The Sainsbury Institute signed a formal five-year research agreement with National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo (TOBUNKEN) on 24 July 2013. Under the project ‘Shaping the Fundamentals of Research on Japanese Art’, the Sainsbury Institute will develop an on-line English database on Japanese art research outside Japan to compliment the Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo’s own art reference database comprised of information on art related publications printed in Japan in Japanese. Sainsbury Institute will be responsible for collecting and disseminating information on publications and exhibitions related to Japanese art in English. The objective is for the database to act as the first point of reference for those interested in and looking for references on Japanese art.
The project in its first year will measure workload balance to the amount of data required for processing. From the second year onwards, and once a substantial amount of data has been prepared by the Sainsbury Institute, the project aims to make the information publicly available on-line through the websites of both institutions.
The Sainsbury Institute is proud to be a partner of the Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo in establishing this data base which we hope will develop into an indispensable tool for those who study and research on Japanese art in and outside Japan.