On August 21, 2024, I participated in the Wikimania 2024 Tokyo – GLAM Editathon, held at the Research and Information Center, the Tokyo National Museum. This event was held as a Tokyo local breakout of Wikimania 2024, with the goal of enriching the Wikimedia Commons by writing Wikipedia articles using the Tokyo National Museum’s collections and materials.
Fourteen participants, gathered at 10:00 a.m. for an overview presentation by Wikimedian Eugene Ormandy. Then a lecture by the museum staff on how to use the museum, and a free tour of the Tokyo National Museum’s exhibits. After seeing the lacquerware exhibit in the Japanese Gallery (Honkan), where I was scheduled to write an article on the day of the event, I took a tour of the Asian Gallery (Toyokan), and was very happy to see the Yokogawa Tamisuke Collection of Chinese ceramics, which I had always wanted to see.
After lunch, the editathon finally began at 1:00 pm. While Eugene gave an orientation for beginners, the veteran group immersed themselves in their own themes. I was planning to write an article on “Yoshinoyama Makie Kendai” (Reading Stand with Mount Yoshino), which is mentioned in the article “Sinking of the Nil” that I had previously published on Wikipedia.
The “Sinking of Nil” refers to the accident of the French ship Nil, which sank off the coast of Izu in 1874, with a cargo of Japanese goods that had been exhibited at the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair. The lacquer ware “Yoshinoyama Makie Kendai,” which was among the items, was salvaged more than a year after the ship sank at sea, but it remained in sound condition. It was to show the world the durability of Japanese lacquer, and recent restorations have restored it to its former glory, and it is still being loaned out to various places in Japan and abroad.
This time, I was able to see various materials related to this lacquer ware at the museum. To my surprise, by entering the “item number” of “Yoshinoyama Makie Kendai” in the detailed information into the OPAC‘s advanced search, I could search for exhibition catalogs and other materials that contain this lacquer ware. In this case, 32 hits were found, and by browsing them, I was able to obtain quite detailed information.
In the end, I spent most of my time adding many references to the article on the “Sinking of Nil”, and only added a new entry with minimal information to the article on the “Yoshinoyama Makie Kendai”. However, when I returned home, I found that some Wikipedian had added information to the article. Then I also made a Wikidata entry. It was a great day, and I had a chance to meet other participating Wikipedians. They are willing to work together to create a better encyclopedia, even if they don’t usually see each other, and I am very happy to work with them.
Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation