The Japanese Way of Ancient Building Protection
【Global Vision】
Japan is a country with an extremely large number of ancient buildings in Asia, and its practice of preserving the style and cultural heritage of ancient capitals with unique Asian characteristics has left a deep impression on the world.
In fact, the preservation and protection of ancient buildings are extremely complex issues. It is necessary to prevent the destruction and weathering of buildings by the natural environment, and to strengthen the people's awareness of the protection of architectural heritage.
In particular, Japan is an island country with frequent earthquakes, and its ancient buildings are mostly wooden structures, which are naturally weathered and damaged much faster than brick, stone and other buildings. The difficulty and complexity of protecting ancient buildings can be imagined.
However, if every resident from the big to the national level can establish cultural protection awareness and carry out the repair and maintenance of ancient buildings in a systematic and economical way, then the ancient civilization can be rejuvenated with new vitality.
1 The protection of cultural relics requires legal support
Japan is the first country in Asia to enact a law to protect architectural heritage.
As early as 1871 (the fourth year of Meiji), the "Preservation of Antiquities and Antiquities" was formulated, which was only 31 years later than the French "Historic Buildings Act" in 1840, the first law in the world to protect architectural heritage.
In 1897, Japan enacted the "Protection of Ancient Shrines, Temples, Buildings and Antiquities" law to continuously improve the laws and regulations on the protection of ancient buildings.
For example, in 1880 (the thirteenth year of the Meiji era), the "Golden System for the Preservation of Ancient Shrines and Temples" was enacted, the "Law on the Preservation of Ancient Shrines and Temples" promulgated in 1897 (the 30th year of the Meiji Period), and the "National Treasure Preservation Law" in 1929 (the fourth year of the Showa era). etc., expanding the scope of protection of architectural heritage.
The Cultural Properties Protection Law of 1950 (Showa 25), the Ancient Capital Preservation Law of 1966 and the revised version of the Cultural Properties Protection Law of 1975 further deepened the regional protection of traditional architectural complexes. protection principle.
In order to deal with the contradictions and conflicts between modern emerging buildings and modern economic activities, Japan has formulated relevant laws to integrate the protection of ancient buildings with modern buildings.
For example, the "Basic Promotion Law of Culture and Art" enacted in 2001;
At the same time, local governments in Japan have formulated corresponding laws and regulations under the new situation to effectively preserve the style and appearance of ancient buildings without hindering the local people's livelihood and economic development.
Such as: 1968 "Kanazawa Temple Traditional Environment Preservation Regulations", "Moriokazawa City Natural Environment Preservation Regulations" and 1972 "Kyoto City Street Landscape Preservation Regulations" "City Historic Landscape Regulations" and so on.
In particular, the registration system added in the "Cultural Property Protection Law" revised in 1996 implements registration to obtain protected rights and interests for some architectural heritages that have not been protected by laws and regulations of the National Department of Culture and local governments.
As of January 2021, there are as many as 12,681 architectural heritage sites of this type that have been registered as cultural properties.
Under the guidance of the architectural heritage protection law, Japan implements a series of repair procedures that strictly follow the laws and regulations, so that most of the ancient buildings are well preserved.
In Japan, when planning to repair the architectural heritage of the national treasure and important cultural property level, you must first apply to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and only after review and approval can you enter the repair process.
The survey, design, construction, etc. of the renovation must be carried out by staff and expert teams with corresponding professional backgrounds.
According to the 1930 "Repair Report", the work team must comprehensively and completely record the repair process.
This is a written material that is funded by the state and an important source of technical reference for other construction projects.
2 Let cultural protection talents have dignity
Japan has a high forest coverage rate and abundant wood resources. Most of its ancient buildings are wooden structures that are easily affected by natural weathering and earthquake disasters.
Therefore, it is very important to raise people's awareness of consciously protecting cultural relics and train professional maintenance technicians.
The Japanese people have a strong awareness of spontaneous protection of architectural heritage, and they regard it as their responsibility and obligation to consciously abide by the cultural relics protection law and maintain historical sites.
At tourist spots all over Japan, there is almost no malicious climbing or lettering on ancient buildings.
In 1970, citizens of Kyoto, Nara, Kamakura and other places established the “National Historical and Territorial Conservation Alliance”, organized various group activities, and actively advocated public participation in the protection of ancient buildings.
For a time, the movement for the protection of ancient capital landscapes was on the rise, coupled with the boost of media publicity, which directly contributed to the formulation and implementation of the "Ancient Capital Protection Law".
The Japanese government also pays special attention to cultivating talents for the maintenance of ancient buildings and improving their social status.
In the hearts of many Japanese, the maintenance and repair of architectural heritage is a noble and respected profession. Even many dolls who have just entered school have this dream and become an ancient architect when they grow up.
According to the results of a questionnaire survey of 3,000 primary school students by Daiichi Life Insurance Co., Ltd. entitled "What do you want to do in the future", 1,998 boys preferred "big work" (ie, woodworking).
Carpentry is an indispensable type of work in traditional buildings. Only those with "big work" skills are qualified to participate in the maintenance of ancient wooden buildings in the country.
Japan has a special technology in the maintenance and repair of ancient buildings, which is to completely demolish a certain ancient building and then flip it over as it is. The Japanese will call it "Yayoi Architecture".
