NEWS

Special exhibition "Japanese Paper at Work" at ICU Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum

Update: January 23, 2018

A special exhibition "Japanese Paper at Work" is being held at the ICU Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum from Tuesday, Jan. 9, to Friday, March 9, 2018.

"Washi," or Japanese paper, which is made using plant fibers from the kozo plant, the mitsumata shrub and the gampi tree among others, has been attracting attention as an essential material for the restoration of cultural properties around the world. It was registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014. From olden days, washi has been widely used in people's lives in Japan, making use of its unique quality. The products using washi range from equipment such as shoji (sliding door) and lamps to hariko dolls (papier-mache), kimono and even underwear.

One hundred items are on display at the current exhibition. Among them are haori (short coat), underwear, lamps, insect cages, gunpowder containers, hariko, some-katagami (pattern paper for dyeing ), mizuhiki (decorative Japanese cords made from twisted paper) and Japanese folding fans. In one section, you can touch and feel different kinds of washi. You can enjoy the diverse forms of washi, which were created employing ingenuity and various techniques, as well as the exquisite designs.

At the current special exhibition, as in the past, students on the Curatorial Training Program helped set up the exhibition and give guided tours of the gallery. On Wednesday, Jan. 17, Hikari Ikeda (3rd year student ) explained about the exhibits to the visitors, looking nervous at first but lightening her comments with humor from time to time. At the end, she faced a good number of questions, and she responded to each of them attentively.