İstanbul welcomes spring with Japanese ‘Matsuri 2010’

Governments, artists and businessmen have now taken the initiative to overcome the distance between the two societies and help them understand each other better. After the celebration of Turkey in Japan in the year 2003, 2010 is a time for various Japanese activities in this country, marking the Year of Japan in Turkey. For several months, İstanbul has hosted various examples of Japanese performing arts, and now the Japanese are greeting the spring in İstanbul with a very old Japanese tradition: the matsuri, which means festival in Japanese.

A Japanese approach to joy: matsuri

There are no specific matsuri days for all of Japan, and the dates vary from area to area, but every locale has at least one matsuri in late summer/early autumn, usually related to the rice harvest. “Matsuri is very important for the Japanese people,” Katsuyoshi Hayashi, the Japanese consul general in İstanbul, tells Today’s Zaman. “There are various kinds of matsuri, and one of the most important ones is after the harvest. The farmers grow the crops throughout the year, and after harvest, they celebrate.”

Notable matsuri often feature processions, which may include elaborate floats. The preparation for these processions is usually organized at the neighborhood level, and the local kami (spirits) may be ritually installed in mikoshi (portable Shinto shrines) and yamahoko (Japanese floats) and paraded through the streets on people’s shoulders.

“Matsuri is a kind of entertainment that lives still today,” says Hayashi. “Some communities celebrate matsuri in spring, some in summer, and this is very important for people to get united who live within the same borders,” notes Hayashi, explaining the significance of the celebration for Japanese society. “This is what matsuri is for: bringing people together.”

The matsuri in İstanbul, organized under the directorship of Günseli Kato, a prominent artist particularly known for her interest in Japanese culture and arts, and Ebru Köktürk Koralı, kicked off with a live performance by Kato next to the “Yamahoko” installed in Taksim Square on March 26.

A torchlight procession followed Kato’s live performance, and the matsuri group, lead by Kato, made their way to the former Japanese consulate building in Gümüşsuyu, which is hosting three important exhibitions.

History awakens with culture

The historic building, which was unused for years, has opened its doors for the first time since 2003 for this cultural event. The building itself is a significant figure representing the history of the relationship between Turkey and Japan, which goes back to the period of Sultan Abdülhamit II. The relationship began with the establishment of diplomatic ties; however, the two countries grew closer through a tragic accident: the sinking of the Ertuğrul frigate, which was returning from a mission in Japan. Since then, the relationship has always been at the level of amity, but this has not been enough to allow the two societies get to know each other better.

Now, as part of “Matsuri 2010,” İstanbulites have a chance to take a glance at Japanese culture and society through three exhibitions at the historic consulate.

Kato’s exhibition of glass emaki (Japanese illustrations), under the name “From East to East” (Doğu’dan Doğu’ya), offers a kind of Japanese cultural representation as well as a reinterpretation, since emaki are normally on paper scrolls, not glass.

The second exhibition is composed of 50 photographs by Professor Reha Günay, an architect and photographer especially known for his photographs of Japan. The photographs introduce the audience to the country’s fabulous geography, with an epic perspective on a different world.

The third exhibition, titled “Historic Japanese Consulate Building of İstanbul: Its Architecture and the Beginning of the Diplomatic Relationships between Japan and Turkey” (Tarihi İstanbul Japonya Başkonsolosluğu: Mimarisi ve Japon-Türk Diplomatik İlişkilerin Başlangıcı), by Professor Minako Mizuno Yamanlar and Miyoki Aoki Girardelli, presents a brief but essential historical survey of the bilateral relationship.