The Priest Kokei —
The Reconstruction of the
Great Buddha and the City of Nara in the Edo Period
Thru Jan 15
The Hall of the Great Buddha at Todaiji has
been reduced to ashes twice in its long history, and the current
building is the one that was dedicated in the sixth year of the
Hoei era (1709). The Great Hall, which had previously been rebuilt
in the early Kamakura peri-od, was once again burned to the ground
in the tenth year of the Eiroku era (1567). The Great Buddha itself
was severely damaged at that time. It was repaired thereafter,
but the restored Great Buddha, whose head then consisted of bronze
plates attached to a wooden frame, was left exposed to the elements
with no proper structure built to house it.
It was the priest known as Kokei Shonin who
was responsible for restoring the Great Buddha. He next began
the rebuilding of the Hall of the Great Buddha, but died at the
age of 58 in Hoei 2 (1705) without ever seeing the fruition of
his efforts. This year marks the 300th anniversary of the death
of Kokei Shonin. With the restoration of the Great Buddha and
the rebuilding of the Hall of the Great Buddha, Nara became the
destination for multitudes of pilgrims from throughout the nation.
It would be no exaggeration to say that Kokei Shonin built the
foundation for the present-day Nara with its many tourist attractions.
Despite this fact, the name Kokei Shonin is, unfortunately, seldom
recognized today.
Four Shiga-ken artists, Sarah Hoitsma, J. Neil
Lawley, Veronica Lussier, and Shannon Shea, will exhibit new work
at Otsu Biwako Bunkakan. All four artists are working to integrate
the experience of living in Japan with their previous art-making
practices. Hoitsma and Lawley, both from Dallas, Texas, will show
work with themes of nature and artifice, memory and loss. Lussier,
from Winnipeg, Manitoba, has a BFA in Drawing and Video. Her sculpture
deals with human connectivity across time, space, and culture.
Shea, originally of Chico, California, holds a BFA in electronic
media. Her work has addressed issues of femininity and identity.
Her new work will draw on Japanese pop culture, specifically,
purikura.
Nara National Museum
JR/Kintetsu Nara stn.
Open: 9:30am-5pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥1,000/¥700
Tel: 0742-22-7771
Masterworks of French Impressionism &
Modernism from The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Jan 11-Apr 2
This exhibition offers the chance to see masterpieces
from Moscow's Pushkin Muse-um, one of the world's finest modern
galleries. On loan from Russia is Pushkin's renowned Shchukin
and Mozorov Collection, which features art from the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. Sergei Shchukin (1854-1936) and Ivan
Morozov (1871-1921) both came from wealthy merchant families,
and amassed a remarkable collection of modernist masterpieces
from Western Europe. The 75 oil paintings, water colors and prints
on display include paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, the young Picasso
and Matisse, as well as Cezanne's Mont Sainte-Victoire
and Renoir's Girls in Black.
Kokuritsu Kosai Bijutsukan
Yotsubashi line, Higobashi stn, exit 3
Open: 10am-4pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥1,400/¥1,000/¥500
Tel: 06-6447-4680
Judi Ong Woodblock Exhibition
Jan 11-16
Judi Ong is known mostly for her singing and
acting talents but another talent she had was in wood block art.
Judy, who has loved drawing since she was a child, took time away
from her busy singing career to study with Inoue Katsue, who utilizes
the traditi-onally meticulous processes involved in cutting woodblocks
and. Katsue is a familiar figure with Japanese collectors and
considered an important artist of our time. Judy's woodblocks
are powerful and express traditional cultures and structures of
Japanese houses. This exhibition will feature her prize winning
Chinese Phoenix Shou that was dedicated to the Byodo-in of Uji
in March 2005, and 50 other wood block prints.
Daimaru Museum Kobe
JR Motomachi stn • Open: 10am-7:30pm
Admission: ¥500 • Tel: 078-331-8121
Guardian Lion Dogs from the Aichi Prefectural
Ceramic Museum
Dec.17 - Jan.29
Over 40 ceramic Lion Dogs or Koma Inu works
can be seen in this show. Koma Inu are usually a pair of guard-ian
dogs that are placed at the entra- nce of shrines to guard from
all kinds of evil. Usually, the one on the right (facing the gate)
is a lion with his mouth open and the one on the left is a dog
with its mouth closed. They usually come in four positions: sitt-ing
down, bending a forepaw down to rise on the haunches, holding
a ball under a foot and having a baby at the feet. The history
of these sta-tues in Japan goes back as far as the Muromachi Period
but flourished in the world of art during the Edo period. Koma-Inu
are not only a lion and a dog but can also be monkeys, foxes,
wolves, cows and deer.
The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
Subway Midosuji line/Keihan Yodoyabashi stn. Exit 1
Open: 9:30am-4:30pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥600/¥450
Tel: 06-6223-0055
Kansai Art Listings January
| Osaka
Thru Jan 19
Belgium Flanders Exchange Center
“Adagio” Masumura Chizuru
Exhibition
Subway Tanimachi 9-chome/ Kintetsu Uehonmachi stn
International House Osaka 3F
Open: 11am-12:30pm, 1:30-5pm closed Sat/Sun/hol
Admission: Free
Tel: 06-6773-8850
Thru Jan 29
Suntory Museum Tenpozan
Alphonse Mucha: Treasures from the
Mucha Foundation
Subway chuo, Technoport line, Osaka-ko stn, exit 1
Open: 10:30am-7pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥1,000/¥700/¥500
Tel: 06-6577-0001
Thru Jan 29
Kirin Plaza Osaka
“The Love of Football”
Shimizu Kazuyoshi Exhibition
Shinsaibashi stn
Open: 11am-9pm
Admission: Free
Tel: 06-6212-6578
Thru Feb 28
Kokuritsu Minzokugaku Hakubutsu-kan
(Museum of Ethnology)
“Worlds in Landscape Models”
37 miniatures of 23 countries on displaynside Expo '70 Park.
