Brawl wounds sideline kabuki star
Source : Kyodo via Japan Times
Date : 27/11/2011
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| Ebizo Ichikawa. (Mainichi) |
Kataoka Nizaemon and Kataoka Ainosuke will play Ebizo's part in the acts "Okuni Kabuki Yume no Hanayagi" ("Okuni Kabuki's Dreamlike Beauty") and "Uiro Uri" ("The Medicine Peddler") during the "Kichirei Kaomise Kogyo" ("December Kabuki Program"), the theater said.
Ebizo, 32, was taken to a hospital Thursday morning after he was beaten up by a man during a brawl in a restaurant during an argument. His nose was broken in the fight, according to his father and veteran kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro, 64.
Ebizo was drinking with friends in the Nishiazabu district late Wednesday even after announcing the same day the cancellation of a Thursday press conference, citing health problems.
[Kyoto News] Ebizo is a popular figure in Japanese media, having risen from "bosozoku" Japanese rebellious and noisy biking youth and and is notorious for his now over playboy bachelor life.
A colorful and outspoken character, Ebizo enjoys a fan base in the thousands who organizes special events in his honor with pricely admission fees, the next of which will probably be cancelled due to his cheek bone being crushed.
Japanese Kabuki world is discretely famous in Japan for being linked if not controlled by the Japanese mob. However unfortunate, the brawl does not come as a surprise to most of the Japanese audience anymore than a similar altercation involving Russell Crowe in the US would.
Higashi-Honganji Temple in Kyoto turns to first new bell in 400 years
Source : Kyodo / Japan TimesDate : 25/11/2010
Kyoto - A Kyoto temple recently replaced a 400-year-old bell to commemorate the 750th anniversary of the death of Shinran, the founder of the temple's Buddhist sect.
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| Ring in the new: Monks at Higashi-Honganji Temple in Kyoto strike a new 4.5-ton bell for the first time Sunday. KYODO PHOTO |
The old bell of Higashi-Honganji Temple, cast in 1604, was one of the few surviving items from when the temple first opened in 1602.
The temple of the Shinshu Oni sect was destroyed by fire several times in the past, and the current buildings date back to 1895.
The new 4.5-ton bell is 2.65 meters high and 1.6 meters in diameter. It was donated by a caster in Higashiomi, Shiga Prefecture. Monks held a ceremony to strike the bell for the first time Sunday.
Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Piano at Kyoto Concert Hall
Date: 25/11/2010
Source: Kyoto News
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| Toshiko Akiyoshi |
International Jazz Hall of Fame Toshiko Akiyoshi will play, during a solo piano concert in the Ensemble Hall Murata, at Kyoto Concert Hall, on Thursday evening, November 25th at 7:00PM, tunes such as "Long Yellow Road", "Remembering Bud", "Django" and "Hope".
All seats reserved. Doors open at 6:30 PM.
Ticket price: 5500 yens.
Kyoto Concert Hall Access
Address: 1-26 Hangi-cho, Shimogamo, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto
Tel: 075(711)2980
Fax: 075(711)2955
Tickets Inquiry 075 (711) 3090 / 10:00 – 17:00
3 minutes walk from Kitayama station ( exit 1 ) Karasuma-line, Kyoto municipal subway.
Kyoto Concert Hall is right to the Kyoto Botanical Garden, in the Kitayama area.
Trains
JR Line
Transfer to Karasuma-line (towards Kokusaikaikan) at JR Kyoto station, 16 minutes travel.
Hankyu-Railway Line
Transfer to Karasuma-line at Hankyu-Karasuma (connects subway Sijyo-station station by path), 12 minutes travel.
Keihan-Railway Line
- Via Tanbabashi: Transfer to Kintetsu-Railway at Tanbabashi station, change at Takeda station to subway Karasuma-line.
- Via Sanjyo-Keihan: Transfer to subway Tozai-line (towards Uzumasa-tenjingawa) at Sanjyo-Keihan. Change at Karasuma-oike to Karasuma-line.
