regular meeting on 19th January, we talked about the activities as from February about which we will inform you later. On 11th March, we will have a conference for reporting our activities in last year, and will discuss future subjects. This will be also notified later, so if you have time, please come and join us.

[Last Week’s Activity Report]

1. On 16th January, the cleaning operation in Yamagata University was held.
2. On 17th January, we had the cleaning operation in TUAD and TUCS.
3. On 19th January, TUAD again carried out the cleaning operation, and after that we had a regular meeting there.
4. On 20th January, YWJC held the cleaning operation.

[This Week’s Objective]

1. On 23rd January, Yamagata University will have the cleaning operation.
2. On 24th and 26th of January, TUAD will carry out the cleaning operation.
3. On 24th January, the cleaning operation in TUCS will be held.
4. On 27th January, YWJC will hold the cleaning operation.

Miyagi Network News vol.158

~The rescue operation of the whitewashed warehouse in Sendai City~

This is Yuichi Ebina, a secretariat officer of the Miyagi Network for Preserving Historical Materials.

Time is changing from 2011 during which we dedicated our entire time to the Earthquake, to 2012 when the devastated areas have started to make their first steps to reconstruction. On the other hand, the demolition of houses in the inland area has rapidly progressed, and at the same time, we are hurriedly visiting each area every day.

In the middle of January, we received information that the whitewashed warehouse of an old family in Sendai City would be demolished. Therefore, the secretariat office of the Miyagi Network visited the warehouse for surveying. By the impact of the Earthquake, the roof tiles of the warehouse had fallen and the roof had holes in it. Although the demolition of another building also affected by the quake had already started, we asked to suspend the operation for the time being. On 18th January, We carried out the urgent survey and rescue operation.

The old house is located in front of a certain shrine in Sendai City, and had run a rice shop since the Edo period, and they stopped the business around 10 years ago. From the warehouse, we discovered the account books concerned with trading rice mainly between Meiji(*1) and Taisho(*2) period, and the Fusuma(*3) which had old documents as undercoated papers. A large amount of account books, which were made for every customer, informed us of the active condition of the shop and its trade.

Other than the documents, many apparatus, which were used in the shop, like the shop curtains and aprons which bore the name of the store were found, and the old tin toys were also discovered from the corner of the warehouse. Likewise, old paper fans which had the name of other shops in Sendai City printed on them were decorated on the wall. Among them, we could see some shop-names of shops there which recently closed business. This area once flourished as a temple town though, nowadays the circumstances around there changed a lot. However, from those objects we could recall the merchants who earnestly ran their businesses here.

Each devastated area has now progressively decided on its the reconstruction plan and design; it is therefore inevitable for damaged buildings to be demolished according to each plan. We wish the earliest possible reconstruction of the devastated areas, at the same time, we keenly hope to be given a bit more time for rescuing and preserving as many historical materials as we can.

 

NB: The photos are all from the homepage of the Miyagi Network for Preserving Historical Materials.

*1 Meiji: A division of Japanese history which spanned from 1868 to 1912.

*2 Taisho: A division of Japanese history which spanned from 1912 to 1926.

*3 Fusuma: sliding door made from paper and wood, used to partition off rooms in a Japanese house. Sometimes they have beautiful traditional pictures, or old historical documents on the underside to strengthen against being torn part.

Yamagata Network’s Activity Report and Objective ~Part41

~From the blog of 15th January of the Yamagata Relief Network for Cultural Heritage

—About our activities as from 8th January

Introduction

Sorry for updating at such a late time. Since last week we have started the full-scale operation for cleaning historical materials. Dear participants, the road must have been frozen and snow piled high, so please take care on your way. We will have a regular meeting on 19th January. If you have free time, please come and join us.

The day after tomorrow is 17th January, when the Great Hanshin Earthquake occurred in 1995. As we remember the disaster as well as the Eastern Japan Earthquake, we all in together preparing for the natural disasters in order to prevent mischance as much as possibly we can.

[Last Week’s Activity Report]

1. On 8th January, we had a meeting with Yamagata Prefectural Museum.
2. On 10th January, the cleaning operation in the TUAD and TUCS was held.
3. On 12th January, TUAD carried out the cleaning operation.
4. On 13th January, the cleaning operation was held in YWJC.
5. In the afternoon on 14th January, we had a meeting concerned with the tidying operation for historical materials which the cleaning had already been done.

