Mr. SHIMATANI Hiroyuki is the Executive Director of The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan, from October 2023, and the President of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage from April 2021. After graduating from the Department of Fine Arts, Faculty of Education, Tokyo University of Education, he began his career as an assistant curator in the Calligraphy Division of the Tokyo National Museum in 1984. He went on to serve in the same museum as the Director of Cultural Property, the Director of Curatorial Research, and the Executive Vice Director (also serving as the Research Coordinator of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage), before directing the Kyushu National Museum as the Executive Director.

His recent publications include Nihon no Bijutsu (Arts of Japan) 519: Wayo no sho (Japanese-style Calligraphy; August 1, 2009, Gyosei Corporation), Nihon no Bijutsu (Arts of Japan) 504: Bunjin no Sho (Calligraphy of Scholars; May 10, 2008, Shibundo Publishing), and Sho no Bi (Beauty of Calligraphy; July 15, 2013, Mainichi Shimbun Publishing Inc.).

He was also a member of the Textbook Approval and Research Council (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO (MEXT). He is currently Chair of Cultural Councils Cultural Property Subcommittee and Museum Subcommittee for MEXT.