Nominations

The 13th Society for the Study of Japonisme Emerging Researcher’s Award(2025)

Recipient: Akane NISHII, “ La diffusion et l’exportation des objets d’artisanat d’art japonais de la fin d’époque d’ Edo à l’ère Meiji(1853-1890). Enjeux politiques, éconimiques et sociaux pour le Japon.” a doctoral thesis submitted to the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in France

Reasons for Award
Akane NISHII’s work is a doctoral dissertation exceeding 550 pages, entitled “La diffusion et l’exportation des objets d’artisanat d’art japonais de la fin d’époque d’Edo à l’ère Meiji (1853–1890). Enjeux politiques, économiques et sociaux pour le Japon” (translated: “The diffusion and Export of Japanese artistic crafts from the Late Edo period to the Meiji era (1853-1890): Political, Economic, and Social Challenges for Japan”), submitted to the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in France.
As a doctoral dissertation, the work is less a study of Japonisme per se than a presentation of the author’s extensive and long-term scholarly engagement. It is a significant academic achievement that draws on a wide array of historical sources from the period in question, including official town notices issued by the Tokugawa shogunate, trade reports, petitions and memorials within the government, and early newspapers published around the time of Yokohama’s opening to foreign trade. The author also engages with existing Japanese scholarship and builds a statistical foundation for his analysis, making the work a valuable and rigorous contribution to the field.
Akane NISHII has previously contributed articles to Studies in Japonisme, the journal of this Society, in issues 27 (2007), 35 (2015), and 37 (2017). In particular, the latter two essays—which analyze, through articles in the Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun, the sale of Japanese crafts at the emergency storehouse hastily established in Shimoda at the time of Perry’s arrival, as well as patterns of purchase by foreign clients at trading houses in the Yokohama foreign settlement—form key highlights of the early chapters of the dissertation.
The work brings to light a range of historical phenomena, such as the shogunate’s regulatory town edicts, the responsibilities assigned to merchant guilds, the actual conditions of commercial transactions, and the purchasing behavior of foreign nationals stationed at Edo temples and shrines during treaty negotiations between 1858 and 1860.
In the latter half of the dissertation, Akane NISHII examines how Japan’s participation in international expositions—particularly the 1867 Paris Exposition and the 1873 Vienna Exposition—contributed to the conceptual awakening of the Japanese government to notions of “art” and “craft.” He traces how experiences at these expositions led government figures to recognize the economic potential of artistic crafts as a means of acquiring foreign currency. This, in turn, fostered a renewed appreciation for historical knowledge, the preservation of antiquities, and support for artisans. The study details the emergence of connoisseur groups such as the Ryūchikai from early art appreciation societies, and documents the path leading to the establishment of museums, art schools, and other cultural institutions in Japan. Through close reading of governmental petitions and memoranda, the dissertation successfully elucidates the process by which the modern conception of Japanese art took shape.
That said, some limitations remain. The memorials examined are, by nature, largely idealistic, and the dissertation stops short of fully analyzing the extent to which their proposals were implemented or left unrealized. This presents a promising avenue for future research. Furthermore, the absence of engagement with certain recent studies—such as the lead article by Geneviève Lacambre, “Reflections on the Japanese Paintings Displayed at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle,” published in issue 33 of Studies in Japonisme (2013)—suggests that the dissertation does not fully incorporate the most up-to-date scholarship in the field. It is hoped that the author will continue to build upon this impressive foundation in his future research endeavors.
(The Committee on the Society for the Study of Japonisme Award)

Akane NISHII
Biography
1974: Born in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.
1998: Master’s Program in International Cultural Exchange History, Graduate School of Letters, Kanazawa University.
2006: Graduated from the École du Louvre Research Course.
2005, 2007: Member of the production team for The Illustrated Tale of Genji published by Éditions Diane de Selliers.
2008–2020: Training Coordinator / Interpreter at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
2020–2025: Japanese Language Instructor at the University of Cergy.
2024: Ph.D. École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), France.
2025–: Japanese Language Instructor at the University of Grenoble Alpes.

Achievements
“Nidai Utagawa Kuniteru ‘Yoroi no Watashi’: Ichihachiroku-nana-nen Pari Bankoku Hakurankai Shuppin ‘Edo Fūkei Kinpon Ukiyo-e’ no Saihakken”
[“Utagawa Kuniteru II’s Yoroi no Watashi: The Rediscovery of an “Edo Landscape Color on Silk Ukiyo-e Painting” Exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition.”]
Ukiyo-e Geijutsu, No. 190, 2025, pp. 5–17.
“Tokubetsu Kikō: Keiō San-nen Pari Bankoku Hakurankai no Kinpon Ukiyo-e”
[“Special Contribution: Silk-based Ukiyo-e Exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle.”]
In Over the Waves – Nanban, Bankoku, Japonisme, Exhibition Catalogue, Izumi City Kubosō Museum of Arts, 2025, pp. 107–109.
Filming and research cooperation for the NHK program Sunday Art Museum Nichiyō Bijutsukan: “Japonisme – The Wave of Beauty that Transformed the West,” broadcast on July 6, 2025.
“Les exportations d’objets décoratifs vers l’Occident à partir de 1850” [1850-nen Iko no Seiyō e no Shōshoku Bijutsuhin Yushutsu] “Exports of Decorative Art Objects to the West after 1850.” In Le goût du Japon: Voyage dans les collections du musée Saint-Rémi, Musée Saint-Rémi de Reims, 2018, pp. 14–19.
“1870-nendai no Kōgei Yushutsu: ‘Yokohama Mainichi Shimbun’ 1873–1879-nen no Urikomi-ran, Yushutsu-ran o Chūshin ni” [“Exports of Japanese Crafts in the 1870s, seen through the Urikomi and Yushutsu pages in the Yokohama Mainichi Shinbun, 1873–1879.”] Japonisme Kenkyū, No. 37, 2017, pp. 23–45.