I

The National Museum of Korea which is located in Seoul, Korea is one of the many institutions in the world that house Central Asian objects discovered in the present day Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China. The collection consists of more than 1,500 objects in total, and approximately 150 objects have been on display in the museum’s permanent gallery for Central Asian art since the museum’s relocation to Yongsan (Figure 1).1

( Figure 1 ) View of Central Asian Gallery at the National Museum of Korea in 2005

Like most of the Central Asian collections in the world, the one in the National Museum of Korea has a rugged past. It was originally part of the so-called Ōtani Collection, which consists of the objects excavated and collected between 1902 and 1914 during the three expeditions organized by Ōtani Kōzui (大谷光瑞, 1876-1948), who was the 22nd abbot of the Nishi Hongan-ji (西本願寺), the head monastery of the main branch of Jōdo Shinshū (淨土眞宗) located in Kyoto, Japan (Figure 2). Ōtani had learned about the European expeditions to Central Asia while he was in London in 1900-1902 and decided to organize his own expedition.2

( Figure 2 ) Ōtani Kōzui (1876-1948)

Ōtani himself participated only in the first expedition, which was carried out in 1902-1904, but he continued to be in control of the whole project, overseeing and giving orders to the members of the second and third expeditions. Along with Ōtani, Honda Eryū (本多惠隆, 1876-1944), Inoue Kōen (井上弘圓, 1872-1939), Watanabe Tesshin (渡邊哲信, 1874-1957) and Hori Kenyū (堀賢雄, 1880-1949) participated in the first expedition. The second expedition, which took place in 1908-1909, was led by Tachibana Zuichō (橘瑞超, 1890-1968), who at the age of nineteen became famous with his discovery of the Li Bo manuscript (李柏文書) near Loulan dated to the fourth century.3 Tachibana was accompanied by Nomura Eizaburō (野村栄三郞). The third expedition, which took place in 1910-1914, was again led by Tachibana Zuichō who was joined by Yoshikawa Koichirō (吉川小一郞, 1885-1978), A.O. Hobbs, and Li Yuqing (李毓慶).4

It is commonly understood that the purpose of Ōtani’s expeditions was different from the European expeditions to Central Asia, which are regarded to have developed from the imperialistic ambitions of their respective countries in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.5 Ōtani’s intention in organizing the expedition is stated in his preface in Saiiki kōko zufu (西域考古圖譜, Illustrated Guide to the Archaeology of the Western Regions) published in 1915, which mentions that his interest in xiyu or the Western Regions derived from the significance of this area in Buddhism’s eastward transmission and that his expeditions intended to gather Buddhist materials including scriptures.6 Besides, the fact that Ōtani’s enterprise was a private undertaking makes it unique when compared with the government-sponsored projects of the European countries. Moreover, the members of the expeditions were mostly young monks who were versed in Buddhist and Chinese traditions, but who lacked any sort of archaeological training, unlike European explorers such as Albert Grünwedel (1856-1935) and Aurel Stein (1862-1943).

While the religious and personal aspects of Ōtani’s expedition are undeniable, it is worth noting that the Jōdo Shinshū sect was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the Japanese government's military engagements and imperialistic ambitions around the turn of the century. In addition to providing financial support, the abbots promulgated the ideology of militarism during the wars against China and Russia.7 During the war with the Qing dynasty, Ōtani Kōson (大谷光尊, 1850-1903), Ōtani Kōzui’s father, composed a famous song that emphasized the loyalty of the followers of Jōdo Shinshū to the emperor.8 As for Ōtani Kōzui, he wrote a column in 1917 entitled “The Empire in Crisis” in the magazine Chūō kōron (中央公論, Central Review).9 Here he contended that in order to overcome the domestic and international crises Japan was facing, they should adopt militarism and the ideology of Great Asia, which implied that Japan should dominate Asia in order to prevent the invasion of external (i.e. Western) forces.

This is not to argue that Ōtani’s expedition was directly connected with some sort of political scheme or espionage.10 Nevertheless, it would be misleading to regard Ōtani’s expeditions simply as personal and religious on the basis of the source of funding and the religious orientations of the participants. It appears that Ōtani’s expedition should be understood in a larger context that involves complex social and political situations in Japan in the early twentieth century.11

As the result of the three expeditions, a sizeable collection of Central Asian objects was created, which included ancient manuscripts, murals, sculptures, paintings, textiles, coins, seals, pottery, and mummies.12 When these objects were brought to Japan after each expedition, they were kept in several locations including Nishi Hongan-ji, Kyoto Imperial Museum, and Nirakusō (二樂莊), Ōtani’s luxurious villa in Kobe completed in 1910 (Figure 3).13

