WINDOW TO JAPAN ARTS FESTIVAL The International Arts Festival Window to Japan, will captivate Melbourne with a celebration of Japanese arts, in a display of fireworks, colour, sounds and pageantry. A comprehensive and exciting program of traditional Japanese culture will be presented, as the Committee dips into the huge cauldron of the artistic life of Japan. As co-ordinator of this arts festival, I can already feel the air of urgency at the headquarters of the Melbourne Organising Committee. Under its Cultural Relations Program with Japan, Melbourne proposes to hold a spectacular exhibition of the many forms of Japanese Arts, at a number of the city s historical venues. Window to Japan will be four festivals in one, held in Melbourne from the 17 th November 2002 to the 26 th November 2002. The first event, the Festival of Harmony, will celebrate Japanese Dance and Music, premiering elaborate dances and music with over 300 artists, performers and musicians. The opening ceremony, officiated by His Excellency the Japanese Ambassador, will feature a dramatic Shinto Shrine procession within the enchanting Fitzroy Gardens. Highlights of this event include Taiko Drumming, with drums of many sizes, accompanied by cymbals, gongs and flutes and traditional dancing. This music is based upon spontaneous sounds from nature, such as rain dripping, the approach of thunderstorms or waves crashing against the shore. Another exciting feature will be the Gagaku: the oldest Japanese performing art. This elegant music genre, with its instrumental and vocal music and dance, originated in the Imperial Japanese courts. Together with dances known as Bugaku - dance music - this is a living treasure of ancient Japanese art.
The Festival of Perfection, the second event, has a Theatre theme, with a performance by the Gekidan Gingatetsudo. In this nuigurumi musical, the characters will sing and dance making adventures come alive on stage with vibrance and colour. Performances will range from world famous nursery rhymes to tales of old Japan, and will be held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. Dreaming, a contemporary visual theatre poem will also be featured, performed by international artists; it creates dream images that reach from ancient history to the present. Historical realities and fantasies are interwoven into Japanese performance traditions, namely noh, Japanese masked dance. This is highly emotive acting, where small gestures, even silence and stillness have great significance. Bunraku, traditional Japanese puppetry, easily transcends any language barrier. This large puppet play is aimed at an adult audience. Uniquely Japanese, Bunraku displays all the characteristics of precise and detailed craft; the product of generations of artists and craftsmen. Both events will be held at the newly restored Princess Theatre in Melbourne. The third event, the Festival of Discovery held at the Royal Exhibition Buildings, features traditional handcrafts, bonsai demonstrations, ikebana displays, raku pottery collections, kimekomi dolls displays, kimono fashion parades, suni-e-ink paintings, and Japanese tea ceremonies chanoyu. Delicate and elaborate exhibits created by both Japanese and local artisans will be displayed. At the ikebana display, the floral works will vary from formal classical arrangements to modern works that incorporate glass and metal on a monumental
scale. The bonsai exhibition will include a variety of tree species, such as colourful cherry blossoms, plum trees, rare bamboo plants and exotic maple trees. The magnificent kimekomi dolls represent the beauty of the classics with a modern feeling. Dressed in the powder paulownia wood, each doll has an exquisite life-like appearance. The essence of the Japanese tea ceremony is harmony and the tranquility it unfolds, and will show Australian audiences the Japanese love of ritual and the most exquisitely civilized ways of escaping reality. A magnificent Japanese Garden, nuhon teien, with lakes and bridges, imitating the five elements of nature: the mountain, the river, the sea, the forest and the field, will be created around the Exhibition Buildings. Visitors on the flat bridges (togetsukyo) will have the opportunity to feed the carp (koi) in the specially constructed Japanese garden,(seiwa-en), the garden of pure, clear harmony and peace. An array of foodstalls with delectable foods nihon ryori sushi, sashimi, kakesoba, kake-udon, saki, wagashi, - and much more to tempt and satisfy everyone s tastebuds; it is a feast for the eyes and the spirit as well as for the body. Delicate and subtle complex cuisine, adorned with cherry blossoms, will reflect the season of the festival: Spring, haru. Kimono fashion parades will be featured during the festival, with some traditional and priceless kimonos brought especially from Japan; exquisite examples of exotic textile works. An exhibition of Japan in Print and Paint at the National Gallery of Victoria, will include some of Japan s famous landscape paintings, and literary epics about ancient Japan.