[This Week’s Objective]

1. On 16th January, Yamagata University will have the cleaning operation.
2. On 17th January, both TUAD and TUCS will carried out the cleaning operation.
3. On 19th January, the cleaning operation in TUAD will be held, and we will have a regular meeting there.
4. On 20th January, YWJC will have the cleaning operation.

Ibaraki Network News Letter vol.26

The rescue activity in Sekimoto, Kitaibaraki City

On 12th January, since we received the request from the Kitaibaraki Board of Education, we carried out the rescue operation for historical materials of an old family in Sekimoto. Because the whitewashed warehouse was damaged by the Eastern Japan Earthquake and it was scheduled to be demolished in a few days, we removed the collections from there. Due to the urgent request, we did not advertise for voluntary workers; therefore secretariat officers of Ibaraki Network, lecturers, postgraduate and undergraduate students in Ibaraki University were engaged in the operation.

This family possesses the famous documents written in early modern times, which were published in “The History of Kitaibaraki City”; those had been however transferred to temporary repository. At this time, what we did was to carry out the furniture, correspondences and official documents which still remained in the warehouse.

The procedure of this operation was nearly same as those of being carried out in Hirakata (see: Ibaraki Network News Letter vol.22). First of all we made a floor plan of where the materials and artefacts were stored, and took them off as numbering one by one. The materials were mainly having literal information. At the same time, we interviewed the master of the house and recorded the circumstances of the warehouse. The tableware had the name of Japanese eras such as ‘Kaei(嘉永, 1848-1854)’, ‘Tenpo(天保, 1830-1843)’, so we assumed that the warehouse had been established around those periods.

 When our operation reached a final phase, we found a group of documents from the back of closet, presumably written in the early modern times. At the same place, we discovered a huge amount of old copper coin for stocks. Those were all ‘Kanei-tsuho’, which were made during Edo period, and the weight was at a rate that was impossible to easily lift. Moreover, we did a brief survey in the back of the ground floor, where it had been said no materials were, then we found 2 small document cases. Both were filled with the documents written in the Edo period. Although we could not read them because they were firmly fixed to each other, those had words like ‘Dear Kogi(公儀, means authorities, or Shogunate government, or Shogun)’, and ‘Complaint’, so they are seemingly official documents. We consider that those are newly-discovered documents.

We could bear fruit by carrying out the rescue operation cooperating with the Kitaibaraki Board of Education. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the master of the house, the family members, and people concerned.

(Professor Osamu Takahashi, Ibaraki University)

How do we accept the Eastern Japan Earthquake?

~From the News Letter on November 2012 of the Network for Historical Materials~

Hiroyuki Matsuoka

I have to apologise for the delay in delivering the first news letter of this year. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to all of you across the whole nation, who donated over 7 million yen to us for the Eastern Japan Earthquake fund. Those contributions have been made good use of rescuing historical materials in Miyagi, Yamagata, Iwate, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Niigata and Nagano prefectures.

On the other hand, last September, Typhoons No.12 and 15 struck the Japan archipelago in succession. Especially the extent of sediment damage caused by Typhoon No.12 was said to be the worst since the end of World War II, and the number of victims and missing reached 94 mainly in Wakayama and Nara prefectures. In Hyogo prefecture, one fell victim and 2 houses were destroyed, and the house inundation above floor level amounted to 1,364 (reported by Fire and Disaster Manegement Agency, as of 2nd November). We extend to the victims and their families our heartfelt condolences. We, the Network for Historical Materials, established the emergent system in the secretariat office, and tried to grasp the conditions in the devastated areas and consulted how to respond to this extraordinary situation. As time passes, people in Wakayama Prefecture organised the Wakayama Network for Preserving Historical Materials, and they have started operations. We sincerely expect their excellent  work.