View Larger Map
Profile of Toshiko Akiyoshi
Source: BBC Radio UK 100 Jazz Profiles
Born 1929 - present
Pianist and composer. She grew up in China, and only discovered jazz in her late teens after her family moved back to Japan. There she led her own band from 1952, and in due course moved to the USA to attend Berklee College of Music from 1956. She made a reputation as a fiery bebop pianist, and played in a quartet with saxophonist Charlie Mariano, whom she married. She also worked with Charles Mingus, before spending the mid-1960s back in Japan.
After returning to the USA she led a trio, which grew to a quartet with the addition of tenorist and flautist Lew Tabackin, who became her second husband. By this time she was writing material of great originality and flair, and in 1973, she and Tabackin founded a large orchestra on the West Coast that made her an international reputation as a brilliant big band composer and bandleader.
In the 1980s, already recognised as a major force in the big band world, she relocated to New York, and re-formed her band, which she continued to lead into the 21st century. Her distinctive, percussive piano style is rooted in bebop, but her compositions have a broad stylistic range, and many of her pieces conjure up a feeling of Japanese delicacy and grace.
Further reading:
Len Lyons: The Great Jazz Pianists (New York, Da Capo) 1983
Recommended CDs:
With the Toshiko Akiyoshi / Lew Tabackin Orchestra: Kogun (RCA 1350)
Piano solo: Toshiko Akiyoshi at Maybeck (Concord)
Suggested track: The Village
Carnegie Hall Concert with Lew Tabackin (with Freddie Hubbard as guest)
Suggested track: Kourakan Suite
ICCR to set up Chair of India Studies at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan
Source : NetIndian News Network
Date : 24/11/2010
The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for establishment of a Short-Term Chair of India Studies at the university.
The MoU was signed by Indian Ambassador to Japan Hemant Krishan Singh and Prof Dosho Wakahara, President of the Ryukoku University.
An official press release said that, under the terms of the agreement, ICCR, in consultation with the Ryukoku University, shall appoint an Indian academician who would be visiting the University for a period of one semester during each academic year. The academician would deliver lectures on Indian Philosophy / Literature / History and Buddhist Studies and would contribute to the academic life of the University by engaging in teaching and research in his/her respective specialization, it said.
The Chair would commence from the academic year 2011 and the MoU would remain valid for three years till 2014, the release said.
This Chair would be ICCR’s second Chair in Japan. The first Chair on Indian Studies was set up at the University of Tokyo on September 25, 2009 and the Chair commenced in April 2010.
The establishment of this Chair is another major step in propagation of India-related studies in Japan and thereby fulfilling ICCR’s mandate of fostering and strengthening academic and cultural bonds and towards enhancing knowledge and awareness about India, the release added.
Performance art's expatriate players push the envelope
Foreigners making their mark on stage, behind the scenes at events from Kanto, Kansai to Kyushu
Date: 23/11/2011Source : Japan Times (Peter Sidell)
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| All dressed up with something to show: Artists Rukia Isono and Lucy pose for a picture backstage before their performance at Paint Your Teeth in Tokyo in April. DAVID HOENIGMAN |
Exotic dancing. Nonsensical poetry. Harsh electronic noise. Doughnuts. These are just some of the manifold sights and sounds you'll find on the bill at Paint Your Teeth, a bimonthly performance art event in Tokyo.
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| Dark matter: Sean Roe DJs with paper at JunKroom in Kyoto with dancer Misuzu, wearing a paper dress she constructed just before the performance. Below: Shayne Bowden makes some noise at artspace tetra in Fukuoka. COURTESY OF SEAN ROE, BEN KOENIG |
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"PYT is billed as 'a celebration of experimental music, literature and dance,' " explains organizer David Hoenigman. "I like the acts to be experimental in some fashion, so experimental writing or experimental music. I like acts that are visually dynamic — crazy costumes and whatnot, the more bizarre the better."
Now approaching its "terrible twos," Hoenigman's brainchild was originally conceived of as a bit of fun.
