Japan classic paintings, pop idols hit US
Shaun TANDON
Japan is presenting to the United States highlights of its culture
both old and new, with a rare exhibition of elaborate centuries-old
nature scrolls and performances by a top-selling pop band.
Japan is seeking to make the most of the 100th anniversary of
Washington's cherry blossom trees, which were initially a gift from
Tokyo and have turned into one of the US capital's most popular tourist
draws.
As thousands strolled central Washington to enjoy the fleeting beauty
of the cherry bloom, the National Gallery of Art unveiled an exhibition
from Japanese master Ito Jakuchu and pop sensations AKB48 flew in for
two free shows.
The Imperial Household lent Jakuchu's 30 bird and flower paintings on
silk scrolls, marking the first time the meditative masterpiece has been
shown in its entirety out of Japan.
Earl Powell III, director of the National Gallery of Art, said Monday
that the exhibition was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the public
to see "the most important and remarkable collection of flower painting
ever in the history of Japan." The collection -- known as "Colorful
Realm of Living Beings" and paired with three Jakuchu paintings of
Buddhist deities -- opens to the public Friday for only one month after
a six-year restoration effort.
Ito Jakuchu, who was born to a wealthy merchant family in 1716,
decided in 1755 to devote himself exclusively to Zen meditation and
painting. He spent nearly a decade producing the scrolls through
painstaking pigmentation. Jakuchu once said he did not intend his work
to be understood for 200 years. The first of the scrolls depicted
peonies and butterflies, two symbols in Japanese and Chinese thought
associated respectively with beauty and freedom.
Other scrolls showed a magnificent rooster in a blooming garden, an
octopus and fish descending through the water, a peacock in a dark
forest and of birds perched on snowy branches.
The paintings were initially not for public viewing and instead
assisted meditation at the Buddhist temple of Shokoku-ji in Kyoto.
"The paintings were never intended to be displayed more than a day,"
said Yukio Lippit, an expert on Japanese art at Harvard University.
The temple donated the scrolls to the Imperial Household in 1889 in
gratitude for restoration of the building.
Japan said it was making the major cultural exchange in part to show
gratitude for assistance by the United States, its main ally, following
the March 11, 2011 tsunami tragedy. "We have beautiful paintings in the
National Gallery now of Ito Jakuchu and we have top stars from Japan.
This is because Japan-US relations are very special," said Japan's
ambassador to Washington, Ichiro Fujisaki.
AKB48 -- a girls band clad in school uniforms named after Tokyo's
mecca of geek culture, Akihabara -- is one of the world's
highest-grossing acts with more than $200 million in CD and DVD sales
last year.
AKB48 is also one of the largest musical acts, with a total of about
90 girls divided into teams who put on daily shows of bubble gum pop and
synchronized dancing.
On the eve of two shows at a Washington theater, three of the AKB48
girls visited a local school where they told wide-eyed seven-year-olds
about Japan and their success across the Pacific.
"I like to dance because we all have feelings. Sometimes we're happy
and sometimes we're sad. Normally we just show it on our face or with
words, but through dancing we can show it with our bodies, too," AKB48
member Sae Miyazawa, 21, told the children. AFP
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