Creation of a collection of contemporary Japanese calligraphy in the District Museum in Toruń and prospects for its developments

Abstract

The topic of the article is the creation of one of the youngest collections of the District Museum in Toruń – a collection of contemporary Japanese calligraphy, in the years 2010–2022. Thanks to donations from Japanese calligraphy masters, it was possible to create a collection of nearly 150 objects.

Due to the almost complete lack of purchases of Far Eastern art objects for the museum’s collection in recent decades, further enrichment of the Kamienica pod Gwiazdą collection was based on donations. The most numerous came from Japanese calligraphy masters. Thanks to them, we have managed to gather a unique, interesting and diverse collection of contemporary Japanese calligraphy, unique on a national scale.

Since the first meeting with the masters of Japanese calligraphy during the exhibition in 2010, our contacts were characterized by mutual respect, cordiality and understanding. The best proof of this are both: the District Museum of Toruń hosting an annual exhibition in cooperation with the Association for International Advancement of Calligraphy Culture (AIACC) and the visits of calligraphers who not only shared their knowledge and skills with workshop participants, but also donated their works to the Museum. From the very beginning, the Secretary General of AIACC, Shinkichi Okada, has played an invaluable role in said actions.

The creation of the Japanese calligraphy collection of the District Museum in Toruń is an example of a comfortable situation for the curator, while creating a collection. Thanks to the regular inflow of acquisitions and the ability to independently select some of the works that complement it, we have been able to create a very diverse collection. It contains works presenting a wide range of calligraphic styles, from traditional to modern, bordering on painting. These works contain slogans, maxims and poetry from the poems of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (born around 660, died 707–708), after the haiku of Masaka Yūko, a poet born in 1952. Last but not least, this collection is not closed, as cooperation with the AIACC is still ongoing, which gives hope that more works will be added to our collection.