"I started Paint Your Teeth in January 2009. I wanted to connect with people, I wanted to have some fun," explains Hoenigman, a 38-year-old Cleveland-born novelist and Japan resident of 12 years. "But I wasn't interested in roped-off English-speaker-only reading events. I wanted something that celebrated the character of the city — I wanted my event to revel in the weird Bohemian quirkiness and kinkiness that people associate with Tokyo."
Over in Kansai, a similarly eclectic spectacle can be found at JunKroom, an event organized by Englishman Sean Roe.
"Broad descriptions don't do justice to the variety at a typical JunKroom event," says Roe, 47, who spent most of his first 20 years in South Africa and settled in Japan four years ago. "We've had noise musicians collaborating with butoh dancers, a gospel group from Doshisha University, a Norwegian sound artist called Jana Winderen playing recordings of melting glaciers, and Naked Mozart!
"From the outset I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted performers who were prepared to take risks and to collaborate with other performers."
Electronic noise is a common element not only of PYT and JunKroom, but also at events organized in Fukuoka by Shayne Bowden, 39, a Sydneysider who's been in Japan for 12 years.
"I regularly organize small tours and one-off shows for international musicians and sound artists," he says. "It's usually experimental music — improv, noise, performance — but also anything from jazz to grindcore. I also have an annual festival for extreme music that I created and curate called Against. The next one is planned for 2011 — it will be held at four locations in Fukuoka and feature concerts, talks and a documentary screening."
In fact, it was noise — or rather, the lack of it — that led Hoenigman to get involved in Tokyo's experimental scene in the first place.
"As a novelist, doing my art meant being shut up in my bedroom, distancing myself from humanity," he explains. "I had had enough of distance. I had developed a desire to connect with other artists.
"I went to a lot of noise shows in Tokyo, and there was a sense of community and excitement that I like to think also now infuses every PYT. I guess those good experiences gave me the confidence to interact with a wider range of artists."
The desire to network was also Roe's motivation for setting up JunKroom.
"My main reason for wanting to start the event was to get to meet performers in Kyoto," he says. "I felt that if I established some kind of event, it would be easier to meet like-minded people and it would help me connect with other organizers too. I was interested in seeing a process of cross-fertilization between different audience types and different performance types."
For Bowden, the limited range of events in Fukuoka was one factor that inspired him to take matters into his own hands.
"Some friends and I founded an independent art space, and I started organizing exhibitions and music events there," he says. "I was prompted to open a space in order to give an outside edge and more international perspective to the Fukuoka art and music scene. I left after two years or so and began curating and organizing events myself."
As well as organizing their events, Hoenigman, Roe and Bowden all also perform in a variety of guises.
"I play records on stylus-free turntables, using only paper to carry the sound from the grooves of the record to the speakers," says Roe. "The performances are quite slow and contemplative, and an exploration of pure sound. I collaborate with a Kyoto-based dancer called Misuzu — she constructs a dress made from paper directly before the performances.
"I've also collaborated with butoh dancers, and I perform as one of Amalls no Skcaj, an ambient drone improv unit that uses only Michael Jackson's music as the source material for the sounds and images we create."
In the last seven years, Bowden has performed over 140 times in Japan and overseas.
"I perform solo, mostly noise or power electronics, and also in bands with other local musicians, sometimes using analog electronics but also as a drummer," he says. "I also release recordings of some of these projects through deterra, which is the name of an organization I started in 2003 for organizing events and curatorial projects."
For novelist Hoenigman, reading is a key part of his regular appearances at Paint Your Teeth.
"Usually I collaborate with another artist or two," he explains. "Since I read in English, I want the performance to also somehow engage Japanese audience members who may not be able to understand what I'm saying. So I want something visually stimulating going on while I read. Next time I'm going to play a recording of my voice while my lovely assistant stuffs a dozen doughnuts in my mouth."
It's this emphasis on reading that he believes marks PYT out from other events.
