Recently, many of the buildings in
Huangdao are illuminated at night, giving a spectacular light show around the
bay of Tang Dao Wan. The large-scale connected LED lighting decorates the
buidings and LED-based animations are displayed on the buildings.
At night, the lights from the buildings
are reflected onto the bay and form dramatic images that captivate people
watching it. The connected LED lighting creates dynamic light effects and
images displayed on the buildings including blossoming flowers.
The beautiful lighting is also highly
energy efficient and illustrates LED leadership in connected lighting. It is
said that the LED lighting system can save up to 75% electricity as well as
reduce operational and maintenance costs.
So if you are in Huangdao, see the
buildings illumniation at night and enjoy the LED animations displayed on the
buildings.
Huangdao which means "yellow island" in Chinese is a
district of Qingdao, Shandong, China, located southwest and west of the main
urban area of the city on the western shore of Jiaozhou Bay.
Huangdao which means "yellow island" in Chinese is a
district of Qingdao, Shandong, China, located southwest and west of the main
urban area of the city on the western shore of Jiaozhou Bay.
The Tang Dao Wan Bay
Park located in Huangdao is a beautiful park around the the bay of Tang Dao
Wan, which serves as a place for family recreation, picnic, cycling and
gathering.
Huangdao's early summer
is quite an enjoyable season, although it can be humid near the sea shore. Late
summer can become hot, while other places of Northern China start to feel
cooler. The climate in late fall and winter can be harsh but snow patches can
generally last no longer than a few days. It is a fun place to bring the family
for a bike ride along the Bay.
In summer, the park is
especially beautiful with colorful flowers grown in well arranged landscape.
This coastal park perfectly blends nature, culture, and entertainment. It is
famous for its beautiful natural scenery and leisurely walkways.
You can rent bikes in
thisscenic area. The coastline involved
in the scenic area is very long, about 7 km. This place is a good place to ride
a bike ride along the scenic Bay .
Flowers have a privileged position in
Chinese culture. Chinese believe that flowers convey positive messages and play
a significant role in the day to day life. In this park during summer you can find
various flowers, roses in red , pink, white and yellow, lavenders,
chrysanthemum, lotus etc. A beautiful scenery at one time.
That
Friday morning I rushed to Le Consulat Café to meet Victor for a chat. I was so excited to meet him as I have many
questions to ask about his famous novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. When I
arrived he was already there sipping a warm une noisette coffee.
I
said:
“Bonjour
Monsieur, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule. I have abundant
questions to ask, hopefully we can discuss them all and finish the discussion
on time.”
Victor:
“Tell
me, mon amie… “
I
said:
“Monsieur,
the original title of your famous novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” is
actually “The Notre-Dame of Paris”. With this original title do you wish to
emphasise the historical Notre-Dame or rather the human drama staged in the
Notre-Dame?”
Victor:
“As
told in Book 3 Chapter 1 the Notre-Dame had been growing old due to the numberless
degradations and mutilations which time and men both caused. Time had had
notched its surface here and there, and gnawed it everywhere; political and
religious revolution had torn its rich garment, carving and sculpture, burst
its rose windows, broken its necklace of arabesques and tiny figures, torn out
its statues.
Then
the restoration efforts made it even more grotesque and foolish.The restoration had adjusted, in the name of
"good taste," upon the wounds of gothic architecture, their miserable
gewgaws of a day, their ribbons of marble, their pompons of metal, a veritable
leprosy of egg-shaped ornaments, volutes, whorls, draperies, garlands, fringes,
stone flames, bronze clouds, pudgy cupids, chubby- cheeked cherubim.
But
the Notre-Dame is also the home of Quasimodo, the ugly Hunchback-man with a
heart of gold, as well as home of Claude Frollo, the solemn priest turned to
evil, who adopted Quasimodo abandoned as a child on a bed in the Notre Dame. And
Esmeralda took refuge in Notre-Dame for a while hiding from the royal soldiers.
It was also the stage where Esmeralda, Frollo and Jehan fell to their tragic
death“.
I
said:
“The
sufferings of Quasimodo, the Hunchback-man in this novel, seem to be sogross beyond human. As a child he was
abandoned because of his ugliness, his body deformed, has only one eye, his
head placed directly on his shoulders, his spinal column was crooked, his
breast bone prominent, and his legs bowed.
