Terms of Use

Last Updated: June 11, 2026

1. Acceptance of Terms

Welcome to nihon-arts.org (the “Site”), the digital catalogue and database of the Pinkowitz Collection. By accessing or using this Site, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use the Site.

2. Use of the Site

The Site is provided for scholarly, educational, and informational purposes, as well as personal non-commercial use. It serves as a digital catalogue for the Pinkowitz Collection of Japanese art.

Machine-Readable Data and Interoperability Endpoints: The Site may provide public machine-readable endpoints, including public object JSON, IIIF Presentation resources, and W3C Web Annotation JSON-LD for published collection records. These endpoints are offered to support scholarly citation, interoperability with compatible tools, and non-commercial research reference. Access to these endpoints does not place the Site’s content, including but not limited to images, texts, annotations, metadata, or catalogue structure, under an open license. These endpoints remain subject to these Terms of Use. For more information, see the Developer API & Interoperability page.

  • No Accounts Required: You do not need to create an account to view the collection.
  • No User Content: The Site does not allow for user submissions, comments, or public posting.

3. Intellectual Property & Image Usage

A. The Site as a Digital Catalogue

Nihon-Arts.org is a digital publication of the Pinkowitz Collection. The structure, design, taxonomy, and content of this Site constitute an original curatorial work and scholarly compilation.

Pinkowitz Collection Ownership: Unless otherwise specified, all content on this Site is the property of the Pinkowitz Collection or its scholarly contributors (if specified). This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Visuals: Digital photographs, detailed macro photography, diagrams, and site design elements.
  • Text & Data: Scholarly essays, catalogue entries, captions, analysis, transcriptions, translations, commentary, provenance records, physical descriptions, interactive annotations, machine-readable data exports, public object JSON, IIIF Presentation resources, W3C Web Annotation data, and other structured catalogue data.

Distinction: Public Domain Artworks vs. Protected Digital Content
We wish to clarify the copyright status of the materials on this Site:

  • The Underlying Artwork (Public Domain): We acknowledge that many of the physical artworks in the collection (e.g., pre-modern paintings, calligraphy, books, and prints) are in the public domain due to their age. The Pinkowitz Collection claims no copyright over the underlying physical works themselves.
  • The Digital Content (Protected): However, the digital photographs and texts produced for this Site are original intellectual works. While such materials may synthesize established scholarship or widely known information, their specific expression, selection, coordination, arrangement, and curatorial analysis are protected by copyright. You may not use these digital images or texts without permission solely because the underlying works are in the public domain.

Modern and Contemporary Artworks (Copyrighted Works)
Certain works in the Pinkowitz Collection may be modern or contemporary artworks that remain protected by copyright under applicable law. In such cases, copyright in the underlying artwork belongs to the artist, the artist’s estate, or another authorized rights holder. The inclusion of such works on this Site does not grant permission to reproduce, distribute, publish, or otherwise use the artworks. Any use beyond viewing them on this Site must be authorized by the relevant copyright holder. The copyright status of individual works varies by jurisdiction and circumstance. Users are solely responsible for determining whether a work is protected by copyright and for obtaining any necessary authorization before use. The Pinkowitz Collection makes no representation as to the copyright status of any specific work.

  • Images of such works displayed on this Site are presented at restricted resolution and may not be downloaded, enlarged, saved, or reproduced in any form.
  • Viewing these images on this Site is permitted solely for personal, non-commercial reference.
  • Any reproduction, distribution, publication, or other use requires prior authorization directly from the relevant copyright holder.

Third-Party Copyright and Institutional Images
Certain images on this Site may be the property of third parties, including museums, libraries, archives, galleries, photographers, publishers, or other institutions. Where applicable, these copyright holders or source institutions will be clearly specified in the captions, bibliography, credit lines, or image metadata. The Pinkowitz Collection does not claim ownership of these materials, and permission to reproduce or use them must be obtained directly from the respective rights holder or lending institution.

Machine-Generated Transcriptions and Annotations
The Site utilizes OCR and machine-learning tools to generate preliminary text transcriptions (e.g., “Red” status unverified annotations). While purely machine-generated text of public domain works may not be subject to copyright, the human-reviewed edits, translations, curatorial enhancements, and the structured compilation of this data as a whole are protected intellectual property. You may not bulk-download or harvest this data to train other systems, as the database compilation itself remains protected.

B. Permitted Personal & Classroom Use

We invite students, researchers, and educators to use this Digital Catalogue for non-commercial scholarly and educational purposes. You may download or use images and text owned by the Pinkowitz Collection, that are not subject to third-party copyright restrictions, without requesting permission solely for:

  • Private study and personal research.
  • Classroom teaching and educational presentations.

Condition of Use (Citation): Any use of these materials must be properly cited.

  • For Images: You must credit the image using standard academic formatting (e.g., Chicago Manual of Style) by including the Artist, Title, Date, and Medium, followed by the required credit line: "Courtesy of the Pinkowitz Collection, [Insert Object Number]."
  • For Textual Content: You must cite the specific author or contributor (if listed) and the Pinkowitz Collection as the publisher.
  • Note: Materials credited to third-party institutions or external copyright holders are not covered by this permission and may require authorization from the respective rights holder.