"I haven't been to any other live performance events that so regularly incorporate works of literature," he says. "Perhaps that's my niche. I get the feeling that many Japanese organizers go for genre-specific events: a night of all noise bands or a night of all punk bands. Perhaps people are initially surprised at the eclecticism of the PYT lineup."
Conversely, Roe feels that his "foreignness" has had little bearing on the events he manages in Kyoto.
"I don't think it makes too much difference that I'm a foreign resident," he says. "I keep a relatively low profile, and I'm not sure how many people in the audience know the event is organized by a foreign resident. I prefer to act as a catalyst, introducing people to each other and bringing them on stage together for the first time."
Bowden, on the other hand, concedes that being non-Japanese may have helped him make his mark in Fukuoka, insofar as he is very open to promoting foreign acts.
"I think my projects are obviously more international, with many overseas musicians and artists playing," he says. However, this doesn't mean he can take it easy and let the events sell themselves.
"In Fukuoka attendances are small, and one has to work hard to promote a project in order to get lots of people through the door, even for internationally known musicians. I'm more laid-back than local organizers, perhaps, but I work hard to make sure that all goes smoothly."
To a man, the three expat organizer-performers have found it a rewarding experience to collaborate with other event planners and players.
Bowden cites "meeting other individuals with interests from 'the other side of the fence' " as one of the most enjoyable parts of the process.
But is it art? Find out • The next Paint Your Teeth will be held on Sunday, Dec. 5, at Gamuso in Asagaya, Tokyo: see www.myspace.com/paintyourteeth for more details. • For information on JunKroom, visit junkroomkyoto.blogspot.com Sean Roe will be performing with Misuzu at the event Schale Vol 6 (problematica.info/cb-colony/schale06.htm) on Friday, Dec. 3, at UrbanGuild in Kyoto, and with Amalls no Skcaj (amalls-no-skcaj.blogspot.com/) on Tuesday, Dec. 14, also at UrbanGuild. • For deterra and Shayne Bowden's events, see www.deterra8.com and inshayneinthemembraneous.blogspot.com/. |
Roe adds: "I get to meet and befriend some truly talented individuals, and get greater exposure to their work. In establishing these friendships I've also found new partners to collaborate with, so these meetings are helping me develop as an artist."
For Hoenigman, it's all about the meeting of cultures.
"I'm always interested in reading the blogs of Japanese artists after they've performed at PYT," he says. "They always mention that they're really nervous because they can't speak English and they're not sure if they'll be able to interact with people from various countries.
"But once the night gets going, and people start loosening up, the enthusiasm transcends the language barrier. It's a buzz when you feel the barriers disintegrating, when you can tell that everyone's really happy that they're there. Many of the Japanese artists have become repeat performers and regular attendees.
"It makes me happy."
Kan to host Lee at Kyoto summit
Date: 23/11/2010
Source: Kyodo News
Japan and South Korea are arranging a summit next month between Prime Minister Naoto Kan and President Lee Myung Bak in Kyoto, with Seoul hoping to reclaim some of the pilfered Korean historical archives Kan recently promised to hand over, sources said Monday.
But whether the cultural items can be handed over at the summit is in doubt because it can only happen after the Diet approves a bilateral accord on the matter, the sources said.
At their last meeting on Nov. 14, Kan and Lee formally endorsed an accord to transfer 1,205 volumes of Korean archives brought to Japan during its 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
The accord will take effect after the two countries' legislatures ratify it. Following the pact's entry into force, the archives are to be transferred to South Korea within six months.
Lee's visit will be part of the so-called shuttle diplomacy embraced by Tokyo and Seoul, under which the two countries' leaders make reciprocal visits to each other's countries roughly every other year.
The president's trip to Japan earlier this month doesn't count as a reciprocal visit as it was to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Yokohama.
The artifacts include royal records of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), called the Joseon Wangsil Uigwe.
Buddhist sculptures go 3D on iPads at Kyoto temple
Date: 22/11/2010
Source: Kyodo (Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
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| Source : Kyoto Shimbun |
Byodoin Temple in Kyoto began showing stereoscopic images of its rare ancient Buddhist sculptures Monday using iPad tablet computers at its annex museum.
