NISEI a-bombed trees keep on growing

On the campus of Hiroshima University in Higashihiroshima where I live grow 23 young trees whose mothers survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. They were planted last year and still small and short. But some of them got a lot of leaves already and show promising growth. They are here due to the project called Green Legacy Hiroshima. 

WISTERIA grows well

PLANE TREE or SYCAMORE

Within a radius of two kilometers from the Hypocenter of the atomic bombing, about 160 trees that survived the obliteration 77 years ago have been alive. The Green Legacy Hiroshima tries to disseminate the message of life and resilience to the world through the trees. I'm happy to say Hiroshima University has got involved in this initiative.

AOGIRI

At the headquarters of the university stands a young Chinese Parasol Tree or AOGIRI (Firmiana simplex) whose mother trees are found next to the East Wing of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima City. Two old trees with scars on the trunk and a young tree which sprouted near them in 2000 grow gloriously side by side there.

Now this fresh one on the campus of the university is so pure and full of positive energy. Its trunk is vividly green because it it believed that their trunks photosynthesize.

NATSUME

At the new building called MIRAI CREA where students and scholars can stay overnight and many activities can be done is a small tree called NATSUME or jujube (Ziziphus jujuba). When it is big enough, it will provide us with fruits. That would be fantastic to see people from many parts of the world pass the tree and casually pick up and bite one of the fruit.

Trees can be peace makers.

SOMEDAY THE DOOR WILL OPEN

Also, installed on one of the buildings there is a grand door that also survived the blast 77 years back and was taken and relocated from its original place on the old campus of Hiroshima University in Hiroshima city. It’s been closed but if someone from the University has received a Nobel Prize, the door should open I heard.

eastern broad-billed rollers come to northern hiroshima every year

In the movie, two parent eastern broad-billed rollers about 30 centimeters long are flying near the nest, though they look like only a speck but their chirping, rather going gah, can be heard. 

They are endangered species but thanks to the effort of locals, their population has increased, particularly in Northern Hiroshima. They come to Japan in spring from the South East Asia, pair up, raise babies, and then go back in fall. 

This is such a wonderful place to stay where you stand by at the large windows in the house with your camera, high-functional binoculars and a telescope on a tripod borrowed from the family my husband and I stayed with. It's a private farmhouse where only one group of travelers can stay at one time. We freely used two large rooms.

One of the man-made bird nests is 30 meters away from the windows of our rooms. And that's where you can observe the birds without being exposed to the elements.

We were extraordinarily lucky and saw a baby bird fly away from the nest. 

Five babies were in the nest when we got to the farmhouse (a camera is installed in the nest to monitor their behavior for their safety) and the next day one flew away while we were out to climb a mountain 45 minutes north by car. The next two flew in the morning of the day after. I saw the third one flying to the forest.

The third one of the five flying away

The food served is the very best with the freshest vegetables. The simmered fish was so savory, too, among others. Better than most of the sophisticated food served at fancy restaurants. 

And it’s cool in summer in this northern part of Hiroshima. When you sleep in summer, all the windows should be closed but you can be sound asleep until the day breaks. Better hide away in the north of Hiroshima where you will wake up with the rollers chirping - in their way - when the heat is around in Japan.

Here're a few more pictures.

nagasakibana in kunisaki peninsula, oita pref. is fun for everybody

It has the big blue sky, the placid ocean all around, seasonal flowers including canola and sunflower from which plant oil is being made, camping grounds, and above all outdoor art installations and a stimulating art museum. 

You can be there for two hours - please stay at least two hours - or more, even stay overnight in a cabin or a tent. It's good for everybody.

I went there because of art specifically installed there and appreciated both artworks and environment.

Though kunisaki peninsula has a lot to offer, nagasakibana is carefree and healthy and you do not need a lot of planning.

Their new establishment, an art museum named the Art Museum of Nature and Human Non-homogeneity is, though philosophical, can be good for families, too. 

Here's a one-minute introduction to the cape called nagasakibana, once abandoned farmland but now a beautiful resort filled with seasonal flowers.

what art can do to communities

Gormley's statue

 Now there are many art festivals all across Japan. Such festivals can be said to have started with the one in the north of Japan called ECHIGO TSUMARI Art Triennale that started in 2000, followed by the Setouchi International Art Festival or Seto-gei which has been a great success since 2010.

In 2014, the Kunisaki Peninsula Art Festival was celebrated and it left its traces in many places of the peninsula, enhancing the innate potential the places had had.

One of the assets the festival left is a symbolic iron-cast statue made by Antony Gormley. It stands in the middle of the old local religious center and when it was planned to be installed, people discussed if it would be appropriate to install a naked iron statue cast by the real body of the artist. 

But now, the statue looks philosophical if not religious. For some people, however, the statue seems to be equivalent to a Buddhist statue to which, naturally, they would like to offer small money just like they do at temples and shrines. 

