Ogijima art works opened and Autumn Festival in Shodoshima
Hello, greetings from Setouchi!
Seeing the islands from the Koebi-tai Office, the leaves have started turning red. Autumn is on its way. In the foreground of the picture, you can find the new Kagawa Prefectural Gymnasium, which is now under construction.
This time, in the blog we shall talk about Ogijima where the artworks were open to the public in October for the first time after quite a while. We shall also introduce the autumn festival of Shodoshima – the first in four years.
The weather was more pleasant in October, and indoor artworks on the Ogijima island were open to the public for five days.
Before that, on October 1st (Sunday) we carried out maintenance work to get ready for receiving visitors.
Most artworks on Ogijima had been closed for one year after the end of Setouchi Triennale 2022. As we removed grass and did the cleaning, the stale air was refreshed.
When we were removing grass, a local woman brought a sickle with her and came to help us. We are so glad and thankful!
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On the day of opening, Koebi-tai members received visitors and showed the artworks cheerfully.
As the summer heat had subsided and it had become more pleasant to go outdoors, many visitors came to the venue.
For the time being, the exhibition period is over. We shall get ready and welcome visitors again next time.
★Photo:Shintaro Miyawaki
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After that, we participated in the autumn festival of Kameyama Hachimangu Shrine on Shodoshima island on October 16th, a sunny autumn day. It was held for the first time in four years. In Nakayama district where the making of Wen-chi Wang’s artworks has taken place since 2010, we reached out to everyone, and Koebi-tai members participated in the festival as kakite – palanquin bearers.
On the way to Kameyama Hachimangu Shrine, large taiko floats from different hamlets joined together.
In front of the main shrine, participants raised their hands, lifted the heavy taiko palanquin, while shouting “Ei! Sha~ Sha~ Ge~!”
In the afternoon, the venue moved to Ikeda no Sajiki (Ikeda Grandstand), a nationally designated important tangible folk cultural property. The open-air raised seating is 18 meters high and 80 meters long. It is used only once a year, on the day of autumn festival.
Here is our Nakayama taiko palanquin! In the center of the horse field, we raised the palanquin perfectly, and the cheer went up from the crowd!
Finally, it was the “Kakikurabe.” An exciting scene, participants had to raise the taiko palanquin up and hold on for three minutes. It required both perseverance and teamwork.
During the festival at Kameyama Hachimangu Shrine, the atmosphere was lively, participants were having their faces shining, the elderly watching the event were smiling. We felt deeply about the importance of local festivals. This autumn festival has been continuing for over two hundred years.
