The "Tsuzuri Project" (Official Title: Cultural Heritage Inheritance Project) is a joint project organized by Canon and the Kyoto Culture Association (NPO). The Project aims to create and make use of high resolution facsimiles of cultural assets from Japanese antiquity, with keeping the original cultural assets in more favorable environments. Canon SLR cameras are used to capture folding screens, sliding doors and other precious cultural assets from Japanese antiquity. The high resolution digital images are processed using Canon's unique precision color correction technology, and then printed out in their original size using Canon large format printers. Traditional crafts are combined with this digital technology, such as gold leaf application and mounting work wherever necessary to complete near-perfect replications of the original works.
Using a specially designed pan-tilt head that allows multi-segmented photography, and Canon's unique color matching system vastly reduces the time and effort needed to produce the facsimiles with color rendition that is more faithful to the originals. By using high resolution facsimiles, the "Tsuzuri Project" makes it possible for the original works to be kept in more favorable environments, thereby preventing deterioration and ensuring that cultural heritage will be passed down to future generations.
These high resolution facsimiles are donated to the owners of the original works, to the shrines, temples, and museums that owned them before they have been owned in other countries, or to universities, local authorities, and others with a particular connection to cultural heritage. The facsimiles are then displayed to the public in various parts of Japan, allowing a greater number of people to get a closer look at these precious assets. Some schools use the facsimiles as 'living aids' for teaching Japanese history, art, and culture. In this way, the Project represents a new challenge that goes beyond the possibilities of conventional digital archives.
High resolution facsimiles are providing a greater number of people with the opportunity to experience outstanding works of Japanese art.