( Figure 3 ) Nirakusō, Ōtani Kōzui’s villa in Kobe

The objects were further dispersed when Ōtani resigned as abbot in 1914 in order to take responsibility in the embezzlement case at Nishi Hongan-ji. This was even before the return of Yoshikawa Koichirō, the last member to return home from the third expedition, and left no time for proper arrangement and research of the objects. Upon resignation, Ōtani relocated his base to China, and accordingly part of his collection was transferred to Lüshun, which eventually became part of Lüshun Museum’s collection.14 As for the objects in Nirakusō, they became the possession of a businessman named Kuhara Husanosuke (久原房之助, 1869-1965) when he purchased the villa in 1916. In the same year, Kuhara presented the Central Asian objects kept in Nirakusō as a gift to Terauchi Masatake (寺內正毅, 1852-1919), the first Governor-General of Korea during the Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945). The reason behind Kuhara’s gift is uncertain, yet it has been pointed out that Terauchi and Kuhara were both from Chōshū (長州), and that the gift of objects was possibly made in exchange for a transfer of concessions in Korea.15

Thus a part of Ōtani’s collection came to belong to the Chōsen Sōtokufu Hakubutsukan (朝鮮總督府博物館) or the Museum of Government-General of Joseon located in Seoul. The museum opened on December 1, 1915 under the leadership of Terauchi Masatake, and one of its most important roles was to showcase the objects collected from the field surveys of archaeological and art historical monuments carried out during the colonial period.16 The museum consisted of a few buildings within the Gyeongbokgung Palace complex, including "Bongwan" or the Main Hall, a two-story stone structure in Western style, and several traditional timber-framed buildings such as Geunjeongjeon, Sajeongjeon, Manchunjeon, and Sujeongjeon (Figure 4). According to Japanese newspapers back then, the embarkation of the '373' Central Asian objects took place in Kobe on April 30, 1916 and the Sujeongjeon was being repaired for their display.17

( Figure 4 ) Sujeongjeon, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Museum of Government-General of Joseon

In September 1916, four months after their arrival in Seoul, the Central Asian objects were opened to the public. It appears that many of them were displayed in the four rooms of Sujeongjeon during most of the Japanese colonial period as shown in the documentation of the exhibits in 1916, 1921, 1926, 1936, and 1938.18 The glass plate photograph taken then shows a few wall paintings displayed in the building (Figures 5, 6).19 Research on the objects was carried out in this period mainly by Kumagai Nobuo (熊谷宣夫), who started working at the museum in 1939. He published a series of articles on the collection, many of which dealt with the murals from the Bezeklik Caves in Turfan.20

( Figure 5 ) View of the exhibits in Sujeongjeon

( Figure 6 ) A mural from Bezeklik Caves displayed in Sujeongjeon

II

With Korea’s independence from the Japanese colonial rule in 1945, the National Museum of Korea was established in December of the same year with the collection of the Museum of Government-General of Joseon.21 It continued to utilize the buildings of the Museum of the Government-General of Joseon, and the Central Asian objects continued to be housed in Sujeongjeon. In 1946, Sherman Lee, who is best known as a renowned art historian and Director of the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1958 to 1983, noticed the significance of the Central Asian collection when he was working as a civilian advisor to General Douglas MacArthur and proposed that it should be moved to a fireproof building. The proposal was accepted immediately and the objects in Sujeongjeon were moved to the Main Hall, which was the only stone building at the museum (Figure 7).22

( Figure 7 ) The Main Hall of the Museum of Government-General of Joseon

This transfer of the objects proved to be timely. When the Korea War suddenly broke out in the summer of 1950, the museum’s collection remained in Seoul during the first fall of Seoul to the North Korean army.23 In September 1950, a couple of wooden buildings at the museum housing the collection were destroyed during an aerial bombing. Most of the Central Asian objects appear to have been safe, except some, including the mummy of a young woman from Loulan, that were housed in Manchunjeon. It was unfortunate to lose the mummy, which, according to a description by a museum staff member back then, was in a fairly good condition before the damage with its blonde hair, white teeth, and fleshy cheeks intact.24

The American army reclaimed Seoul in September 1950, and the museum managed to move its major exhibits to Busan, the second largest city in Korea located in the southern part of the peninsula. However, the Central Asian objects were left in Seoul, for some of them, especially the wall paintings, were too heavy to pack and move safely in a short period of time. Fortunately though the objects escaped from the North Korean army’s attention, and were preserved in the Main Hall. In April 1951, when the American Army reclaimed Seoul from its second fall in late 1950, several museum staff members returned to Seoul and worked on the transportation of the three truckloads of Central Asian objects to the warehouse in Busan where the museum's main collection was being kept. Because of the time limit, they could not bring the entire collection, but the objects they brought to Busan included important ones including the wall paintings.25

