Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.723
Dear Ichiroya newsletter readers,
Konnichiwa!!! This is Yoko writing. Ogenki desuka?
Hope you are having a lovely weekend.
If you are planning a trip to Nagasaki or already live in Kyushu, we have a great news for you!!!
A good customer of Ichiroya has opened a vintage Kimono shop in China town of Nagasaki prefecture.
The store is called 'Antique Kimono Beppin' and owned by a petite charming lady Akemi Tagawa san.
She has a grand collection of vintage Kimono and Obi and has been collecting vintage items for a long time.
It is a shop you can visit and purchase, but it would be worth a trip just to see her superb collections!!! She already had exhibition in spring, here is the past newsletter about her exhibition'
Here is the flyer of her store'
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcI4MUAnyOM/?taken-by=kimonottefactory
Antique Kimono BEPPIN
Mashe-ru Tojin-saka 102
Kagomachi 6-3
Nagasaki-city, 850-0905
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Back to today's newsletter topic!
Today I would like to write about the Katsushika Hokusai exhibition 'beyond the Mt. Fuji' which was held at Abeno Harukas Museum from October 6 to November 19.
Katsushika Hokusai is a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period.
This particular event was a joint project with the British Museum, and we hear it was a great success in the UK this summer.
(Their title was 'beyond the Great Wave' how cool was that!!??)
Those who have not heard of Hokusai, you have surely seen his art works!!?? You instantly can be drawn into the world of Hokusai!!
The Hokusai exhibition in Japan was held ONLY in Osaka and also a HUGE success, it drew people from all over Japan.
I went on the last weekend of the exhibition, and from tweets and instagram, I knew it was going to be packed!
So I left home early and arrived at 9:00am to get in a line when the museum's open hour was at 10:00am!!
There was already a long line before the gate.... (sigh).... but the museum decided to open their door early!!, we were able to get in quickly!! yokatta!
The exhibition was AMAZING!
The woodblock prints and hand drawings of his works from 1779 to 1849 were displayed.
There was a total of about 200 of his works displayed, and about 1/3 of them was his own hand paintings.
Hokusai's famous original woodblock print of 'the Great Wave' and 'the Mt. Fuji' were displayed too.
Oh! by the way, they were a lot smaller than I imagined.
His rather off-scale and somewhat imaginary design took my breath away.
I was SO glad that I went to this exhibition as his detailed work, even a small expression of a farmer's face, was something I could not notice via photos and books.
The colors and its invisible power what emerges out were not something I could feel either if I never went. :)
All his works were amazing, even a miniature drawing on a note was stunning, but what I most impressed by was his LAST work at his age 90.
The 'Tiger in snow' was displayed at the last end of the exhibition, and I felt like my tears were gushing when I saw this painting.
Expression of the tiger's face was soft, content yet somewhat lonesome .... like it is wanting but not wanting to go somewhere peaceful...hmmmm
I do not know much about arts and history, but I am so glad that I went to this exhibition.
If you find a Hokusai exhibition in your country, I strongly recommend that you make a trip and visit!
It is worth a trip I promise!!!!
Here are some of our items with ukiyo-e related motifs!!
arigato gozaimasu for reading!!
Happy Holidays to you and yours.
