Horyuji temple graffiti set to gain national treasure status | The Asahi Shimbun Asia & Japan Watch

IKARUGA, Nara Prefecture—A ceiling board bearing graffiti of a man’s face is among 3,284 wooden pieces affiliated with the Kondo main hall of Horyuji temple that are expected to be collectively designated a national treasure. The board formed part of a sumptuous coffered ceiling of the main hall that was built during the Asuka Period (592-710) and is the world’s oldest surviving wooden structure. A large swath of the board was burned in a fire in 1949, but the graffiti was shielded by timber and survived. In coffered ceilings, wood is cut into squares and assembled into a lattice that boards are then laid over. The graffiti, drawn in ink, measures about 5 centimeters on each side. The man is wearing a cloth crown, and appears to have wrinkles and a beard. Yoshitaka Ariga, an expert on Japanese art history and a visiting professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, surmises that an artist working on the ceiling doodled a portrait of a colleague during a break. Above the man’s face is another drawing of a hand with some fingers slightly bent. “The delicate brushwork makes it hard to believe that (the paintings) were drawn by an amateur,” Ariga said....