After the war was suspended in 1953, the museum briefly used the building in Namsan in 1954, and then reopened in its new location of Seokjojeon, the oldest example of Western style architecture in Korea, in the Deoksugung Palace complex in 1955.26 A small number of the Central Asian objects among those that were kept in Seoul were displayed on the third floor of the East Wing. Meanwhile the Central Asian objects that had been moved to Busan during the war were not brought back to Seoul immediately, as the museum staff regarded that the threat of the war remained despite the ceasefire. Later in 1956, they were moved from the warehouse to the newly built Pusan National University Museum. Then in 1961, they were again moved to the new building at the Gyeongju National Museum. In 1974, after 23 years, they were returned to Seoul and were kept in the new museum building in Gyeongbokgung. In the same year, a new exhibition space for Asian objects was opened in the museum, and the Central Asian objects along with the Nangnang (C: Lelang) materials were displayed.27 During this period, the first article on Central Asian collection of the National Museum of Korea by a Korean scholar, Kwon Young-pil, was published in the museum journal Misul jaryo in 1977.28 Since then, he has continued publishing a series of articles and books on Central Asian art and culture.29

In 1986, the National Museum of Korea reopened in Jungangcheong or the former Office of the Government-General of Joseon built during the Japanese colonial period (Figure 8). In this new location, a spacious gallery of 600 square meters was provided for the permanent exhibition of the Central Asian collection.30 Approximately 150 objects were displayed including the wall paintings, paintings on silk or hemp, Buddhist sculpture, pottery and tomb figurines (Figure 9). In the same year, the first catalogue of the Central Asian collection entitled “Jungang asia ui misul (The Art of Central Asia)” featuring a selection of the objects was published (Figure 10). In addition, a special exhibition of the Central Asian collection from the Museum für Indische Kunst in Berlin was held at the museum in 1991, which helped to draw attention to Central Asian art in Korea.

( Figure 8 ) The poster for the reopening of the National Museum of Korea at the former Office of the Government-General of Joseon in 1986

( Figure 9 ) View of Central Asian Gallery in the National Museum of Korea in 1989

( Figure 10 ) Cover of the catalogue of "Central Asian Art"(1986)

As for the study of the collection, Kwon Young-pil’s pioneering works were followed by contributions of more Korean scholars including Min Byung-hoon, Ahn Byung-chan, and Lim Young-ae.31 Trained in Central Asian history and having worked as the curator of the National Museum of Korea since 1997, Min Byung-hoon established a solid foundation for the study of the Central Asian collection at the National Museum of Korea by publishing several articles that dealt with various subjects including the history of the collection, epitaph tablets and the Fuxi and Nüwa paintings from the Astana Tombs.32 He worked closely with conservators of the museum and Japanese scholars, and wrote a couple of articles on the Uighur inscriptions in the Bezeklik murals and the Turfan documents.33 Ahn Byung-chan, who worked as a conservator of the museum, contributed to the field with his writings on the fragments of the pranidhi scenes from Bezeklik Cave 15 and the conservation of the Central Asian objects.34 Lim Young-ae, a historian of Buddhist art, conducted research on several clay sculptures in the collection, which are known to be from Turfan.35

In 1996, the Korean government decided to remove Jungangcheong as part of its project of eliminating the remaining vestige of the Japanese colonial period.36 Accordingly, the museum galleries moved to a temporary location, a building within the Gyeongbokgung complex that had been previously used as the museum’s education center. At that time, only Korean objects were displayed in the limited exhibition space and no permanent exhibition of the Central Asian collection was possible. However, during this period a special exhibition on the museum’s collection opened in 2003 with the title of “Seoyeok misul (Arts of Central Asia) (Figure 11).” It showcased more than 300 objects from the museum’s collection, and they were displayed according to three themes: religious culture, funerary culture, and artifacts from daily life. As for the new research, the results of conservation and art historical collaboration between the National Museum of Korea and Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo were published in 2002 and 2005.37

( Figure 11 ) Cover of the catalogue of the special exhibition “Arts of Central Asia”(2003)

Since 2005, the Central Asian collection has been displayed in its permanent gallery in the new museum building in Yongsan, Seoul.38 The highlights of the collection include the murals from Bezeklik Caves, baskets and masks from Loulan dated to the Bronze Age, and funerary objects from the Astana Tombs (Figure 12). With this author joined the museum as a curator of Central Asia in 2004, a small-scale special exhibition on the murals of “Thousand Buddhas” theme was organized in 2006 in an effort to shed a light on some overlooked objects in the collection.39 Another project worth noting is that a comprehensive catalogue of the collection plans to be published in 2014.

( Figure 12 ) Masks from Loulan, Bronze Age. National Museum of Korea