«In the service of art and art education» – Conversation with Princess Akiko of Mikasa

Japan Lecture Series
The Japan Lecture Series is dedicated to topics that concern both Switzerland and Japan. Important personalities from Japan from a wide range of disciplines will give public lectures at the University of Zurich.

Speaker
Princess Akiko of Mikasa received her doctorate from the University of Oxford in 2010. Her research interest is on Western collections of Japanese art, Anglo-Japanese cultural exchange and the understanding of reproduction in Japan and the West. She serves as a Professor of the Institute of Japanese Culture, Kyoto Sangyo University, Special Guest Professor of Kokugakuin University, Guest Professor of Kyoto City University of Arts and holds various other official positions. She is also engaged herself in handing over Japanese traditions to future generations, so she organises many workshops and lectures on Japanese culture for children with her organisation Shinyūsha.

Content of the lecture
Copying the Buddha or Copying Buddhist Thoughts?

The Golden Hall of the Hōryūji Temple near Nara (founded 607) which is the world’s oldest wooden building used to hold mural paintings dating from the late seventh century. They were among the oldest examples of mural paintings with Buddhist icons comparable to those of the Ajanta caves in India and to the Mogao caves in Dunhuang China. Tragically most of them were lost to fire in 1949. The lecture will focus on the tradition to copy these mural paintings which started in the mid 19th century. It also illustrates how the purpose of these reproductions changed.