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Many people attended Evangelion and Japanese Swords Exhibit, a fusion of Japan’s traditions and pop culture, while it was in Japan, and from April of this year it has jumped abroad. The first stop on its overseas tour is in Paris at the Japan Foundation Paris Japanese Cultural Center. The exhibit started in 2012 at the Bizen Osafune Japanese Sword Museum in Okayama Prefecture, and until now the popular exhibit made nine stops in Japan and was visited by more than 300,000 people. Following this response, it has now started its overseas tour.
Swordsmiths from all over the country have challenged themselves with capturing the world of Evangelion for the exhibit. The exhibit features 20 works inspired by weaponry from the series including the Lance of Longinus and the Progressive Knife. There are also swords and equipment made by swordsmiths from the Kamakura and Edo periods as well as life-size figures of Evangelion characters, reproduction art prints, and more. The varied lineup collectively introduces Japan’s ancient traditions and pop culture.
On the exhibit’s opening day in Paris, it was visited by men and women of all ages including, of course, French people, as well as Japanese people living in France, tourists, and others. Many visitors were enthusiastically reading the explanations on this history of Japanese swords and you could feel their high interest. There was also a lecture held by Munenori Kinoshita, one of the artisans in charge of the works for the exhibit. This had a capacity of 60 people and it was full both times. During his lecture, he gave a demonstration of him actually carving into a sword’s blade. The detailed dragon carving created with this artisan’s technique really enlivened the crowd.
Although it was a weekday, the Paris exhibit got off to a great start. The exhibit will run until June 21. After this, it will move on to Madrid, Spain. The Madrid exhibit will be held at the ABC Museum from July 5 to Sept. 28. We wonder how Japan’s traditional culture fused with this popular anime will be received in Europe. We’ll keep a close eye on how this develops.
Paris Exhibit
Duration: 4/30 (Wed.) to 6/21/2014 (Sat.)
Location: Japan Foundation Paris Japanese Cultural Center
Madrid Exhibit
Duration: 7/05 (Sat.) to 9/28/2014 (Sun.)
Location: ABC Museum
Source: animeanime
Source article written by Katsunori Takahashi
© Khara Inc.