Visitors can examine digital images on the iPads of five of its collection of 52 "Bosatsu on Clouds" wooden sculptures, created in 1053 and designated as national treasures, in their original colors at the Hoshokan museum in Uji in the western Japan prefecture.
The frontal, back and side images, created by three-dimensional calculations using a laser scanner, capture details visitors often miss while viewing the actual works.
"I would like the visitors to feel the aesthetic values that date back to the Heian Period," said Monsho Kamii, the head priest at the temple, referring to an era ending in the 12th century.
(c) 2010 Kyodo News International, Inc.
Kyoto Gaidai Nishi cultural exchange this year could be last
Date : 20/11/2011
Source : Saipan Tribune (Moneth Deposa)
Sixty-four students from Japan's Kyoto Gaidi Nishi High School arrived on Saipan yesterday for their annual exchange program with Grace Christian Academy.
The group, which also included four teachers, conveyed to GCA officials that this year could be the last of their annual visit to Saipan, which started in 2003.
They said the decision to stop the cultural exchange program is due to the lack of direct flights from Kyoto to Saipan.
Kenji Ishimi, dean of faculty of Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School, said they could still change their decision depending on the availability of direct flights next year.
He shared that students, in order to continue their friendship and close ties with the local students, have to bear the burden of traveling long hours from Kyoto to Kansai and Incheon just to connect a flight to Saipan.
“It's a long journey for our students.so we're not sure if we can continue this cultural exchange with the local schools here,” Ishimi said.
Saipan Tribune learned that Kyoto Gaidai Nishi has been holding cultural exchanges with local schools and this year marks the second time with Grace Christian Academy.
Ishimi said the Japanese students will also take up short diving lessons, participate in sports activities with local students, and spend two nights with the families of local students as part of the schools' home-stay program.
In a visit to GCA yesterday, the visiting Japanese group was seen enjoying outdoor activities as they took part in GCA's volleyball and basketball games.
A short welcome ceremony was also held at the school's chapel where both schools presented special dance performances.
Ishimi said students from Kyoto look forward every year to the cultural exchange visit to Saipan schools. He said the direct interaction with local counterparts helps Japanese students better understand and appreciate each other's culture and identity.
According to Susan Pajarillaga, GCA head teacher, 83 high school students joined the activities yesterday.
She said it is the GCA's objective to develop their students' skills in communication and interaction by mingling with foreign students. The activities, she said, help all participants become appreciative of other cultures and traditions.
My heart belongs to Kyoto
Akira Isogawa, fashion designer
Date : 19/11/2010Source : The Australian
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Fashion designer Akira Isogawa. Picture: Stephen Ward Source: /em>Supplied |
Kyoto-born Akira Isogawa moved to Australia in 1986 where he studied fashion design at the Sydney Institute of Technology.
Drawing inspiration from contemporary Japan, Isogawa is today one of Australia's most celebrated designers and his collections have gained international acclaim. Every year Isogawa returns to the nation of his birth. Here he reveals the places he likes to visit time and again.
Favourite secret spot: Kinosaki Onsen, a small town in Toyooka in the Hyogo prefecture, which is famous for its hot springs and traditional public bathhouses. More: www.kinosaki-hotsprings.com.
Favourite hotel: Tawaraya in Kyoto, a ryokan that has been run by the same family for generations. I love it most because of its garden. More: Tawaraya, Anenokoji-agaru, Fuyacho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, 604-8094. Phone: 075 211 5566.
Favourite Japanese city: Kyoto will always be my favourite city in Japan. It is where I grew up and I love going back there to see my family.
Best place to escape for some quiet time: Naoshima, a small island in Japan's Seto Inland Sea. Art collector Soichiro Fukutake collaborated with Japanese architect Tadao Ando to create an incredible retreat where art and nature meet. More: www.benesse-artsite.jp
Favourite place to shop: Kobosan, the antique market at Toji Temple in Kyoto. It's on the 21st of every month.