The
ladies who saw the child in the bed of Nortre-Dame were so horrified that one
of them asked: “What is this, sister?", and the other lady said:
“"What is to become of us, if that is the way children are made now?"
and then the other: “it must be a sin to look at this one."
Victor:
“He
then also lost his hearing being the bellringer of the Notre-Dame, the bells
had broken the drums of his ears, he had become deaf.
But
such sufferings are not comparable with the suffering of Stephen Hawking. He
was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a form of motor neurone
disease, when he was 22 and was not expected to live for more than a few years.
The disease causes weakness of either
upper motor neurons or lower motor neurons or both. He could not walk, move and
bound to a wheelchair, he also could not write and speak. He started using a
menu controlled by a computer system to communicate. “
I
said:
“But
people respect and adore Stephen Hawking for his intelligence, for his his life
spent seeking to unlock the mysteries of the universe through physics. I can imagine
it was very aggravating for him to have a disease that constraint his movement in
pursuit of the “theory of everything”.
On
Quasimodo’s case it is different, people make fool of him all the time, he was even
crowned the Pope of Fools during the Festival of Fools. “
Victor:
“The
hardest part must be the feeling of being ugly in front of Esmeralda, to be
watch by the woman whom he adored and loved so much… In Book 9 Chapter 2 he
said to Esmeralda: “I frighten you. I am very ugly, am I not? Do not look at
me; only listen to me.”
I
said:
“
Yes, it is such a heart wrenching scene, to be uncomfortable on front of the
woman he loved so much that he risked
his life saving her from execution, and brought her to the sanctuary of the
Notre-Dame as an escape. “
Victor:
“More
than that, in Book 9 Chapter 4 it tells us: “Once Quasimodo came at the moment
when Esmeralda was caressing Djali, her
pet goat. He stood pensively for several minutes before this graceful group of
the goat and the gypsy; at last he said, shaking his heavy and ill-formed
head,--"My misfortune is that I still resemble a man too much. I should
like to be wholly a beast like that goat."She gazed at him in amazement.”
Hearing
that, I was speechless fo a moment… then as if to console Quasimodo of his
unfortunate fate I said:
“I
cannot forget the scene in Book 8 Chapter 6, when Quasimodo saved Esmeralda
from execution, rush to the two executioners with the swiftness of a cat which
has fallen from a roof, knock them down with two enormous fists, pick up
Esmeralda with one hand, as a child would her doll, and dash back into the
Notre-Dame with a single bound, lifting the young girl above his head and
crying in a formidable voice,--"Sanctuary!"
And
then, "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" repeated the crowd; and the clapping of
ten thousand hands made Quasimodo's single eye sparkle with joy and pride.”
Victor:
“Yes
the medieval law dictated that Notre Dame was a place of refuge from the law. Esmerelda
could not be harmed by the executioners as long as she stayed inside the walls
of Notre-Dame.”
I
said:
“But
Notre-Dame is also the home and sanctuary of Claude Frollo the solemn priest
turned into evil. This man, at first was the angel that adopted Quasimodo
despite his deformed, ugly look, for the love of his blood brother little
Jehan.”
Victor:
“And
the Book 4 also tells us:” Claude's compassion increased at the sight of this
ugliness; and he made a vow in his heart to rear the child for the love of his
brother, in order that, whatever might be the future faults of the little
Jehan, he should have beside him that charity done for his sake.
When
a little lad, it was between Claude Frollo's legs that Quasimodo was accustomed
to seek refuge, when the dogs and the children barked after him. Claude Frollo aslo had taught him to talk, to read, to write.
We will say then, that out of gratitude Quasimodo loved the priest as never a
dog, never a horse, never an elephant loved his master.”
I
said:
“Then
how on earth this compansionate priest, this angel, became an evil sorcerer?”
Victor:
“
From the cloister, his reputation as a learned man had passed to the people. He
studied medicine, astrology and hermetics. His latest obsession was alchemist
as he wanted to develop gold from stone. During the Middle Ages we ought to
mention however, that the sciences of Egypt, that necromancy and magic, even
the whitest, even the most innocent, had been considered as the act of sorcery.”
I
said:
“But
this angel really turned into evil, after he fell deeply in love with
Esmeralda, or rather after he was trapped in lust to Esmeralda.”
