Matsuri (祭), Festival, Celebration.
Calligraphy by William Reed
Calligraphy by William Reed
Although Japan celebrates Matsuri or Festivals throughout the year, some of the best are in the summer months. They are connected to the Shinto Religion of Japan, and typically celebrate seasonal passages, harvests, coming of age, or calling on ancestral spirits.
They are lively events, with lanterns, drums, Japanese festival wear, special foods, and dances, in which the entire community participates. The Taiko drum is used to invoke the spirits of the living and the dead through its powerful and hypnotic rhythms.
I painted the character for Matsuri shown here for Carre MOJI Sommulier training, but also in anticipation of the Japan EXPO Festival which I will attend in Paris in the first week of July.
The Taiko drum has gained a large following overseas thanks to performances by KODO, which has received rave reviews in newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune and the New York Times. You can get a feeling for it by watching the trailer preview of a KODO performance posted by the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS).
This feeling of full-body drumming is exactly the spirit of the Matsuri, and perhaps you can sense it in the strokes of the brush.
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