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#27 Four Contact Points
Click here to go to the YouTube video Throughout the Edo period, Japan was in a state of “sakoku”, or seclusion, with its doors mostly closed to foreign countries. However, Japan had four windows to the outside world. They were Nagasaki, Satsuma, Tsushima, and Ezo, which is present-day Hokkaido. Nagasaki was the most important of these. The Shogunate built an artificial island called “Dejima” in Nagasaki and established a Dutch trading post there. The Netherlands was the only Western country that was allowed to trade with Japan. This was because the Dutch promised not to proselytize Christianity. Access to Dejima was severely restricted, however, many scholars from various parts of…
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Ainu Pattern アイヌ文様
The Ainu pattern is characterized by its elaborate and geometric design with a natural motif. The people of Ainu, who used to live by collecting seafood and mountain products, worshiped everything in nature as “Kamui”, God. They have incorporated natural motifs into the patterns not realistically but in an abstract way because of the awe of nature. アイヌ文様は、緻密で幾何学的なデザインが特徴で、自然をモチーフにしています。海や山の幸を集めて暮らしてきたアイヌの人々は、自然界のすべてのものを「カムイ(神)」と崇めてきました。自然への畏敬の念から、写実的ではなく抽象化して文様に取り入れてきました。