C. Uses Requiring Permission (Publication, Commercial, & Social Media)

We generally encourage the inclusion of our collection in scholarly works. However, to ensure proper recognition for our researchers and to maintain the integrity of the collection's history and scholarly record, you must obtain written permission prior to:

  • Publication: Reproducing images or substantial portions of catalogue text in any book, academic journal, exhibition catalogue, or magazine (print or digital).
  • Social Media Reposting: Uploading, reposting, or displaying our images or text on social media platforms (including but not limited to Instagram, X/Twitter, Facebook, or TikTok) or third-party websites.
  • Commercial & Non-Profit Use: Using our content for advertising, marketing, merchandise, or any for-profit or non-profit business activity outside of personal research.
  • Adaptation: Modifying, remixing, regenerating, or reposting our text and images for any purpose.
  • Machine-Readable Reuse: Bulk downloading, harvesting, mirroring, republishing, redistributing, or reusing API, IIIF, W3C annotation, or other machine-readable data outside the permissions described in these Terms requires prior written permission.

Requests involving third-party copyrighted works, including modern and contemporary artworks or images credited to external institutions, cannot be approved by the Pinkowitz Collection. Users must contact the relevant rights holder directly.

D. Requesting Permission & High-Resolution Imaging

We review permission requests on a case-by-case basis and are happy to support colleagues and scholars. Please note that a licensing fee may apply for certain uses.

Special Imaging Services: If you require higher resolution images for publication, or if you need new photography of specific details or angles not currently visible on the website, we may be able to provide these upon request.

To request permission or inquire about special imaging, please email [email protected] with details of your project.

4. Prohibited Conduct

You agree not to use the Site for any unlawful purpose or in any way that could damage the Site or the Collection. Specifically, you agree not to:

  • Use any robot, spider, scraper, crawler, automated script, or other automatic device, process, or means to access the Site for the purpose of monitoring, copying, harvesting, bulk downloading, or extracting any material from the Site.
  • Use public API, IIIF, W3C Web Annotation, or other machine-readable endpoints to scrape, harvest, mirror, republish, redistribute, train machine-learning or artificial-intelligence systems on, or commercially exploit the Site’s images, texts, annotations, metadata, catalogue structure, or other content, unless expressly authorized in writing by the Pinkowitz Collection.
  • Use any data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools, including artificial-intelligence or machine-learning systems, to scrape, copy, or train models on the Site’s content, including images, text, annotations, metadata, and structured data.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of the Site or the server on which the Site is stored.
  • Use the Site in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the Site.
  • Circumvent or attempt to circumvent any technical measures implemented by the Site to restrict downloading, enlarging, or reproducing images.

5. Disclaimer of Warranties

The Site is provided for educational and scholarly reference purposes only.

  • “As Is” Basis: The Site and its content are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without any warranties of any kind, either express or implied.
  • Accuracy & Scholarly Change: Scholarship is an evolving field. The attributions, dating, provenance, and descriptions of art pieces are subject to continuous scholarly review and change. The content of this Site is frequently updated and edited without prior notice to reflect new research and ensure accuracy. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of this information. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk.
  • Attribution & Research Standards: We provide catalogue information as summarized educational and scholarly resources. While we strive to align with general field knowledge, following common practices, certain types of entries (such as object label texts and descriptions) are often synthesized from various public, educational, and scholarly resources for brevity and clarity. The absence of specific footnotes, citations, or bibliographies in these types of texts does not imply that the information is unique to this Site or that the research is exhaustive. We act in good faith to credit major contributions where common and possible, but please be aware that omissions may occur in the summarization process for specific types of information entries.
  • Machine-Generated Content (OCR): Certain text on the Site, specifically unverified OCR transcriptions, is generated by machine-learning algorithms and has not been reviewed by a human editor. We make no representations regarding the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of machine-generated content. You are advised to independently verify such text against the original source images.

6. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent provided by law, in no event will the Pinkowitz Collection, its owners, affiliates, contributors, or licensors be liable for any damages of any kind, under any legal theory, arising out of or in connection with your use, or inability to use, the Site, including any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages.

7. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Pinkowitz Collection, its owners, and its contributors from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use or your use of the Site, including, but not limited to, your use of the Site’s content, images, and services.

8. Third-Party Links

This Site may contain links to other sites and resources provided by third parties (such as individuals or institutions including museums, libraries, and archives). These links are provided for your convenience and reference only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

9. Governing Law

All matters relating to the Site and these Terms of Use, and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, United States, without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision.

10. Waiver and Severability

No waiver by the Pinkowitz Collection of any term or condition set out in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of the Pinkowitz Collection to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

11. Changes to Terms

We may revise and update these Terms of Use from time to time in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of revised Terms of Use means that you accept and agree to the changes.

12. Contact Information

This website is operated by the Pinkowitz Collection. All feedback, comments, requests for technical support, and other communications relating to the Site should be directed to email: [email protected].