Favourite place to eat: Maisen, a restaurant that has for years sold tonkatsu, or deep-fried breaded pork, in Omotesando, Tokyo. The deco is delightful and unusually retro. The restaurant is situated in what used to be an old bathhouse. More: 4-8-5 Jingumae. Phone: 03 3470 0071.
The place where I find most inspiration: The mountains in Japan are sacred and of course the most famous of them all is Mt Fuji.
Best Japan travel tip: Follow what the Japanese do. For example, try to use public transport and walk as much as you can. Try to eat in local restaurants and also use the public baths.
42nd Exhibition of Fine Arts at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art
NITTEN is Japan's largest fine-art exhibition of publicly-offered works, in five categories: Japanese- and Western-style painting (respectively nihonga and yoga), sculpture, craft art and calligraphy. The NITTEN exhibition in Kyoto comprises some 600 works, including 300 principal items, which travel throughout the country, and 300 works by artists in Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures.
Date: December 11 (Saturday) — January 14 (Friday)
Exhibition space: main building, north, first floor, the main exhibition hall, and all the second floor.
Fees have simply doubled up since 41th NITTEN last year for adults whereas they are now free for junior high and elementary school students (instead of 300 yens). However, we figure that a mother with her two young children is slightly better off this year. So here are the fees:
General public: 1000 yens (800 for groups of 20+ people)
High school and college students: 600 yens (500 for groups of 20+ people)
Junior and elementary school students: Free
70+ years old living in Kyoto city: Free
El. Jr. Hi. school students from Kyoto & Shiga prefectures: Free
People with disability: Free
Disclaimer: Please check actual fees with the Museum in case we mistranslated.
Open : 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (admission until 4:30 p.m.)
Closed : Mondays (except national holidays) and from Dec. 28 to Jan. 2
Postcards, catalogs of museum collection, exhibition catalogs and other
publications are for sale (but you knew that).
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art
Kyoto has been the center of Japanese art and culture since it became the national capital in the Heian Period over 1200 years ago. Though the capital was moved to Tokyo in the Meiji Period at the end of the 19th century, Kyoto has continued to fill an important role in modern cultural development. As a memorial for the enthronement ceremonies of Emperor Hirohito, which took place in Kyoto in 1928, Kansai businesses and citizens contributed to the creation of the Kyoto Enthronement Memorial Museum of Art which opened in 1933 as the second large public art museum in Japan.
Following the Second World War, the museum was temporarily requisitioned by occupation forces. After reopening as the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art it has regularly held a great variety of exhibitions including large shows of foreign art. Since opening, gifts and purchases have contributed to the creation of a full collection that allows the museum to fill its role as a forum for modern and contemporary art. In 2000 a new Annex was opened, providing additional exhibition space. At present the museum has six projects for the promotion of art and culture.
Access
By Car:
The Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art does not have a parking lot, but there is a parking lot can be used for a fee in the neighbourhood. However, we will not disclose this information as an effort to help Gaia, this is after all Kyoto, the city of the Kyoto Protocol, and public transportation is excellent. So if you cannot walk or ride a bicycle, please come...
By Train and Bus or Subway:
Japan Railways and Kintetsu Railway
1. #5 or 100 from JR Kyoto Station.
Near the Kyoto Kaikan Bijutsukan-mae bus stop.
2. Ride from Karasuma Line Kyoto City Subway Station to the Karasuma Oike Station and change to the Tozai Line and get off at Higashiyama Station.
10 minutes walk from the Tozai Line Higashiyama Station.
Hankyu Railway
* #5, 32 or 46 from Hankyu Shijo Kawaramachi Station.
Near the Kyoto Kaikan Bijutsukan-mae bus stop.
Keihan Railway
* #5 from Keihan Sanjo Station.
Near the Kyoto Kaikan Bijutsukan-mae bus stop.
City Subway
* 10 minutes walk from the Tozai Line Higashiyama Station.
Area Map
Adress, Tel., etc.
