Nebuta Kiri-e Paper-cut art inspired by Aomori's Nebuta festival
14-30 July 2004
Embassy of Japan Foyer Gallery, 101-104 Piccadilly, London W1J 7JT Tel: 020 7465 6580
Monday - Friday 9.30 - 17.30
Admission Free
On July 14, the Embassy of Japan launched the opening of its latest exhibition entitled Nebuta
Kiri-e - Paper cut art inspired by Aomori's Nebuta festival. This exhibition features the work of Mitsuo Ogura who began producing artwork after his retirement at the age of 59.
Ogura said he felt very honoured to have his work exhibited in London because "whilst kiri-e is not so unusual in Japan, it is rare for it to be seen abroad." The main theme of Ogura's work is his native Aomori's spectacular Nebuta festival. "I wanted to create something new and unique" he explained.
Kiri-e
Japanese paper-cut art or Kiri-e (lit. cut picture) is created from the cutting of shapes from sheets of paper. As folk-art, variations can be found throughout the world, most notably in China, but also in Central Europe. In Japan, kiri-e is finds its comparisons with the stencils made for textile dyeing.
Nebuta Festival
The Nebuta Festival features a parade of giant lanterns in the shapes of beasts and warriors and is held at the beginning of August every year in Aomori in northern Japan. The lanterns made of bamboo and papier-mâché travel through the streets of the city on giant floats.
This exhibition highlights the vibrant and imaginative work of Mitsuo Ogura from Aomori, who only began creating kiri-e at the age of 59 whilst working as an engineer in the Seikan Tunnel (the world's longest tunnel, which links Honshu with Hokkaido in Japan). Ogura has developed a distinctive style of kiri-e, in colour as well as in black and white, and his works usually stem from his imagination, with themes such as plants, birds, Buddhist images and in this case, Aomori's Nebuta Festival.