Victor:
“In
his mind Claude Frollo believed that Esmeralda’s destiny is faith, in Book 7
Chapter 5 it tells us how Claude Frollo said in a voice which seemed to proceed
from the depths of his being, "behold here a symbol of all. She flies, she
is joyous, she is just born; she seeks the spring, the open air, liberty: oh,
yes! but let her come in contact with the fatal network, and the spider issues
from it, the hideous spider! Poor dancer! poor, predestined fly! Let things take
their course, Master Jacques, 'tis fate! Alas! Claude, thou art the spider!”
I
said:
“I
can see that in this chapter Claude Frollo spoke about how the fly reaches to
open air, the full daylight, but did not see the window glass which opensto the other world. The fly does not have the
sense to understand the trapping of the spider’s web in front of the window and
flies head-on into the spider’s web. The fly struggles with head broken and
mangled wings in the web. Such is the fate of the fly.”
Victor:
"Further
he said: “And even couldst thou have broken through that formidable web, with
thy gnat's wings, thou believest that thou couldst have reached the light?
Alas! that pane of glass which is further on, that transparent obstacle, that
wall of crystal, harder than brass, which separates all philosophies from the
truth, how wouldst thou have overcome it? Oh, vanity of science! how many wise
men come flying from afar, to dash their heads against thee! How many systems
vainly fling themselves buzzing against that eternal pane!"
I
said:
“
It is like what happened to Esmeralda, she escaped execution as Quasimodo
released and saved her, brought her to the sanctuary of the Notre-Dame. Also, when the vagabonds raided the Notre-Dame,
she was rescued by Pierre Gringoire, “her husband on paper”, but actually she trapped
and caught again by Frollo. Sister
Gudule, her real mother, tried to free La Esmerelda from Frollo's trap, but the
attempt failed as Esmeralda suddenly noticed Phoebus, the man she loved, in the
troop and she shouted his name calling to rescue her. This gave away her hiding
place and the royalsoldiers caught her.
Then her fate was sealed.”
Victor:
“Like
the way Dante describes Beatrice as the “Beauty in white robes”, that is how
beautiful Esmeralda died, in white robes. She died because of her own act of
love, although unrecruited, rather it was an infatuation with Phoebus. They
only met a few times, like Dante and Beatrice, only a few times. But Phoebus
didn’t love Esmeralda, he just wanted to sleep her. He did not hear Esmeralda calling his name for
help from her hiding place, that let to her capture and death, in white robes.”
I
said:
“You
know, Stephen Hawking whom spent his life in pursuit of the “theory of
everything”, once
said when asked what he thinks most about during the day:
"Women. They are a complete mystery."
This
is an imaginary interview in memory of Victor Hugo.
Strasbourg
as the capital of Europe, is rather small and peaceful city, not as big and
busy as Paris or Milan. It seems that
Strasbourg is very sweet and easy , compared with Paris.
Strasbourg
is located close to the border between France and Germany in the historic
region of Alsace. The name Strasbourg is of Germanic origin which means
"Town (at the crossing) of roads”. It is a symbol of French-German reconciliation
and European unity.
It is
the official seat of the European Parliament, alongside Brussels and
Luxembourg.Strasbourg
is considered to be the capital of Europe due to the presence of several
European Union and other institutions in the city.
In the historical
centre of Strasbourg stands the Notre-Dame cathedral,a masterpiece of
Gothic art, owes much of its charm to the pinksandstone used for its construction. Although some of its parts are
still in Romanesque architecture, the Notre-Dame Strasbourg Cathedralis widely considered to be among the
finestGothic architecture. Erwin von Steinbach is credited
for major contributions to the cathedral architecture from 1277 to his death in 1318.
Its rose window, which is about 15 meters in
diameter, is one of the biggest Gothic
rose windows in Europe. It's very beautiful and majestic, especially when seen from the inside
of the cathedral as it gives off a coloured light.
Strasbourg is also called
The Capital of Christmas as the Christmas markets here are world famous, decorated
with a huge Christmas tree in the town square. The first markets were held in
1570, making them one of the oldest in Europe and the very first in France.
As a foreigner you can only guess what
Montmartre means, it is easy to guess that “Mont” means “Mount” as the place is
a large hill in Paris. But “martre” may sound a little like “mother”, so you
think maybe it means Mary , the mother of Jesus. This association might arised
after you visited the Notre-Dame, which means “Our Lady”.So Montmatre maybe means the Mount of Mother,
you think.