Okazaki Park, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8344 Tel.075-771-4107 Fax.075-761-0444
Website: http://www.city.kyoto.jp/bunshi/kmma/en/index.html
Live Nagauta Performance of Monkey and Lion at Kyoto Art Center
Kabuki and Japanese dance recitals may often be heard but in the form of concerts where one can get a full taste of Nagauta music easily accessible to everyone. Here is the opportunity even for those who seldom experience traditional everyday Japanese music, along with a (Japanese) commentary for the tunes, to enjoy light-heartedly the text content.
Nagauta, literally "long song", is a kind of traditional Japanese music which accompanies the kabuki theater.They were developed around 1740. Influences included the vocal yōkyoku style used in noh theater, and instruments including the shamisen and various kinds of drums.
The shamisen, a plucked lute with three strings, is a very popular instrument in nagauta. Nagauta performers generally play the shamisen and sing simultaneously.
The written Japanese introduction to the piece on the website, which refers to the lyrics of "Gekizaru" (The Monkey Trainer), eludes even machine translation tools so there is little chance that foreigners get enlightened by the audio commentary in Japanese.
On the contrary, if songs are explained through Japanese beloved mike and PA system, it could well ruin the performance for a non-Japanese audience. Still, this event does represent a nice opportunity to discover traditional Japanese art little-known to foreigners such as nagauta fusioned with others in the genuine context of Kyoto. In case the commentary of songs was provided over a blaring PA system,
it could be enjoyed as a case of modern Japanese cultural expression and still make for an interesting experience, open to everyone.
Kyoto Art Center is a center for promoting arts, and located in the heart of Kyoto.
Before the center was founded, there was Meirin elementary school founded by local people of Kyoto in the Meiji era. This center has studio, gallery, auditorium, Japanese-style hall, free space, library, information corner, Japanese-style tea room, cafe (coffee shop Maeda Coffee Meirin), common room, shops, and etc.
Although the center is a three-story reinforced concrete structure building, its distinctive architecture and history are well worth a visit. In 2008, moste of the center was registered as a tangible cultural property of Japan.
546-2 Yamafushiyama-cho, Nakagyo-ku,
Kyoto 604-8156, Japan
TEL:+81-75-213-1000
FAX:+81-75-213-1004
E-mail: info@kac.or.jp
Website (English): http://en.kac.or.jp/
Access
Kyoto Municipal Subway, Karasuma Line to Shijo Station or Hankyu Railway, Kyoto Line to Karasuma Station or City Bus, to "Shijo-Karasuma" bus stop.
Walk 5 minutes north from Exit No.22(Karasuma Dori) or 24(Shijo Dori) on Muromachi Dori.
Please note there is no parking space at the Center.
Ticket office located on Ground Floor, West Wing (10:00 - 20:00) Floor Guide
Ticket fee: 3000 yens (book 2 days in advance)
Performance date: 25/11/2010 (Thursday)
Start at 18:30, doors open at 18:00
Venue : 大広間 (2F, West Wing) Floor Guide
Contact Tel. 075-603-7645 Email: caf87900@pop12.odn.ne.jp (Japanese)
Disclaimer: all information should be checked with organizers and Kyoto Art Center who are welcome to provide Kyoto News with the most accurate English information (contact: kyoto dot news dot contact atmark gmail dot com in English only please). We will be happy to update this post about the PA system comments !
An education in Japanese-style painting
By MATTHEW LARKING
Special to The Japan Times
Date: 22/10/2010
Economically in decline, and with its traditional craft industries going the same way, the city of Kyoto, having lost its nominal status as Japan's capital city in 1868, turned to education. Sixty four elementary schools were established by 1869, and secondary schools followed. The 130th anniversary of Kyoto City University of Arts traces its own foundation as the Kyoto Prefecture School of Painting in 1880 to these educational reforms.
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| A real nihonga beauty: Bakusen Tsuchida's "Woman Dressing Her Hair" (1911) COURTESY OF THE KYOTO MUNICIPAL MUSEUM OF ART |
Nihonga, however, is a varied genre, the divergent and occasionally antagonistic elements that formed it barely held together by regional designation. Nihonga tends to geographically divide between the city rivalries of Kyoto and Tokyo (though others such as Osaka might make strong bids) each with their own ideals, models and antipathies.
