[Shinme (A Sacred Horse) Dashing] TANAKA MinoruComment by KUMAKIRI Keisuke: This is dynamic scenery, where sacred horses are dashing valiantly. As seen in the energetic expressions of beaters who are chasing the horses, this is a powerful piece of work, whereby you feel the excitement and the cheers of Yatsushiro Myouken Festival from the entire photograph. It looks as though the beaters desperately holding the reins, flying water splash, and voices of many spectators on the riverside come together as one to approach towards us.
[Blue Eye in the Sky] AKISHINO ShigehitoComment by KUMAKIRI Keisuke: The landscape of so-called "Dragon-eye" of Kagaminuma, which can be viewed close to the peak of the Mt. Hachimantai, creates a mysterious image. Only the part of the "Dragon-eye" is filled with a different atmosphere from the surrounding scene. It is like a cosmic space left in the snow and stimulates the creativity of viewers. If I ever encounter this scene, I would just stand still, not making any move for a while.
[Going Through the Wilderness] SHIMIZU AtsutoshiComment by KUMAKIRI Keisuke: An attractive photograph, which leverages natural landscape to capture the Train of Nemuro Main Line in Hokkaido together with the scene of ten-or-so Yezo deers moving in groups in the wilderness. The visual expression to incorporate the oblique ray on the wilderness into the screen is especially fascinating, proving a depth to the work. The attractiveness of the motifs, such as railway cars and Yezo deers, are fully exploited.
[KOINOBORI (Carp Streamer) Run] SHIMAMURA TadayukiComment by KUMAKIRI Keisuke: I was impressed by the beauty of this photograph, which captures the scenery of Koinobori run spreading across the picture. Although it seems the photographer had a difficulty capturing this image, its beauty does not make us feel such a difficulty and he did absolutely a great job in vividly expressing the magnificence of the landscape. The stunning view of morning glow has been well captured with an outstanding camerawork, making this a very high-quality piece of work. Splendid emotions with colors are expressed on this photograph.
Comment by HASEGAWA Kai: "veni (I came), vidi (I saw), vici (I conquered)" is a phrase that appears Julius Caesar's Gallic War. Borrowing that phrase, the author describes the speed of a linear motor car by saying, "It came, It saw, It disappeared". The expression, "It disappeared" is especially great. All of this was a blink of an eye under a bank of clouds.
Comment by HASEGAWA Kai:This haiku describes a scene where a young man returns to his hometown with what appears to be his finance. The author must have seen them in a train. The young man let his fiancé sit by the window so that she can see the landscape of his hometown, as if he protects her. This is a congratulatory haiku for this couple the author happened to see in the train.
You can appreciate the works of celebrated artists at your leisure.
"SAKURYOKAI", the exhibition of new work by Japan's leading artists for both painting and calligraphy, invited anew two Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) artists.
Mr. Tatsuya Ishiodori has had his atelier in Paris for a long time and has crafted Nihonga in a modern spirit with his perspective from abroad of Japanese history and tradition. Mr. Sei Utoo has been teaching at Kyoto University of Education and is well known for his paintings of the Asuka area landscape and its birds.
The exhibition enjoyed a larger display area than usual. Fourteen Nihonga artists including the above newly participated artists, twelve Western painting artists including Mr. Hiroshi Okutani who received the Order of Culture, and a calligraphy artist Mr. Keidou Ishige for a total of twenty seven artists exhibited in SAKURYOKAI representing a variety of styles and schools.
Our association promoted our forty five year history of public art activities and efforts to realize the "the One Percent For Art Program" and our hope to "Transform the place where people gathered, a heart-warming one" with public art work. 524 public art works that we planned and coordinated were displayed on a map of Japan. And we promoted a stained glass art work, 'The Creation of the Universe' (1972), which was the first public art installed in Tokyo station; a ceramic relief, 'Utopia' installed in Fukushima Airport; a ceramic relief by comic artist, Mr. Katsuhiro Otomo, installed in Sendai Airport and the latest public art " 'Aogaki (Green Persimmon)' Resonance of Color and Shape" installed in Oita Airport. We also promoted the profiles of the artists who created the original paintings. As well as posts of the art on Instagram, too.
and a snappy fire sparkled.
Glass melt like iron, embrace light and transparent.
Red,blue,green, gold color let the light pass through well.
How beautiful the color is!
like return to the sky, go back to the water.
We invited Ms. Noe Aoki, sculptor and the first award winner of the Takifuji Art Award (currently the International TAKIFUJI Art Award, established 1980), to create a public art work that would be a symbol of The Traffic Culture Exhibition 2017. She has been expanding her field of endeavor from sculptures with iron to etching and woodcuts to show the world from her perspective and her work is ingenious and graceful.