This type of protection has lasted for more than 1,300 years since Emperor Tenmu ordered the launch of the "Shienen Shrine" for the Ise Shrine in 690. Except for special circumstances during the war, it has basically been repeated every 20 years. Years to move the palace" has experienced a total of 62 times.
There are many sayings about "moving the palace in Shinian", but one of the recognized and important purposes is to ensure that a craftsman has the experience of participating in construction twice in his life.
Therefore, in a sense, this special method has achieved the superb skills of ancient Japanese architects and maintained the eternal vitality of classical architecture.
3 Respect for historical heritage culture
Many places of interest in Japan and the ancient architectural heritage of many historic cities incorporate Chinese elements and styles.
For example, the ancient capital of Nara, built in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, can be seen everywhere in my country's Sui and Tang Dynasties.
Here, there is the Horyu Temple built in 607. The golden hall and five-storied pagoda in the temple reflect the wooden structure religious architectural model of the Sui Dynasty in my country. It is the oldest existing wooden structure architectural heritage in the world.
The Great Buddha Hall of Emperor Shengmu Todaiji Temple, built in 741, is the largest wooden structure hall in the world.
Founded in 759 AD and completed in 770, Tangzhaoti Temple was built under the auspices of Jianzhen, an eminent monk in the Tang Dynasty.
These ancient architectural heritages with special styles can still be displayed in front of the world unscathed after a long history of vicissitudes and natural disasters, which fully reflects Japan's attitude towards cultural heritage and historical and cultural values.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Japan also had a trend of "leaving Asia and joining Europe", but the Japanese government and cultural heritage protection practitioners adhered to the bottom line of "respecting traditional cultural heritage" and strengthened the awareness of places of interest in various places. protection, and prohibit the wanton destruction of important buildings.
It is proposed that only by adhering to the true nature of traditional culture, can the vitality of the national culture be more visible, the world will be admired, and the world will be more meaningful.
Historians and archaeologists believe that Japan's relatively well-preserved Tang-style architecture is not only an inheritance of the country's architectural heritage, but also an important contribution to the protection of world cultural heritage.
4 How economic development coexists with ancient buildings
Today's world economy has entered an era of rapid development, and people's living standards are improving, and the demand for land and natural resources is also increasing.
As an island country, it goes without saying that Jin Gui of Japanese land has to find the best of both worlds between protecting ancient buildings and making full use of the land. Therefore, different renovation plans must be formulated for different ancient buildings.
For those century-old buildings that need to be repaired, the technology of "moving the palace in Shinian" is adopted, that is, repairing but not destroying the appearance of the building, demolition and renovation of the internal structure and earthquake-proof reinforcement, which not only maintains the historical and traditional charm of the building, It also ensures the rational use of land.
Such cases can be found everywhere: the brick warehouse complex around the port of Hakodate, Hokkaido, built in 1877, was renovated in 1988, and its interior was transformed into a large-scale beer hall restaurant; the original Kawasaki built in 1922 The Yokohama Branch of the Bank is one of Yokohama's representative historical landscapes.
When the company later decided to demolish the high-rise building, it built a building with a new function while preserving the building's facade.
There are many examples in Japan of partially preserving the appearance or building materials of ancient buildings during the renovation process, and this "smart utilization" and "flexible regeneration" preserve most of the architectural heritage.
5 Policy and economic support for non-genetic inheritance
In addition to sound cultural heritage protection laws and regulations, Japan provides financial assistance and policy support for architectural heritage protection.
The annual budget of the Japan Cultural Agency for the protection of cultural properties is as high as 100 billion yen (about 1.5 billion yuan).
10% of it is used to protect important domestic material and intangible cultural heritage.
At the same time, the decision-making power of controversial cultural relic renovation projects is handed over to the people.
For example, in 1969, the Nara prefectural government introduced a plan to build a Kintetsu garage on the Heijo-kyo site in Nara.
After fully listening to public opinion, the Nara prefectural government designated the Heijingjing site as a special historical and cultural site, and allocated funds to subscribe the building for protection.
In 2013, when the coal mines that were part of the "Meiji Japanese Industrial Revolution Heritage Kyushu, Yamaguchi and Related Areas" were recommended for declaration as World Cultural Heritage, the Japanese government decided to provide financial support for the remains of the island's architectural complex.
In Japan, if an important building that is recognized as a cultural property can receive government subsidies of 70% of the total cost when repairing it, it also enjoys certain benefits in terms of taxation.
The cultural property registration system involves the establishment of land value tax, fixed asset tax, low-interest loans for remediation funds, design of protection and repair, and subsidy for supervision costs, which provide key economic support for the protection and repair of architectural heritage.
Japan's cultural property protection system is a booster to promote the preservation and innovative development of cultural relics in the neighborhood, and has a more obvious role in revitalizing the regional economy.
For example, Minamikiso-cho, Nagano Prefecture, Japan was once a neighborhood that declined due to a significant reduction in population. Later, due to the preservation of Japanese-style Tsumago-juku buildings and the construction of distinctive commercial streets, it has now become a prosperous commercial center area.
Another example, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, has greatly promoted the commercial development of the area because the building of the former bank site was transformed into a glass exhibition hall.
In a word, the relevant departments of Japan, while carrying out large-scale protection of ancient building blocks, give corresponding preferential treatment to local residents, so that they can have a comfortable living environment and living space, so as to consciously protect the architectural heritage.
(Author: Chen Kun, Lecturer at Hubei University School of Art, Director of Hubei University Architectural Cultural Heritage Protection Research Center)