Kyoto nihonga stakes a claim that its direction followed less from the ubiquitous Kano school, de facto copybook painters to Edo-Period (1603-1868) shoguns that formed the basis of Tokyo nihonga, drawing instead on the realistic sketching that was central to the local Maruyama-Shijo School of painting. "Peacocks and Peonies" (1771) by the school's founder, Okyo Maruyama (1733-1795), is representative. The realism, however, is obfuscating, because it often masks other realities.
By 1908, for example, Bakusen Tsuchida's (1887-1936) "Punishment," which depicts a little girl crying into her handkerchief while two emotional boys stand close by, did not specifically draw from the Maruyama-Shijo tradition. Rather, Tsuchida employed the techniques of Western painting, noticeable in details such as the depiction of eyes and mouths, which his teacher Seiho Takeuchi (1864-1942) had learned from his European travels in 1900.
Despite the stimulus Western painting could offer nihonga — and the two discourses were more mutually regarding than antagonistic, as they are conventionally taken to be — the Western-painting instructor Soryu Tamura (1846-1918) resigned from his position at the school in 1889 in anticipation of the department being shut down. It was, and specific Western-style instruction was discontinued until 1947.
The factionalism of the Kyoto school, which led to the dissolution of the Western-style department, was not intended when the school was founded. Originally built on the cooperation of distinct traditions and artists in Kyoto to overcome the differences between the various Edo painting hierarchies, the school sought only to raise the city's level of arts and crafts, which were also its major industries.
Long-held rivalries prevailed, however, and friction among school staff resulted in a series of resignations and new appointments from the outset. With Western-style painting on the way out, the Northern, Eastern and Southern Divisions representing the different Japanese painting schools were combined into a single Eastern Painting Division before a decade had passed. This became the stylistic impetus for Kyoto nihonga: An amalgamation of styles, including everything from ukiyo-e (woodblock print) influences and Buddhist painting to the atmospheric literati painting of the school's first principal, Chokonyu Tanomura (1814-1907). And this became a subject of hostility in Tokyo.
All of the major painters associated with the early Kyoto City University of Arts are covered in the exhibition. And the stylistic diversity that was embraced in the development of nihonga through the early years of the 20th century is well represented, including the more unusual use of contemporary subject matters unrelated to traditional religious or historical themes, such as that of "X-ray Room" (1936) by Chuichi Nishigaki (1912-2000).
The strength of the exhibition is twofold. Rather than merely showing celebrated works of painters who taught or were educated at the school, teaching resources, painting-model books and reproductions of old paintings that students were required to imitate are abundant in display. Not only this, the intricacies of nihonga as a source of design for kimono is explored, something that extols the occasionally decried "decorative" role of the genre.
The alarming weakness, however, is that the most contemporary works are Tekison Maeda's (1895-1947) "Fish Formation," and "Moonlit Night" by Shoen Uemura (1902-1949), and date to 1939, leaving the 70 years since essentially neglected. The implication is that nihonga's formation somehow came to an end. Whereas, in fact, Maeda's and Uemura's paintings pointed one way nihonga would subsequently go. Their reduced palettes and diminished details are the fundamental beginnings of Kyoto nihonga's postwar dialogue with near abstraction, of which Shinsen Tokuoka (1896-1972) is exemplary but not considered in this show.
The omission of the school's more recent nihonga achievements is all the more striking because, while the origins of the school are illustrious, the exceedingly different postwar circumstances and realities for nihonga are left incongruously, to the exhibition's and school's detriment, without mention.
"The 130th Anniversary of the Founding of Kyoto City University of Arts: The Formation of Kyoto Nihonga — The Master Painter's Challenges" at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art runs till Nov. 7; admission ¥1,200; open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Mon. except national holidays. For more information, visit www.city.kyoto.jp/bunshi/kmma/en/index.html.
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