It is the tradition that the newest member of the steering committee writes this column; I would therefore like to set out my original intention. I myself study Japanese modern history and have been engaged with compiling the local governmental history of Osaka. For this reason, I have been watching the devoted activities of the Network of Historical Materials with my sincere respect. In such days, the special exhibiton titled “The preservation activity for Historical Materials —suggestions  from the devastated area by flood” was held in Osaka Historical Museum. In my impression, this project included the purpose of seeking for the cooperation with other organization in Osaka. I myself also participated in the workshop of urgent measures for waterlogged materials. As I listened to the story of the devastation in Amami Island in Kagoshima Prefecture and Sayo-cho in Hyogo Prefecture , I keenly felt the importance and meaning of the activities by the Network. This was 4 days before the Eastern Japan Earthquake.

Sitting at the end of table of secretariat office, I was overwhelmed by the damage of the Earthquake. However, in the second half of October, when I visited Sendai City in Miyagi Prefecture, people in Sendai worried about us and said ‘Was Osaka safe?’, even though they were sufferers. Now the bad effects of clamorous administrative and financial reform have emerged around me. Even if this is not the case, I have witnessed the historical documents and materials facing danger, which were inherited by the next generation. It is repeatedly said though, this is indeed my problem that how we share the past, present and future with locals and how to establish the preparative system against natural disasters. As I am a resident, a member of the Network for Historical Materials as well, I would honestly like to tackle this issue.

Next month is December. Soon the coldness will be more bitter. Each area has its own problem and the continuous efforts which present a new vision of how to solve them will be required. We appreciate your further support and cooperation.

 

Miyagi Network News vol.157

~Participating in the voluntary operation in the secretariat office of Miyagi Network~

Kosuke Kitamura, Postgraduate student in Chuo University

During 2 days from 20th to 21st of December, when the snowy night sky was impressive, Prof Yamazaki and 4 students in his seminar participated in the preservation operation for damaged historical materials held by the Miyagi Network for Preserving Historical Materials.

Mr Amano, who was a secretariat officer, carefully instructed us of the work sequence one by one. Because of him and the nice atmosphere of the Miyagi Network, we, who for the first time join the rescue operation, could enjoy the process without feeling lost.

Our operations were mainly dry cleaning, desalination, and the sterilization for waterlogged materials. ‘Do not damage any materials.’ This is common sense, which has been hammered into our heads since we were undergraduate students. However, our operations were an array of various procedures including removing the mud and dirt by pallets and brushes, cleansing materials with water, and spraying ethanol; we therefore always faced the risk of harming materials if we had a lapse of concentration. Time passed by like a flash from morning to evening, and the mental tiredness was more serious than physical tiredness, due to the work in a half-crouching position. Especially, the operation, which immersed materials underwater, acted completely counter to our ‘common sense’ which should avoid putting paper materials near water. For this reason, we were filled with a feeling of tension and hesitation, when we tried to treat historical materials without any harm, which involved very thin papers from early modern times, seemed to be easily torn. Throughout the operation, we not only admired the efforts by the members of the Miyagi Network, who carried out the preservation procedure for a huge amount of historical materials, but also keenly realised that the Eastern Japan Earthquake was an extraordinary situation to which any normal ‘common senses’ did not apply.

It was also a precious experience to communicate with people who voluntarily engaged in the rescue operations. During both days, the participants reached over 10 members including us. As we worked with people who assembled from the local area, outside of Miyagi Prefecture from young students to elderly people, we talked about the trigger for the voluntary work and the situation when the disaster occurred. Almost all people were serial participants, and we were impressed with their attitude in which they hoped to constantly join the preservation activities. I am ashamed to say that it was the first time to participate in the voluntary operations in the devastated area even though I also would like to join in their remaining activities in one way or another.

It was only 2-day-participation, we shared the feeling which tried to rescue and preserve the damaged historical materials with voluntary members, and worked together seriously and in a friendly mood. Moreover, on the first day, we could listen to Prof Hirakawa’s story, and it was extremely meaningful. We would like to express our deep gratitude to secretariat members, and hope that our efforts could reciprocate their courtesy. Thank you very much.

Editor’s postscript

The first article of 2012 was produced by Kosuke Kitamura, who joined our voluntary work at the end of last year. We are most grateful to Mr Kitamura for contributing his article and participating in our operation by a unit of Yamazaki seminar from Chuo University. (written by Daisuke Sato)

 

NB: The photos are all from the homepage of the Miyagi Network for Preserving Historical Materials.