After the Hinamatsuri 2024
Takashi Omitsu / JCD Chairperson
One year has passed since last year’s Hinamatsuri “Return to the DIA,” and this year marks the 10th anniversary of the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA)’s revitalization, so we held a Hinamatsuri entitled “For Re-Birth of DIA.” It was held.
The event was held on March 3rd, with good weather and a large number of visitors. Families were seen enjoying making things at three popular workshop venues: “Ikebana”, “Strawberry Daifuku”, and “Papermaking”.
The traditional Japanese culture of “Tea ceremony and tea ceremony” was held in a calm Lecture Hall, where the skills of the tea masters were on full display. The seats for the “Origami Workshop” continued to fill up throughout the day, and the “Japanese Folk Tales” event was filled with families enjoying the Kamishibai show. There was a “Koto music performance” at the venue where the cafe was located, and the visitors seemed to be having a relaxing time.
“Re-Birth” is a new attempt by three artists to express the “rebirth of DIA.” The Japan Gallery was established in 2017 with a generous donation to DIA from the Japanese community ten years ago. Over the past few years, JBSD has continued to support the expansion of the Hinamatsuri event and attract more people to DIA. “Re-Birth” expresses the support by the Japanese community from DIA’s bankruptcy to recovery. People then wrote messages about their wishes for the area they live in and for DIA and had them hang them at “Re-Birth” to pray for further development in the future.
In addition, the Washi art “The Sky of Detroit, Shinning Wind” created by Japanese Washi masters uses beautiful blue washi paper to depict the recovery of Detroit as seen by the masters a few years ago.
JCD’s “Hinamatsuri in DIA” is planned and implemented every year with a focus on introducing the works of new artists and introducing traditional Japanese cultures. We would like to continue our efforts so that many local people will participate in JCD’s cultural events at DIA and become fans of Japan.
Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to the many people who supported Hinamatsuri 2024 until its successful completion.