UK-Japan Cultural Heritage Research

Dr Ksenia Chmutina of Loughborough University’s School of Civil and Building Engineering received a £3,000 grant in September 2014 in order to head to Kyoto (京都). In conjunction with Professor Rohit Jigyasu and Professor Takeyuki Okubo from Ritsumeikan University’s Institute for Disaster Mitigation for Urban Cultural Heritage (R-DMUCH), joint research was conducted to look into new and innovative methods of preventing water-related damage to sites of historic and cultural significance, an issue seen in both York and Kyoto.

Kyoto served as Japan’s capital and the emperor’s residence from 794 until 1868. It is now the country’s seventh largest city with a population of 1.4 million people and a modern face, but it still carries an important historical value, with the city being full of beautiful temples, shrines and other historically priceless structures.

It is often perceived that the main natural hazard the city is prone to is earthquakes. Most of the regulations related to the resilience and disaster risk management of the cultural heritage sites are focussed on earthquakes, landslides, crime and fires; this is not surprising considering the geographical and cultural context of Kyoto. However the risk of flooding should not be underestimated. Rain and rivers have caused large-scale floods almost annually. Since the Japanese archipelago formed as a result of crustal movements around the rim of several tectonic plates, steep mountains cover most of Japan’s national territory. This topography causes rivers to be extremely steep, which makes floods also extremely rapid – unlike floods in Europe, they appear and disappear taking assets and creating destruction on their way.

The areas of Kyoto most prone to flooding are Arashiyama in West Kyoto (嵐山、西京都) and Fushimi in South Kyoto (伏見、南京都); both are important cultural and economic areas of Kyoto.

Water features are a prominent part of Kyoto heritage sites, however with the increasing levels of precipitation in Kyoto, these water features can also be seen as a risk multiplier for a slow onset disaster, such as flooding. Traditionally, Japanese society had learnt how to live with floods, treating water (excessive at times) as a part of a daily life. Traditional knowledge has a lot to offer when it comes to disaster risk reduction (DRR) measures, however without raising awareness among the population it is often neglected and undermined. Professor Okubo from R-DMUCH) shared a lot of information with Dr Chmutina about the use of traditional knowledge (a fascinating research into traditional measures for disaster risk reduction in Japan can be found in his newly published book). Some examples of such traditional measures include:

– When dyke systems fail, tatami mats were used to reinforce them: firstly, the size of tatami mats is standardised (higher than the dyke), secondly there is a large a number of them readily available (each house has at least 20); thirdly, they absorb water well. To an extent, they have played the role, which is now played by sandbags in many European countries.

– Bamboo flood walls: whilst letting water to seep through, they reduce the speed of water and stop the debris

– Raised levels of the buildings, with main rooms being on the upper level.

– Shrines and temples were built on the highest grounds, thus becoming a multi-purpose building: in the events of emergency, they were (and still are) used as evacuation centres.

Dr Chmutina’s 5-day visit included looking at places such as the beautiful Golden Pavillion (Kinkakuji, 金閣寺), the Kamo River banks (加茂川), the Philosophy Path (哲学の道) and traditional bamboo flood walls at the Kinkakuji. Photos are displayed in the sidebar. These visits have allowed Dr Chmutina to complete her second case study on methods of protecting cultural heritage sites from flooding. This follows on from her 1st case study on York, you can read about it here. As a result of DR Chmutina’s research, strong links are now in place between York City Council and Kyoto City, not to mention a good relationship between Ritsumeikan and Loughborough Universities. Dr Chmutina’s project has also made a strong impact in the Civil Engineering world, with a €6-million proposal into more research concerning the protection of sites of cultural heritage to produce a study that will be presented at a conference in Finland in May 2016. There are also plans to write an academic paper for the International Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development concerning the York and Kyoto case studies. Congratulations to Dr Chmutina in her research and also in strengthening the links between japan and the UK!