Help Save Nami-Usagi, A 120-Year-Old Japanese Historical Plaster Relief Sculpture on the Wall of Our Own Japanese Kura
Masaki SeikeINTRODUCTION
On the early morning of July 7th, 2018, two landslides caused by the Western Japan Heavy Rain left severe damages on our family houses in Uwajima City. Fortunately, no nobody was there in the house at the time, but we have lost our 120-year-old dwellings forever on the day.
The main building was a former sericulture house, built during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) and it connected to the warehouse built around the time of Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). And these historically significant buildings were flooded and ruined, and they are scheduled to be demolished in November 2019.
It is difficult for all of our family to see these buildings go, not just because we grew up with them, but because they are a part of Japanese culture and history. And we want to save or reuse anything that we can take from the buildings. And we ask for your help.
"NAMI-USAGI" Project
We are selling the T-shirt to fundraise and support the preserving process of the plaster picture Nami-Usagi.
The artifact is called Kote-e (鏝絵), and it is reliefs of plastering pictures or words on the plaster walls of traditional Japanese architectures. It represents a story that invites fortune and the classic themes of natural beauty in Japanese aesthetics.
Our design in the picture is called Nami-Usagi (波兎）, one of the most well-known motifs used for Kote-e to wish the family to prosper. The two Kanji characters represent: Nami (波: Wave=Water) is water symbolizes fire prevention, and Usagi (兎: Rabbit) represents fertility and prosperity.
When you purchase the T-shirt, you are contributing to preserving the cultural artifact and the memory over the generations of our family. We already asked a special team to save the Kote-e in early October. And we are to shoot videoes of the preserving process and show them in our youtube channel later. More updates to come later.
Yes, we are CSTOYS, but not just toys.
And we thank you for your supports.
