The National Center for the Promotion of Cultural Properties (NCPCP), part of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (NICH), and Canon Inc. (Canon) announced today that the two organizations will collaborate on the creation of high-resolution facsimiles of important Japanese works of art using technology employed by the Tsuzuri Cultural Inheritance Project (Tsuzuri Project) jointly administered by Canon and the non-profit Kyoto Culture Association, and will cooperate on research and testing to develop new applications for such technology.
Due to the fragility of many Japanese cultural assets remaining today, art galleries and museums are faced with strict limitations when displaying them to the public. Therefore, the NCPCP and Canon have agreed to cooperate on the production of high-resolution facsimiles of these works that are nearly indistinguishable from their originals for viewing and additional potential applications. In doing so, they aim to provide the public with more opportunities to view cultural assets and experience them on a more personal level.
Through the Tsuzuri Project, Canon has thus far created and donated a large number of high-resolution facsimiles of Japanese works of art to such organizations as the Tokyo National Museum and other museums and art galleries across Japan, as well as Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines throughout the country. Canon and the Tokyo National Museum also collaborated in 2017 to host "Diving into Screen Paintings," an exhibit for children and families that utilized bold combinations of these facsimiles with video imagery to create an innovative and new hands-on cultural experience.
Following the establishment of the NCPCP in July of this year, this joint research project was launched with the aim of developing an operational model and creative new ways to employ cultural assets through the use of high-resolution facsimiles.
The high-resolution facsimile of "Battles of Ichi-no-Tani and Yashima, from 'Tales of the Heike'," donated to the National Center for the Promotion of Cultural Properties. The original work resides at the British Museum.
