京都府立鳥羽高等学校

The second year Global Course students participated in a lecture organized by Mr. OKA Iwataro, president of Oka Bokkodo, during Landscapes of Kyoto and the World on January 11 (Sa). Oka Bokkodo is a company which engages in the conservation of national treasures and important cultural properties, mainly in the field of paintings and writing. The students learned the important role of "Sokoshi," engineer to repair, restore, and preserve art works such as paintings and calligraphies painted or written on fragile media like papers or silk. They also learned that tremendous care must be taken to ensure that all the restoring procedures do not impose any damage on cultural properties of historical significance, which requires Sokoshi of high ethical standards. They realized that it is necessary to combine various knowledges from humanities and sciences in order to repair and preserve cultural properties appropriately, which will give the students important clues when they start preparing for selecting future courses. They were greatly impressed to find that the level of the skills introduced in the lecture has been highly recognized not only in Japan but also globally.