Over nine centuries after they were constructed, a set of doors in the Byōdō-in Buddhist temple near Kyoto, Japan, have been restored thanks to Agfa Graphics’ extensive printing, substrate and colour management expertise.
Registered as a Japanese National Treasure and World Heritage Site, the temple appears on the reverse side of the Japanese 10 yen coin. Its most famous part, and the only remaining original building, is the Phoenix Hall (Hōō-dō) constructed in 1053.
As the paint on the original west doors to the Hōō-dō was fading, Monsho Kamii, chief priest of the temple, had a special team investigate them and collect remaining small amounts of paint in order to simulate the colours and the image, using the latest digital techniques. This painstaking effort took the team some ten years. The chief priest then contacted Agfa Graphics Japan with the simulated image file and the request to reconstruct the doors.
The choice for Agfa Graphics was no coincidence. The 150-year-old graphics company has grown its business steadily, so the temple team was confident that it would have the printing and colour management expertise that was required. Ecology, health and safety were additional determining factors in the choice as the chief priest felt comfortable with the fact that Agfa Graphics develops and manufactures its UV-inkjet inks in-house.
Agfa Graphics experts endeavoured to match the expected colours as accurately as possible using in-house colour management technology and printing techniques. An Anapurna 2050i wide-format inkjet printer was used to print on the 400-year-old Japanese cypress wood that the two new doors are made of.
It wasn’t a straightforward job though. As the 1.2m x 2.5m doors weren’t flat, a special technique was developed to print on the curved surface of the frames with the help of a special tool that was created with a 3D printer. In addition, a particular kind of white ink was used to imitate the original white parts of the door.
When the doors were ready, the Agfa Graphics team received high praise from the temple’s chief priest for the result they had achieved. “The moment I saw the completed door, I couldn’t withhold my tears. To see them reconstructed had been my dearest wish for twenty years,” said Monsho Kamii.
Until December 6, the reconstructed doors will be exhibited at the museum of the Byōdō-in Temple, with explanations about the underlying efforts and processes of the restoration, including the investigation of the material, its structure, and the reproduction techniques. After that date, the doors will be mounted on their new hinges in the temple, where they will stay for an indeterminate period of time.