2013年05月31日
Oshima
So, I’m back again after another long absence and ready to continue blogging about things to see in and around Takamatsu. For much of this year, you can expect me to be focusing on the Setouchi Triennale, an amazing contemporary art festival that takes place on 12 islands over 3 seasons. Takamatsu is the best base from which to access most of these islands and art sites. Although the festival is in hiatus until the start of the Summer Season on July 20, many of the art sites can still be viewed. For more information, see http://setouchi-artfest.jp/en/.
Today, I’d like to revisit Oshima, an island that is part of Takamatsu city and one which I covered during the 2010 Triennale (See http://cathy.ashita-sanuki.jp/d2010-10.html ). What makes Oshima unique is that it is a sanitarium for people who have recovered from Hansen’s disease (leprosy). People with leprosy were separated by law from their families and communities and forced to live on islands like this. Japan’s segregation policy was only abolished in 1996.
Land viewed from Oshima. So close and yet so far.
I visited the island again just before the start of the Triennale to find out what kind of impact the festival has had. In 2010, under the Art for the Hospital Project, residents trained volunteers as guides, sharing their lives and history. Many volunteers have continued developing their relationship with the residents and the effect of this continued exchange was evident when we visited. Whereas in 2010, the residents rarely talked to visitors in the street, this time they came over without hesitation to see what was going on.
Stopping to chat
More content has been added to the 2013 tours and these, along with the exhibits, offer insights into how the residents, despite being stripped of their rights as human beings, retained their humanity and searched for meaning in their lives.
Inside “Sea Echo”
Featured at Setouchi Triennale 2013 is a new gallery “Blue Skye Aquarium” by artist Seizo Tashima. This link to the Echigo-Tsumari Triennale shows the scale and creative imagination of his works
http://www.echigo-tsumari.jp/eng/artwork/hachi_seizo_tashima_museum_of_picture_book_art .
“Blue Sky Aquarium” extends through a 3-room dormitory and will expand with each season, so definitely plan on going more than once! Volunteers worked hard preparing the space for the exhibit.
A carpenter and regular Triennale volunteer from Kansai
One resident I met was forced to leave his home in Kochi at the age of 13 and has lived on Oshima ever since, despite being completely cured in 1965. Outside, he would have faced strong prejudice due to the disfiguration the disease causes. The art festival, he told us, has brought people to the island, and he is enjoying new friendships with artists and volunteers, both young and old, including artist Seizo Tashima. This is one of the aims of the Triennale – to connect us to the islands and the people. Such interactions can provide a catalyst for a better future for the island and the region – one in which diversity is welcomed rather than feared.
Monument of hope erected by volunteers and islanders when segregation was still in force.
Takamatsu Access, etc.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Takamatsu
Today, I’d like to revisit Oshima, an island that is part of Takamatsu city and one which I covered during the 2010 Triennale (See http://cathy.ashita-sanuki.jp/d2010-10.html ). What makes Oshima unique is that it is a sanitarium for people who have recovered from Hansen’s disease (leprosy). People with leprosy were separated by law from their families and communities and forced to live on islands like this. Japan’s segregation policy was only abolished in 1996.
Land viewed from Oshima. So close and yet so far.
I visited the island again just before the start of the Triennale to find out what kind of impact the festival has had. In 2010, under the Art for the Hospital Project, residents trained volunteers as guides, sharing their lives and history. Many volunteers have continued developing their relationship with the residents and the effect of this continued exchange was evident when we visited. Whereas in 2010, the residents rarely talked to visitors in the street, this time they came over without hesitation to see what was going on.
Stopping to chat
More content has been added to the 2013 tours and these, along with the exhibits, offer insights into how the residents, despite being stripped of their rights as human beings, retained their humanity and searched for meaning in their lives.
Inside “Sea Echo”
Featured at Setouchi Triennale 2013 is a new gallery “Blue Skye Aquarium” by artist Seizo Tashima. This link to the Echigo-Tsumari Triennale shows the scale and creative imagination of his works
http://www.echigo-tsumari.jp/eng/artwork/hachi_seizo_tashima_museum_of_picture_book_art .
“Blue Sky Aquarium” extends through a 3-room dormitory and will expand with each season, so definitely plan on going more than once! Volunteers worked hard preparing the space for the exhibit.
A carpenter and regular Triennale volunteer from Kansai
One resident I met was forced to leave his home in Kochi at the age of 13 and has lived on Oshima ever since, despite being completely cured in 1965. Outside, he would have faced strong prejudice due to the disfiguration the disease causes. The art festival, he told us, has brought people to the island, and he is enjoying new friendships with artists and volunteers, both young and old, including artist Seizo Tashima. This is one of the aims of the Triennale – to connect us to the islands and the people. Such interactions can provide a catalyst for a better future for the island and the region – one in which diversity is welcomed rather than feared.
Monument of hope erected by volunteers and islanders when segregation was still in force.
Takamatsu Access, etc.
http://wikitravel.org/en/Takamatsu
My Profile
Cathy Hirano キャシー ヒラノ
I've lived in Japan since 1978. After graduating from a Japanese university with a BA in cultural anthropology in 1983, I worked as a translator in a Japanese consulting engineering firm in Tokyo for several years. My Japanese husband and I moved to Takamatsu in 1987 to raise our two children in a slower-paced environment away from the big city pressures. We've never regretted it. I work as a freelance translator and interpreter and am involved in a lot of community work, including volunteering for Second Hand, a local NGO that supports educational and vocational training initiatives in Cambodia, and for the Takamatsu International Association. I love living in Takamatsu.
Cathy Hirano キャシー ヒラノ
I've lived in Japan since 1978. After graduating from a Japanese university with a BA in cultural anthropology in 1983, I worked as a translator in a Japanese consulting engineering firm in Tokyo for several years. My Japanese husband and I moved to Takamatsu in 1987 to raise our two children in a slower-paced environment away from the big city pressures. We've never regretted it. I work as a freelance translator and interpreter and am involved in a lot of community work, including volunteering for Second Hand, a local NGO that supports educational and vocational training initiatives in Cambodia, and for the Takamatsu International Association. I love living in Takamatsu.
Posted by cathy at 22:10│Comments(1)
この記事へのコメント
新しい記事をお待ちしていました！
記事を読み、この島の複雑な事情、二度の芸術祭を通して築かれた新たな人と人のつながりなど、いろいろ考えさせられました。
また、この島の方々が、人間性を失わず、意味のある人生について探求し続けられたことに感動いたしました。
そして、最後の写真の、空の、なんと青いこと！！
記事を読み、この島の複雑な事情、二度の芸術祭を通して築かれた新たな人と人のつながりなど、いろいろ考えさせられました。
また、この島の方々が、人間性を失わず、意味のある人生について探求し続けられたことに感動いたしました。
そして、最後の写真の、空の、なんと青いこと！！
Posted by Hiroko Ando at 2013年05月31日 22:36
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