The fourth event, the Festival of Power and Grace will showcase the traditional Martial Arts: Naginata, Budokai, Aikido and Sumo wrestling. Traditional Japanese martial arts foster physical and mental discipline, grace, coordination and the awareness of body and soul. Members from the Australian Naginata Federation and the Melbourne Budokai, will demonstrate their sports, using bamboo and rare live blade steel weapons. Performances will include the related martial arts of laido, kendo and judo. Sumo Wrestling will be the main feature, as the gentle giants compete in this almost religious ritual, to be held at the Rod Laver Arena. A competition ring and a Shinto Shrine style roof will be constructed especially for this event. Sumo is a highly refined and complex sport, enriched by its tradition and pageantry, that is also very entertaining. At the closing ceremony and finale of this magnificent festival, a spectacular fireworks display will illuminate the Yarra River at Southbank on the evening of the 26 th of November. Lantern lit barges will slowly drift downstream, past the riverside audience, to signify the departure rather than the end of the festival, awaiting its return in the future. Window to Japan will promote the local Japanese community s art, culture and heritage, with this celebration of arts, and help Australians recognise and understand the true beauty of this Asian culture. The Japanese-Australian community will present Japanese culture as being part of the multi-cultural Australian society. Word Count: 1000
WINDOW TO JAPAN ARTS FESTIVAL PROGRAM Schedule of Events for the Japanese Arts Festival Sunday 17th November 2002 to Tuesday 26th November 2002 OPENING CEREMONY: Sunday 17th November 2002 Fitzroy Gardens at 1:00pm Shrine Procession Festival of Harmony Sunday 17th November - Tuesday19th November DATE EVENT VENUE TIME 17:11:02 Taiko Drumming Fitzroy Gardens 2:00pm and 4:00pm 18:11:02 Gagaku and Bugaku Princess Theatre 10:00am and 8:00pm 19:11:02 Taiko Drumming Princess Theatre 10:00am and Gagaku and Bugaku Princess Theatre 8:00pm 2:00pm Festival of Perfection Wednesday 20 th November-Saturday 23 rd November DATE EVENT VENUE TIME 20:11:02 Gekidam Gingatetsudo Sydney Myer Music Bowl 10:00am and 4:00pm Bunraku Princess Theatre 1:00pm Dreaming Princess Theatre 8:00pm 21:11:02 Dreaming Princess Theatre 1:00pm Bunraku Princess Theatre 8:00pm 22:11:02 Gekidam Gingatetsudo Sydney Myer Music Bowl 23:11:02 Bunraku Princess Theatre 1:00pm Dreaming Princess Theatre 8:00pm 11:00am and 5:00pm
Festival of Discovery Sunday 17 th November Tuesday 26 th November EVENT TIME and DATE VENUE Display of Japanese handcrafts and artifacts 10:00am-5:00pm EVERYDAY Royal Exhibition Buildings Display of Japanese Gardens 10:00am 5:00pm EVERYDAY Royal Exhibition Buildings Gardens Japan in Paint and Print 10:00am-5:00pm EVERYDAY National Gallery of Victoria Festival of Power and Grace Sunday 24 th November - Monday 25 th November DATE EVENT VENUE TIME 24:11:02 Sumo Wrestling Rod Laver Arena 11:00am Naginato and Rod Laver Arena 8:00pm Budokai 25:11:02 Naginato and Rod Laver Arena 11:00am Budokai Sumo Wrestling Rod Laver Arena 8:00pm CLOSING CEREMONY: Tuesday 26th November 2002 Yarra River, Southbank at 1:00pm Fireworks display