An Indonesian might think “martre” means
“matre” which means materialistic. But people would not name a place like this a
“Materialistic Mount”, so it is not possible to mean like that. Montmartre was
once the place where artists, writers and bohemians who lived, worked and gathered
in cafes and bars, while they were poor.Its
low rents lured struggling artists whose canvases now sell for millions, such
as Renoir, Degas, Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Utrillo.So if we consider this, Montmartre should
sound more like an “Artistic Mount” rather than “Materialistic Mount”, don’t
you think so?
Actually rather than making some hazard
guesses it is easier to open a dictionary , Montmartre is the French word for
the “Mount of Martyrs”, as the name is related to the 3rd century bishop of
Paris. Bishop Denis was apprehended by the Romans and sentenced to death for
teaching Christianity. There are various versions of the bishop’s martyrdom. One
legend states that he was beheaded on the hill, after which the body picked up
the head and carried it to the Parisian Saint Denis suburb. The bust of the
decapitated bishop is located atop the hill of Montmartre.
Nowadays, a popular landmark in Montmartre,
the Sacré-Cœur Basilica is located at the summit of the hill, the highest point
in the city. Sacré-Cœur means Sacred Heart as it isdedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which
was an increasingly popular vision of a loving and sympathetic Christ. The
basilica was designed by Paul Abadie. Construction began in 1875 and was consecrated
in 1919.
Montmartre was once towered with 30 windmills, used to press
grapes and millgrain. Nowadays one of
these windmills still stand, the famous "Red Windmill" — the Moulin Rouge
cabaret theatre.When it opened in 1889,
the lively nightclub seemed to sum up the pleasure-seeking belle époque, a
period of high artistic or cultural development.
Unmissable as you wander Montmartre for
the spinning red windmill on its roof, the Moulin Rouge is an unforgettable mix
of colour, movement and sound. The cabaret show performed by young girls
dancing the sexy Can Can, was a magnet for all Parisians. The show featuring
beautiful topless dancers, has become world famous.
In the novel The Hunchback of
Notre-Dame, a deformed ugly looking child was abandoned at the Notre-Dame Cathedral.
The baby was named Quasimodo by Archdeacon Claude Frollo who adopted
him.This scene reminds me of a scene from
the movie Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa, showing an unwanted baby abandoned at the
ruined Rashomon Gate. The baby then was adopted by the Woodcutter (read “An
Interview with Akira” in this blogspot).
In the novel The Hunchback of
Notre-Dame, Victor Hugo wrote largely about Notre-Dame to make the people of
Paris become more aware of the value of the Gothic architecture, which was
neglected and often destroyed to be replaced by new buildings or defaced by replacement
of parts in a newer style. The first three chapters of the novel are a plea to
preserve Gothic architecture—in Hugo’s words, a “gigantic book of stone,” which
he found beautiful.
After centuries of mistreatment,
additions, vandalism, and purgings, the visitors find a beautiful cathedral that
was not as it is today.Victor Hugo was
able to bring about the salvation of a magnificent church because he was able
to capture the lost beauty of this church with his novel.
Now the cathedral is widely considered
to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, and it is among
the largest and best-known church buildings in France, and in the world. The
naturalism of its sculptures and stained glass serve to contrast it with
earlier Romanesque architecture.
However, currently the cathedral has
required an extensive makeover once again due to deterioration, broken gargoyles
and fallen balustrades replaced by plastic pipes and wooden planks. Flying
buttresses darkened by pollution and eroded by rainwater. Pinnacles propped up
by beams and held together with straps.
Little of that deterioration is
immediately visible to the millions of awe-struck tourists who visit the
Cathedral of Notre-Dame, many of them too busy admiring the intricately
sculpted front to notice the deterioration.
Everywhere the stone is eroded, and the
more the wind blows, the more all of these little pieces keep falling. Experts
say Notre-Dame, although not at risk of sudden collapse, has reached a tipping
point, therefore it needs a make-over, an expensive make over estimated to cost
150 million Euro.
As Victor Hugo wrote in his novel, the
words ring true today 150 years later: “Assuredly, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame
at Paris is, to this day, a majestic and sublime edifice, but noble as it has
remained while growing old, one cannot but regret, cannot but feel indignant at
the innumerable degradations and mutilations inflicted on the venerable pile,
both by the action of time and the hand of man.”
Arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris
in a cool afternoon, I noticed how huge, busy and modern airport it is. Terminal
1 was built to an avant-garde design, comprising a ten-floor high circular
building surrounded by seven satellite buildings, each with four gates. The
main architect was Paul Andreu, he is famous for his work on various airports,
including Dubai International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International
Airport.
After clearing my passport and collecting my
bag, I head towards the shuttle train station. The ticket cost around 10 Euro,
for a 35 minutes ride to Gare du Nord, nearby my hotel.
The next morning, after a good breakfast of
bread, cheese, a benedict egg and orange juice, the first place to go is off course
the Champs-Élysées. The Champs-Élysées avenue is 1.9 kilometres long and 70
metres wide, running between the Place de la Concorde and the Place Charles de
Gaulle, where the Arce de Triomphe is located. The name is French for the Elysian Fields, the
paradise for dead heroes in Greek mythology. The Champs-Élysées is known for its theatres, cafés, luxury
shops, and for the annual Bastille Day parade, and as the finish of the Tour de
France bicycle race.
The monument at the beginning of the avenue, The Arce de
Triomphe, honours those who fought and died for France in the French
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and
generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. The Arc de Triomphe is the
biggest arch in the world. It was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to celebrate
his victory at Austerlitz, designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier from World War I.
From Champs-Élysées, riding the Hop-on Hop-Off Tourist
bus, I go to the iconic Eiffel Tower. While in English it is pronounced sounding
like “Aifel”, in French it is pronounced sounding like “E-fell”. The Eiffel
Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel,
whose company designed and built the tower.
Constructed as the entrance to the 1889
World's Fair, it was initially criticized by some of France's leading artists
and intellectuals for its design, but it has become a global cultural icon of
France and one of the most recognisable structures in the world.
The Eiffel Tower brings magic to Paris when
the nights come. The sparkling lights are made up of 20,000 light bulbs, 5,000
per side.Paris is called the City of
Lights because of its dazzling landmark boulevards and bridges illuminated with
thousands of light bulbs each night. Paris was also one of the first European
cities to adopt gas street lighting.
However, the name actually stems from its
cultural legacy. It used to be dubbed The City of Lights, because Paris was the
birthplace of the Age of Enlightenment and was known as a centre of education
and ideas throughout the whole of Europe. The city inspired many poets and
philosophers, engineers and scientists.
Walking the Tokyo
streets in the evening we can see many people flooding the enormous pedestrian
walkways. It seems people here, although they are famous for their hard working
for long hours, yet don’t go home straight-away after work. They like to stroll
the streets, the shops, the coffee shops and bars after work. The atmosphere is
lively, many of them are just chit-chatting outside bars or at the squares in
Shinjuku.
Shinjuku area is
constantly a bustling, busy town, being a business district in the day and an
entertainment district at night. This area initially flourished as a post town
for travellers, and gradually developed into a downtown area after the railway
station was completed after the Meiji period. Furthermore, many of the lines
used by majority of the people living in East Tokyo gather at Shinjuku,
evolving the station into a huge terminal.
If you are into youth
fashion, there is nowhere in the world that people can see such a dynamic,
colorful and youthful street fashion culture with fascinating styles changing
every day like whatis happening in
Japan, especially Tokyo, the new raising fashion capital of the world.
If you're looking
for certain youth fashion styles, Takeshita Street , and the surrounding
areas,offer countless different unique
styles. You can get band shirts, 'princess' style, goth style, and even
costumes. That's what makes this street so unique and popular. You can buy
everything from boots to earmuffs, and band t-shirts to badges in lots of
styles you might not get at home - and at decent prices, too.
It hard to imagine
how fashion of Japanese pop culture has developed into such a free style trend
that value individual uniqueness in a country of collectivism, focusing on
harmony, politeness, hierarchy and tradition.
Away from the busy
streets, there is another world.Inside
a grove of trees through the winding path with 3000various sizes of stone lanterns along the
walk , stands the Kasuga Taisha temple. It is a Shinto shrine, its location was
purposefully chosen inside a grove of trees. Shinto is deeply connected with
nature and walking through the woods makes it feel you are in another time,
even though you are just a few miles away from the busy streets.
The 3000 lanterns
are symbolic of the 3000 Kasuga shrines spread throughout Japan. Each lantern
is donated by a citizen to show thanks and support to the shrine. Writing on
each lantern shows which deity the lantern is donated to, or the person’s name
that donated the lantern.
