Study on the Effect of Environmental Change on the Golden Hall of Chusonji Temple

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Golden Hall (Konjiki-do) of Chusonji Temple is stored now within a large glass showcase. The showcase was improved in 1990 because an old one was not enough sealed from outside. The average humidity inside changed from 80% to 65% due to the improvement, which caused shrinkage of wood and cracks of urushi (Japanese lacquer) layr of the surface. The study was intended to know whether the shrinkage continues or not. If not, they can think about the restoration.Following measurements were done : temperature and humidity within the showcase, width of a gap between two timbers and strain of a urushi layr. The humidity inside is almost stable at 65% while the temperature changes from 5ﾟC to 25ﾟC according to seasons. The width of a gap between two timbers also changes about 0.4mm according to seasons. It became slightly larger in 1995 but was almost stable from 1996 to 1997 in average. The strain of an urushi layr, however, still increases with some seasonal changes.These results tell us that the shrinkage of wood probably ceased after ten years of the improvement but the strain of an urushi layr still remains, which would cause a further crack. The reason why the strain remains may be because a shrank timber gives a stress to its surface urushi layr.