Subway Banpaku Kinen Koen stn
Open: 10am-4:30pm Closed Wed
Admission: ¥420/¥250/¥110
Tel: 06-6876-2151
Jan 12-Feb 8
DDD Gallery
Swiss Poster Art — 100 Years
of Creation
Nishi-Umeda stn or Higobashi stn
Open: 10am-6pm,
Closed Sat/Sun/Hol.
Admission: Free
Tel: 06-6347-8780
Kyoto
Thru Jan 15
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art
Special Exhibition: Between Buddhist
Gods and Demons — Images of Human Beings
City bus #5, 100 Kyoto-kaikan & Bijutsukan-mae. Open:
10am-5pm
Admission: ¥900/¥700/free
Tel: 075-771-4107
Thru Jan 15
The Museum of Kyoto Kyoto Bunka Hakubutsukan)
Matsushima, Amano Hashidate, Itsukushima
—
The Three Most Famous Views in Japan Exhibition.
Kyoto subway Karasuma line, Karasuma-Oike stn
Open: 10am-4:30pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥1,000/¥700/¥400
Tel: 075-494-2238
Thru Jan 29
Kyoto Bunka Museum
Yanagi Muneyoshi “Soetsu”
Exhibition
Subway Karasuma-Oike/Hankyu Karasuma stn
Open: 10am-5pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥1,000/¥700/¥400
Tel: 075-222-0888
Thru Feb 12
Asahi Beer Oyamazaki Villa Bijutsukan
Nagasaki Holland New Year's Exhibition
JR Yamazaki/Hankyu Oyamazaki stn
Open: 10am-4pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥700/¥500/free
Tel: 075-957-3123
Thru Feb 12
The National Museum of Modern Art Kyoto
German Photography Now
From JR/Kintetsu Kyoto stn, take bus #5, get off at Kyoto-Kaikan-Bijyutsukan-mae
Open: 9:30am-4:30pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥830/¥450/¥250
Tel: 075-561-4111
Thru Feb 12
Kyoto National Museum
Master Swords from Temples and Shrines
in Kyoto
Keihan Shichijo Stn.
Open: 9:30am-5pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥1,200/¥800/¥400
Tel: 075-541-1151
Hyogo
Thru Jan 9
Kobe Shiritsu Koiso Kinen Museum
The Museum collection Exhibition.
135 works by Koiso Ryohei and 105 works by artists with
a connection to the Kobe area.
Rokko Liner Island Kitaguchi stn
Open: 10am-4:30pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥600/¥400/¥250
Tel: 078-857-5880
Thru Jan 15
Hyogo Prefectural Museum
Dutch Masters from the Rijks-museum
Amsterdam Exhibition
Hanshin Iwaya stn.
Open: 10am-5pm closed Mon
Admission: ¥1,300/¥900/¥500
Tel: 078-262-0901
Thru Mar 19
Kobe Shiritsu Hakubutsukan
Exposition Napoleon et Versailles
Over 150 paintings, sculptures, jewelry, pottery and furniture
from the Chateau de Versailles collection.
JR/Hankyu/Hanshin Sannomiya stn
Open: 10am - 4pm closed Mon
Admission: ¥600/¥400/¥250
Tel: 078-391-0035
Jan 28-Mar 19
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History
Time Travel by Japanese Backgammon
“Sugoroku”
From Edo Period to Showa Era
JR/Sanyo Himeji stn
Open: 10am-4pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥200/¥100/free
Tel: 0792-88-9011
Nara
Thru Dec 4
Nara Kenritsu Bijutsukan
Sugimoto Kenkichi Exhibition
Kintetsu Nara stn.
Open: 9am-4pm, closed Mon
Tel: 0742-23-3968
Thru Dec 11
Osaka Nihon Mingeikan
Tapa — The Beauty of Bark Cloth
in Oceania
Inside Expo '70 Park
Open: 10am-4:30pm, closed Wed
Admission: ¥700
Thru Dec 25
Nara Museum of Photography
Irie Taikichi and Domon Ken Exhibition
JR/Kintetsu Nara Stn., loop bus.
Open: 9:30am-4:30pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥500/¥200/¥100
Tel: 0742-22-9811
Thru Dec 25
Yamato Bunkakan
Picture scrolls from tales, such as
The Tale of Genji and Engi (The Origins and History of a
temple or shrine).
Kintetsu Gakuenmae stn.
Open: 10am - 4pm closed Mon
Admission: ¥600/¥300
Tel: 0742-45-0544
Thru Jan 15
Nara National Museum
Treasures of the Kanazawa Bunko Museum
The flowering of the samurai culture in the Kamakura Period.
And, The Priest Kokei The Reconstruction of the Great Buddha
and the City of Nara in the Edo Period.
Kintetsu Nara stn. Inside Nara Park
Open: 9:30am-5pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥1,000/¥700/¥400
Tel: 0742-22-7771
|
ART section compiled by Maki Nibayashi |
