NABUNKEN NEWS vol.49

Rescue activities for cultural properties

　The occurrence of the magnitude 9.0 2011 Tohoku Earthquake off the Pacific Coast (at 14:46, March 11, 2011) and associated giant tsunami caused extensive damage to the Tohoku district. The Great East Japan Earthquake struck large numbers of government-designated, local municipal entity-designated, and undesignated cultural properties.

　On March 30, 2011, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties joined "the Committee for Salvaging Cultural Properties Affected by the 2011 Earthquake off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku and Related Disasters since April 2011" organized upon request of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Since then, over the course of these two years, the Nabunken has undertaken various cultural-property rescue activities such as those for: (i) damaged cultural properties at museums, fine art museums, and cultural-property storage facilities; (ii) emergency treatment of paper historical materials due water-damage caused by the tsunami, etc.; (iii) provision of goods/materials required for the rescue of cultural properties; (iv) provision of vehicles (vans and 4 ton trucks) to transport the affected cultural properties; and, (v) campaign finance for affected cultural property rescue. Even today, more than 40 research staff-members dispatched to the disaster areas are working on rescue activities. Meanwhile, administrative staff-members addressed clerical work related to the dispatch of staff members and transportation of goods/materials. Frontline activities in the field in the disaster areas and background support at the Nabunken were undertaken Institution wide.

　Especially, with regard to the emergency treatment of water-damaged paper historical materials, the sequence of the rescue system has been created, such as: (i) the transportation and cold storage of damaged paper materials through the cooperation/support of Nara Market Cold Storage Co., Ltd.; (ii) freeze-dry lyophilization by the Nabunken and other institutes located in the Kansai District (the Nabunken, Archaeological Institute of Kashihara (Nara pref.), Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Archaeology, Kobe City Buried Cultural Property Center, and Himeji City Board of Education); and, (iii) cleaning work by "the Research Association for the History and Recovery of books", an NPO. This system of cooperation will work for the future rescue activities for water-damaged paper historical materials.

(KŌZUMA Yōsei, Center of Archaeological Operations)

Drying water-damaged historical paper materials, using Large-size freeze-dry lyophilizers