EDITORIAL: Ikuo Hirayama's legacy

Ikuo Hirayama, a Japanese-style painter who depicted scenes and landscapes showing the eternal flow of time on the Eurasian continent in paintings full of poetic sentiment, has left a great legacy that goes beyond his artistic works.

Hirayama, who died of a stroke on Wednesday in Tokyo, devoted himself to the protection of cultural assets. Distressed by the fact that valuable cultural assets, which should be regarded as human treasures, are destroyed by wars and for other reasons around the world, Hirayama advocated what he called the "Red Cross Spirit for Cultural Heritage."

It is a movement to preserve and restore cultural heritages in jeopardy and leave them for future generations irrespective of their national, racial and religious backgrounds. The movement draws on the spirit of the Red Cross, which rescues casualties regardless of which side they belong to.

He also prompted efforts to collect "cultural refugees"--cultural properties stolen from museums or other places in the confusion of war--so that they can be returned to their homelands after the political situation has regained stability.

While donating his own money to such activities, Hirayama also set up a private-sector foundation to finance projects to protect cultural heritages.

He played a leading role in many such projects, including the preservation of China's Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, the restoration of Cambodia's Angkor temples, which were damaged by civil war, and the reconstruction of cultural properties in Afghanistan ruined by the Taliban regime.

He also lobbied energetically for the designation of North Korea's Koguryo Mural Tombs as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The painter visited North Korea many times for this campaign, and continued supporting efforts to preserve the historic relics even after they were placed on the World Heritage List in 2004.

Hirayama's commitment to these activities sprang from his own war experience. He was a 15-year-old in Hiroshima in 1945 when the city was devastated by the atomic bomb.

After becoming a painter, he constantly felt the fear of death as the number of his white blood cells declined, an apparent aftereffect of his exposure to radiation.

Under such circumstances, he painted a series of pictures depicting Silk Road scenes that embodied his prayers for peace.

During his travels for these works, he found the roots of Japanese culture in the cultures of the vast continent stretching far westward. These trips strengthened his determination to work for the protection of endangered cultural assets regardless of which country or region they belong to.

The cultural "Red Cross" provides not only money for activities to preserve and restore cultural heritages. It also focuses on the development of human resources and technological assistance to help local people with their own efforts for the cause.

The movement seeks to heal wounded hearts and renew people's pride in their own culture through restoration of cultural assets.

Such activities also help nurture a better understanding of Japan and promote friendly feelings toward Japanese among people overseas.

Hirayama also strongly supported the enactment in 2006 of the law to promote international cooperation for the protection of cultural heritages.

The law declares that Japan will make an active contribution to the development of diverse cultures in the world. It also says such efforts should foster respect for different cultures in the minds of Japanese. This is another important viewpoint that should not be forgotten.

Believing international cooperation for the sake of culture is the shortest way toward world peace, Hirayama dedicated himself to these activities. He did far more to promote the cause than an artist is expected to do.

If Japan is to win the trust of the international community, it needs to remain committed to steady, long-term efforts to protect cultural heritages around the world even after it has lost this powerful leader.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Dec. 5(IHT/Asahi: December 7,2009)