2025.02.04

High-Resolution facsimiles of 'Landscapes, flowers, and trees of the four seasons' by Kano Motonobu donated to Kyushu National Museum.

Canon Inc. (“Canon”) and the Kyoto Culture Association (NPO) have donated a high-resolution facsimile of 'Landscapes, Flowers, and trees of the four seasons' by Kano Motonobu from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, USA. This facsimile was produced as part of the 16th phase of the 'Tsuzuri Project' (officially called the 'Future Succession Project of Cultural Properties').
The high-resolution facsimile has been donated to the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage and Kyushu National Museum (Dazaifu City, Fukuoka Prefecture) and will be on display at the museum until Sunday, March 16, 2025.

'Landscapes, flowers, and trees of the four seasons' is considered a reproduction of the custom of hanging scrolls on ornate folding screens, a practice that became popular in the late Muromachi period (1333–1573). The silk painting features Chinese-style ink-wash landscapes, while the gold-leaf background is adorned with vivid Japanese-style flowers.
The artist, Kano Motonobu, was the son of Masanobu, the founder of the Kano school. He established the so-called "Japanese-Chinese fusion" style by incorporating the Yamato-e techniques, a specialty of the Tosa school, into Kanga (Chinese-style ink painting), which formed the foundation of the Kano school. His innovations played a decisive role in ensuring the school's prosperity for 400 years.

The original work is housed in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in the U.S., where, according to the will of its founder, its collection is not allowed to leave the museum. As a result, the work can only be viewed by visiting the museum in person.
The production of a high-resolution facsimile has enabled this masterpiece of Japanese painting to symbolically “return” to Japan. This work, which exemplifies the fusion of Japanese and Chinese painting styles, has been donated to the Kyushu National Museum, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2025. The donation aligns with the museum’s concept of “understanding the formation of Japanese culture from an Asian historical perspective.”

The original cultural property was photographed using Canon’s EOS R5 full-frame mirrorless camera. The images were then processed with a proprietary color-matching system and printed on a large-format inkjet printer equipped with 12-color pigment inks.
Traditional craftsmen in Kyoto further enhanced the reproduction by applying gold leaf and other decorative elements before assembling it into a folding screen, ensuring the most faithful recreation of the original cultural property.

The donated work will be on display in the Cultural Exchange Exhibition Room (Permanent Exhibition) of the Kyushu National Museum until Sunday, March 16, 2025.
This exhibition features not only folding screen paintings by Kano Eitoku, a master of the Kano school, but also exquisite lacquerware, including maki-e inkstone boxes. Visitors can appreciate outstanding examples of Japanese art that emerged and evolved through influences from Chinese culture.
Additionally, the donated work offers a unique viewing experience possible only with high-resolution facsimiles. Visitors can enjoy photographing the work and viewing it up close without the obstruction of glass cases.

Kyushu National Museum Website

The Tsuzuri Project is a cultural support initiative jointly promoted by Canon Inc. and the Kyoto Culture Association (a Non-Profit Organization) since 2007. Many of Japan's precious cultural properties, including those that were lost to foreign countries over the course of history or are carefully preserved as national treasures, have limited opportunities for public viewing. The Tsuzuri Project combines Canon's imaging technologies—from input and image processing to output—with the expertise of traditional Kyoto craftsmen to create high-resolution facsimiles that faithfully reproduce the original cultural properties. These high-resolution facsimiles are donated to temples, shrines, local governments, museums, and other institutions associated with cultural properties, and are used in a variety of settings, including public exhibitions at the donation sites and in school education. To date, more than 60 high-resolution facsimiles have been produced, including works by Katsushika Hokusai, Tawaraya Sotatsu, and Ogata Korin.

'Tsuzuri Project' Website

2025.02.04

Cultural Property Sommelier wanted!

＜Purpose＞

Kyoto National Museum and Kyoto Culture Association launched the “Learning support program for elementary and junior high school students: using high-resolution facsimiles of cultural properties as leaning materials” to offer children opportunities to be more familiar with Japanese cultural properties and to raise their interests on those assets.
Now we are seeking 10 new students who learn art history at university and graduate schools and who satisfy requirement for Cultural Property Sommelier.

＜Detail＞

We seek university or graduate students who are able to participate in the project from next spring. The schooling will start in May 2025, and teaching at elementary and junior high schools will start in June 2025. There will be some gratuity for activities.

＜Application requirements＞

• The requirements for the application are as follows:
• ・Students of university or graduate schools in Kyoto, who also will be enrolled next year
• ・Who has or had taken Japanese Modern Art History class
• ・Whose university or graduate schools must be campus members of Kyoto National Museum
• ・Who will be able to participate schoolings twice or three times a month (Wednesday)

＜Number of the sommelier＞

About 10 people

＜Application period＞

Starting from Early February 2025 to April 17, 2025 until 5:00 PM.

＜Schooling＞

• Two-hour session for twice or three times a month (Wednesday)
• Place: Kyoto National Museum (except the second schooling)
• Teacher: an associate fellow of Kyoto National Museum
• Content: lecture about cultural properties; teaching methods etc.

＜Inquiry＞

Please contact Ohkubo, Kenshi at

＜Organizer＞

Kyoto National Museum, NPO Kyoto Culture Association

Supported by: Kyoto City Board of Education