It was a heck of a job to carry the 630-ton iron statue up the mountain, for which local professionals helped. The process already involved locals and that must be a great contribution by art already.

The statue has been exposed to the elements and has been aging. He showcases passing time specifically here in the Kunisaki Peninsula.

The 630-ton statue was wired up

up the mountain path

 

 on the way remains a pair of guards

more on the way and now the statue is down below 

money offered at the bottom of the statue

 cave-like hall for the deva king 

 down the mountain

GEORGES GALLERY & KOHIRA CAFE, Shodoshima

Let me start with a few pictures from my recent Shodoshima album

before elaborating on the Georges Gallery.

angel road in January 2022 near tonosho port
A sand bar appears at low tides
connecting three islands ahead
This is one of the typical seascapes
of Shodoshima

a view from Shiho-zashi observation point,
777 meters high
This is higher than the hilltop cable station area
and often shrouded with fog but with good luck
a mystic view appears 

And now the gallery:

front of the Georges Gallery

back of the gallery

There are many places you shouldn't miss in Shodoshima. Therefore, I recommend you stay at least two nights. After all it's an island and you need to take some time to go there itself. 

Shodoshima is the second largest island in the Seto Inland Sea and the whole area is called Setouchi. If you can drive and rent a car in Japan, it will be the easiest way to explore the island. If you are physically fit, you can rent a bike but should limit your cycling zone to effectively use your time. Bus services are available but not so frequent and you will need good planning.

Having said that, however, the Tonosho maze town area and Hishio-no-sato area where the gallery is located should be relatively easy to explore even if you do not have a car.

This time I'm writing on this art gallery and its art installations in Umaki, Hishio-no-sato where soy sauce manufactures stand close to each other. 

The gallery and installations have been very popular since they were open to the public in 2018 on the occasion of the Setouchi International Art Festival which has been held every three years since 2010. 

Without any further ado, here's what you see at the gallery. There are more to see of course; after all, the photographs were the final artworks of Georges Rousse. You have to see them. And the old house itself which has been beautifully resurrected. 

What's more, their contemporary art museum and its annex preliminarily opened last year and the grand opening is coming this March. And their cafe is super good, I have to emphasize.

installation of gold and brass leaf
SHODOSHIMA2018©︎GEORGE ROUSSE

The story of this gallery has to start with the devastation caused by the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in 1995. When it happened, ISHII Jun was working for a big established company where he was assigned to the mecenat division. He thought there had to be something his company could do to support the affected areas with art. 

He came across with photographer and artist Georges Rousse and invited him to Kobe where the artist was commissioned to eight artworks - the final works were photographs; the subjects of the photos were gone because Rousse makes geometric installations in the ruins or buildings doomed to be demolished and then takes their pictures before they are forever gone. 

The photos taken in Kobe were eventually donated to an art museum in Kobe. 

In case of Shodoshima, the installations made by Rousse remain and are open to the public. This is the only place in the world his installations can be seen permanently by the audience. 

Rousse was invited by ISHII who wanted to revive his grandpa and grandma's house in Shodoshima. Rousse chose two sites in the house and a small humble warehouse, five-minutes-on-foot away from the house.

As a young kid, he was at the house on special occasions; in fact his parents held a wedding reception there; but the last resident, ISHI's grandma died and nobody lived there for 26 years. He wanted to revive the house where family memories were still felt but would be forgotten if the house was left alone. 

He asked Rousse if he was interested in applying for the Setouchi International Art Festival and his answer was affirmative. He first came to the island in 2017 to check on the house and its vicinities and then came back in 2018 to make three installations and take photos. 

He took the pictures and this time, accepted these installations should remain as they are.

Now they are amazing art installations, particularly the one in a Japanese-style room - the picture shown above. The pictures were taken, of course, but it's the remaining installations that have made ISHII's grandma's house breathe again. The memories have been conjured up and they are side by side with the visitors to the gallery living the present time.

The Setouchi International Art Festival 2022 will start in April and the gallery can be visited with the festival passport that you might purchase. But the gallery along with their contemporary museum/annex is permanent. You can go there before and after the festival. 

PS

Goishi-zan mountain is nearby. Its view and the temple along with the temple monk there are hard to miss. You can ask him to perform a prayer ritual for your wish like healthy life by buying a small wooden slat where your wish is written - 500 yen. It's a fifty-minute walk and hike from the gallery.

Including this holy place, there are more than 88 pilgrimage places related to Kukai, the founder of Shingon school of Japanese esoteric Buddhism active in the 9th century. He's been loved as a cultural hero with compassion and was ubiquitous at multiple places at the same time - impossible but that's the way people believed due to their faith to him.

His temples are open to everybody and many, I feel, go with the present issues and are aligned with the time we live.

Immovable King at the edge of Goishi-zan