I discovered Katsushika’s work while looking
at souvenirs displayed at the front of a souvenir shop in Mount Fuji 5th
station, pictures of a great engulfing wave with Mount Fuji at the back ground
on mugs, fans, key holders, and tee shirts. Somehow its uniqueness sticked to
mind as something of Japanese painting style, in otherwords it branded itself
as something Japanese, it becomes iconic. Such is the power of this picture.
Later, upon browsing the internet I
discovered that it is the well known “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” woodblock
print work by Katsushika Hokusai, which is part of his Thirty-six Views of
Mount Fuji woodblock work.
Then I attempted to reach Katsushika-san for
an interview, and managed to meet him in one great sunny morning at his
residence.
I said:
“Katsushika –san, your famous “The Great Wave
off Kanagawa” and other most important work from the Mount Fuji series were
made at the beginning of your “final years”. You already had a long career in ukiyo-e – the
art of the floating world – with beautiful prints of hurried pedlars, kimonoed
courtesans and pilgrims spellbound by the moon over your home city of Edo (old
Tokyo). Yet, your master piece creativity seemed to bloom in your final years,
in your seventies. Why did you “emerge” so late?”
Katsushika-san:
“The 1820s was a difficult time for me, I was
struck by lightning at 50, suffered a stroke in my 60s that required me to re-adapt
to my art work. So I did little work in my sixties; my wife got ill and one of
my daughters died. I could cope because that time I was prosperous from my
work.
But then I was faced by my grandson
misfortune who had a lot of debts from gambling habit and I had to pay off all
his debts. But in about 1828, I sent my grandson away to the far north of Japan
where he couldn't gamble. Then I was free to devote my energy to my creative
work. Although, even while drawing the Thirty-six Views, I had scarcely any
food. Edo was ravaged by smallpox and flood, and a fire in 1839 destroyed all
my studio work.
One of the factors for the emergence of my
work was the introduction of Prussian blue to the market, imported from the
West. As a synthetic pigment, it is more lasting and it lowered the price
enough that it became feasible to use the shade in prints for the first time.
A print produced entirely in Prussian tones looks
like a landscape during pre-dawn. Also, the Great Wave seascape incorporated a
middle distance, with Mount Fuji in the remote background, so that the foaming blue
foreground wave gives the picture a deeper dimension.”
I said:
“ The period of ukiyo-e – the art of the
floating world – represented the floating Japan, or the prosperous Japan, which
generally depicted the pleasurable side of urban living – courtesans and kabuki
actors included. It was the period of Japan’s hedonism world, living life for
the moment, partying, dancing, getting drunk, along with the economic boom in
Edo (old Tokyo).The art of this
floating world, ukiyou-e, raised with the demand,pictures of Kabuki, beautiful women, geisha,
courtesans became popular and displayed at homes. Hence you were floating too,
your wood block print works were sold well that time.
Then came your Great Wave woodblock print depicting
a very huge wave about to swallow the two floating boats of fishermen. Was it
some kind of a “tsunami warning” to the floating world approaching in a few
minutes?”
Katsushika-san:
“It is not a tsunami, it is a huge wave, but
not a tsunami. It was meant for decoration, depicting one of the various views
of majestic Mount Fuji, in Prussian blue. For me, the world is more panoramic,
and the joy lies in making new graphic representation for each visual
phenomenon. Such that more than 5000 prints of the Great Wave had been made and
sold that time.”
I said:
“Indeed
you are known to be a good businesman, you have a good sense about popular
demands. You are also good in promoting yourself, creating massive paintings in
public with the help of your students. At a festival in Edo in 1804, you
painted a 180-meter-long portrait of a Buddhist monk using a broom as a brush.
Years later, you publicized your best-selling series of sketchbooks with a
three-story-high work depicting the founder of Zen Buddhism.”
Katsushika-san:
“From the age of six, I had a penchant for
copying the form of things, and from about 50, my pictures were frequently
published; but until the age of 70, nothing I drew was worthy of notice… Thus
when I reach 80 years, I hope to have made increasing progress, and at 90 to
see further into the underlying principles of things, so that at 100 years I
will have achieved a divine state in my art, and at 110, every dot and every
stroke will be as though alive.”
I said:
“You painted dragons, creatures of long life,
by the dozen. You painted the phoenix, bird of resurrection, and Mount Fuji; immutable, enduring, outlasting all your
fellow painters, calligraphers, woodblock-cutters and sellers of coloured books
who scrabbled for a living Edo, old Tokyo.
