Interview with Curator Yuko Ban of the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum
We spoke with Yuko Ban, a curator at the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum.
This article presents an interview conducted during our first visit in August 2019.
The Kurashiki Archaeological Museum has more than 700 exhibits
Does the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum do excavations and research as well as exhibitions?
Ban
We used to conduct excavations and research, but now our main focus is exhibitions.
When the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum first opened, local governments had not yet established systems for excavation and research.
So requests for excavations and research came to our museum.
We also received requests from other prefectures.
Most of the items currently on display were excavated or researched by the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum in the past.
We also display finds from other prefectures because our museum used to travel to other prefectures to conduct excavations and research.
Later, local governments and universities became able to excavate and research archaeological sites, so our museum stopped conducting new excavations and research.
However, new discoveries sometimes emerge as we organize, study, and research finds from the past.
How many exhibits are there?
Ban
There are currently about 700 items on display inside the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum.
There are also more than 200 boxes of items that are not on display.
Some are broken and have not yet been restored, but there are certainly a great many of them.
There are that many! Where are the items that aren't on display?
Ban
We have a storage facility where they are kept.
Archaeological exhibits require imagining their historical context, and we want to help visitors do that
Is there anything you keep in mind when putting together an exhibition?
Ban
We deliberately keep the explanations for the current exhibits concise.
If we try to explain things in detail, we inevitably end up using a lot of technical terms, and the text gets long...
But I think the explanations may now be too concise and difficult to understand.
In the future, we're considering adding supplementary explanations using illustrations and diagrams.
That would make things easier for children to understand, and adults could also grasp the information at a glance.
With archaeological materials, we need to explain not only the information visitors can get from the exhibits, but also the historical period and the background of people's lives.
Visitors can appreciate them as they would works of art, or read them for information as reference materials.
We want to help them do that.
Also, we occasionally replace some of the permanent exhibits.
Highlights include special stands, a culture unique to Kibi, and weight-shaped pottery unique to the Seto Inland Sea region
Are there any exhibits or features unique to Kibi that cannot be seen elsewhere?
Ban
When it comes to things unique to Kibi, the first that comes to mind is the special stands.
They are the precursors of haniwa.
Haniwa are well known from school textbooks, so I think people will recognize them.
Also, the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group in Osaka has become a World Heritage Site, and since burial mounds and haniwa go together, special stands may be an exhibit of particular interest right now.
Another famous item, though not unique to Kibi, is the Yayoi-period weight-shaped clay object, often found in the Seto Inland Sea region.
Among the Seto Inland Sea areas, Okayama Prefecture in particular has yielded many weight-shaped clay objects.
We hope the experience of visiting the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum will help preserve archaeological sites
Is there anything you'd like to try or are thinking about doing in the future?
Ban
On August 24 and 25, 2019, we are going to hold our first-ever workshop on the first floor of the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum.
As part of the Children's Art Museum 2019 organized by the Ohara Museum of Art, we held a workshop on making bronze mirrors.
Participants polish the surface of bronze to turn it into a mirror.
The bronze mirrors on display are old, so they don't look much like mirrors, do they?
So I thought that if people tried polishing one themselves, they might learn that people in the past also had the technology to make mirrors like these.
Another thing visitors often tell us is, “There were several things I thought I remembered seeing in my textbooks.”
That is really important.
For example, a heavy-equipment operator discovered a bronze bell at a construction site on Awaji Island.
The operator happened to find the bronze bell while working and thought, “I feel like I've seen this in a textbook.” Realizing what it might be, they contacted a research institution, and it turned out to be a very important find.
It was a discovery that revealed how bronze bells were rung and used—something that had previously only been conjectured.
So I hope that remembering, “I saw something like that at the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum,” might lead to the preservation of archaeological sites and finds.
From the Writer
Before the early Edo period, the plains of Kurashiki were under the sea, and the area around the Bikan Historical Area was an island.
For that reason, the only exhibits from around the Bikan Historical Area on display at the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum are from Hashima Shell Mound.
However, north of Kurashiki City lies Kibiji, once the heartland of Kibi Province, and the city's northern Mabi and Sho districts were also part of it.
At the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum, you can see valuable materials showing that ancient Kibi was one of the most powerful regions in the country, alongside Yamato and Izumo.
The fact that haniwa originated in Kibi, and that iron production began there early, may be discoveries that are difficult to learn about without visiting the archaeological museum.
In the Reiwa era, burial mounds and archaeology are attracting attention, with the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group designated a World Heritage Site.
Haniwa decorating burial mounds, paired with keyhole-shaped burial mounds, originated in Kibi.
A culture originating in Kibi is registered as part of a World Heritage Site
I hope you will pay particular attention to that.
Articles about the Kurashiki Archaeological Museum
Kurashiki Archaeological Museum Information
| Name | Kurashiki Archaeological Museum |
|---|---|
| Address | 1-3-13 Chuo, Kurashiki City |
| Contact | 086-422-1542 |
| Parking | None |
| Opening hours | 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. (admission reception until 4:30 p.m.) |
| Closed | Monday and Tuesday Open on public holidays Closed during the year-end and New Year holidays |
| Admission (tax included) | Adults: ¥500 (groups: ¥400) High school and university students: ¥400 (groups: ¥320) Elementary and junior high school students: ¥300 (groups: ¥240) People with disabilities: ¥240 Preschool children: Free ※Groups are 20 or more people ※Fees may change for special and temporary exhibitions ※To receive the disability discount, a disability certificate must be presented (applies to the person with the disability and up to one accompanying person) |
| Payment methods |
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| Reservations | Accepted |
| Smoking | Entirely smoke-free |
| Restrooms | Western-style toilets |
| Website | Kurashiki Archaeological Museum |
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