Press Release: Towards the publication of e-books in 12 languages worldwide
Well known for its efforts in multilingual translation, the Sohos Ltd. (location: Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, representative: Kazushige Morota) has started a crowd funding project to jointly develop and market the clay cat sculptures created by Risa Takahashi on the MotionGallery crowd platform starting January 26. Our aim is to raise ¥1,000,000 starting from March 16. The funding we receive will be spent on expenses incurred in the course of this project. ▼Crowd funding page https://motion-gallery.net/projects/funny-clay-cats/ The book will show step-by-step descriptions of how to make clay cats. A gallery showing her creations will also be displayed. This will be Ms. Takahashi’s third publication and her first publication of an…
Japanese Swords – I
Japan is known for its high quality products. Yes, their cameras, cars, electronic products, etc., etc. However, when it comes to guns or weapons we are stumped. Anybody who has read a James Bond novel or seen a Dirty Harry film knows Beretta, Smith & Wesson, Colt, Glock*, Sig Saur, etc. These are all gun and weapon manufacturers. Beretta is Italian, Smith & Wesson and Colt are American while Glock is Austrian and Sig Saur is German, Swiss as well as American. None are Japanese. Do the names of Munechika, Masamune, Muramasa and Yoshimitsu ring a bell? No? Well, that is understandable. They are sword smiths or families of sword…
A Splendid Kimekomi Box of Paulownia Wood
This box with its pretty pink bell design is from Hakocho, a shop in Asakusa specializing in paulownia kimekomizaiku. Kimekomezaiku is the Japanese craft of carving an image on paulownia wood and embedding beautiful, colorful cloth in the carved-out areas. Kiri (paulownia) brings Kiritsubo, the mother of Hikaru Genji to mind. A tree native to China, and as references to it in Genji Monogatari (like the one above), Makura no Soshi (The Pillow Book) and other Heian Period (794 – 1185) literature bear out, it is a tree with a long history also in Japan. The wood has many favorable characteristics. It is light, repels insects, has high temperature and…
Releasing a Video on How to Make Clay Cats
The first video provides the steps to create a basic sitting cat. The second video shows how to remake the sitting cat into a “manekineko” or beckoning cat by unceremoniously stripping off one front leg of our sitting cat.
Clay cat exhibition at Koenji, Tokyo
From March 7th through March 15th, Risa Takahashi held a personal exhibition in a small gallery called KIYA in Koenji, Tokyo. Despite concern over the impact of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus), she was able to bring it to a safe and successful close. In the following, we introduce some of the artworks that she exhibited and which were also for sale. Every cat has a unique name. Enjoy! By the way, she gave me this cat mustache at the gallery!!I put it on top of my mask and ignored the bewildered looks of people we met on our way back to the station. Sumima senbei This cat is eating a rice…
Ise Shrine & 25th Maneki-neko Festival – 2/2
On September 29th, from 9:29 in the morning, it will be the day when 929 Kicchou Shofuku Bells (auspicious good luck charm bell) that received purification by the local Ujigami (guardian god) will be distributed to the first 929 people who arrive. After I had Akafuku rice cake and barley tea for breakfast at the Akafuku main store, I arrived at the distribution site for the good luck charm bells at the entrance of Oharai-machi street before 9 o’clock. A considerable number of people were already lined up. I could hardly see the end of the winding line of people. The place I finally reached was near the west exit…