You changed your name so frequently, about 30
times, often related to changes in your artistic style and production, that are
used for breaking your life up into periods.”
Katsushika-san said smiling:
“In my seventies, I was Manji, which meant
‘ten thousand things’ or ‘everything’. That is what I wanted to paint —
everything. My tombstone shall bear my final name, Gakyo Rojin Manji, which
translates to “Old Man Mad about Painting.”
I said:
“ You also made manga drawings. There is 15
volumes of them a pictorial encyclopedia of everything under the sun: frogs,
snakes, samurai, sumo wrestlers, parasols, fish markets, farm ploughs, oceans
and tea bowls. You also made ‘shunga’,
or Japanese erotic ‘spring pictures’, which is quite sexually explicit like the
Dream of Fisherman’s Wife which became one of the most celebrated of all
Japanese erotic prints.”
Katsushika-san:
“Shunga is sexually explicit art, produced to
exactly the same technical perfection as art in other formats by the same
people. The Dream of Fisherman’s Wife was based on the story of Princess
Tamatori, highly popular in the Edo period.
In this story, Tamatori is a modest shell
diver who marries Fujiwara no Fuhito of the Fujiwara clan, who is searching for
a pearl stolen from his family by Ryūjin, the dragon god of the sea. Vowing to
help, Tamatori dives down to Ryūjin's undersea palace of Ryūgū-jō, however then
pursued by the god and his army of sea creatures, including octopuses. She cuts
open her own breast and places the jewel inside; this allows her to swim faster
and escape, but she dies from her wound soon after reaching the surface.
The Tamatori story was a popular subject in
ukiyo-e art. The artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi produced works based on it, which
often include octopuses among the creatures being evaded by the bare-breasted
diver.
The
Dream of the Fisherman's Wife is not the only work of Edo-period art to depict
erotic relations between a woman and an octopus. Some early netsuke carvings
show octopus fondling nude women.”
I said:
“ Then who are the consumers of this Shunga art?”
Katsushika-san:
“In the Edo period it was not only men who
appreciated Shunga, but women were also customers. Further, there clearly was
interest in Shunga from the young and old, regardless of status or location,
and included commoners in the cities, farmers, as well as first-class
intellectuals and powerful daimyos.We
can also see that shunga was not simply for stimulating sexual desire, but
aimed to depict a wide range of aspects of sexuality.”
I said:
“ Thank you for the interseting chat
Katsushika-san, wish you long life and success with your work….”
This is an imaginary interview in memory of Katsushika
Hokusai.
Tokyo Disneyland was the first Disney park
to be built outside the United States, and it opened in 1983.The park was constructed in the same style as
Disneyland in California and Magic Kingdom in Florida. The park has seven themed areas: the World
Bazaar; the four traditional Disney lands: Adventureland, Westernland,
Fantasyland and Tomorrowland; and two mini-lands: Critter Country and Mickey's
Toontown.
Many of these areas mirror those in the original
Disneyland as they are based on American Disney films and fantasies.
Fantasyland includes Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Scary Adventures, Dumbo
the Flying Elephant, based on Disney films and characters.
Cinderella’s Castle is the fairy tale
castle at the center of the Tokyo
Disneyland. It serves as worldwide recognized icon and the flagship attraction
for the theme park.
Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall is located in
the castle where various artworks are exhibited that show scenes from her
story.
In the lobby and corridor, guests will find
eight murals showing how Cinderella changed from beloved daughter, to servant
girl, and then to Princess.
The murals mozaik were designed by
Imagineer Dorothea Redmond and crafted and set in place by a team of six
artists led by mosaicist Hanns-Joachim Scharff, the 4.6 by 3.0 m ornate panels are shaped in a Gothic arch. The
murals took 22 months to complete and contain just over 300,000 pieces of
Italian glass and rough smalti (glass made specifically for mosaics traditionally
used by Italian craftsmen) in more than 500 colors.
Many of the hand-cut tiles are fused with
sterling silver and 14-karat (58 percent) gold, and some are as small as the
head of a tack. Looking closely at these ornate murals, one will notice that
each of Cinderella's wicked stepsisters appears with a little added color - one
sister's face is clearly "red with anger", while the other is a
little "green with envy" as they watch Cinderella try on the glass
slipper. Source: Wikipedia