Love Letter from Brussels
Still Continuing (No. 49)
20/02/2017
The year 2016, which marked the 150th Anniversary of Friendship between Japan and Belgium, has already come to an end but we are now setting the goal of strengthening our relations for the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020, a topic I have already occasionally touched upon in my column. However, is it because of the depth of Japanese-Belgian relations? Even this year is packed with all kinds of Japan-related events. Let me introduce some of the recent events I attended.
Tamashii-ire Ceremony
On January 28, I visited the Puppet Museum of Tournai, a city located in the West of Belgium. There, I had the valuable experience of attending a “Tamashii-ire Ceremony” for Bunraku puppets. At this ceremony a soul is breathed into the bunraku puppet when assembling the puppet part by part. According to puppeteer Mr. Matsuura, who came all the way from Japan for this occasion, the ceremony is normally never done in public. After giving it a lot of thought, in the end it was decided to hold this ceremony to commemorate the addition of bunraku puppets to the public collection of the museum, a first in Belgium.
Besides the ceremony, I was also surprised by the collaboration of the Belgian people. For the ceremony in Tournai, a cello performance by a Belgian musician had been specially arranged. This, together with the refined movements of the dancing puppet after it had been given its soul, was a breathtaking experience. The cellist and Mr. Matsuura have met each other in Kagawa prefecture, where Mr. Matsuura has his home base. This was their second performance together and I heard afterwards that the well-coordinated performance was improvised, which was another surprise for me.
Furthermore, the person in charge of the puppet’s legs during the dance was a young Belgian. According to Mr. Matsuura, it was the first time in the world of Japanese Bunraku puppeteering that a foreign person was selected as a pupil. The person in charge of the legs needs to read the feelings and movements of the main puppeteer and move from there; it is a very difficult role but I think he did exceptionally well. I guess it goes without saying that it was an opportunity to experience many moving moments.
Welcome! Meiji Jingu
On January 29, a Gagaku and martial arts performance was held by Meiji Jingu at BOZAR in Brussels. Actually, the people from Meiji Jingu had originally planned to come in April of last year but due to the terrorist attacks in March the event had been postponed.
On a personal note, the Meiji Jingu is actually within walking distance from my home in Tokyo. I often went there for a walk and I would occasionally also visit the martial arts dojo. And, my birthday is on November 3rd, the same as the late Emperor Meiji. After the first cancellation, the people from Meiji Jingu went out of their way to fix their schedule to come to Belgium. It made me glad in many ways and I truly appreciated it.
After an introduction video in English on the Meiji Jingu, all of the instruments used for gagaku music were introduced, followed by performances of music, dance and finally martial arts. As they have performed in public abroad on countless occasions, they delivered an excellent performance. I also learned a lot and even for the Belgian audience that for the first time experienced gagaku, I think it was easy to follow and understand.
When you say Liège…
On January 31st, I went to Liège, one of the main cities in Wallonia located south of Brussels. At the Théatre de Liège, I enjoyed a dance performance called “Holistic Strata & Split Flow” by choreographer, dancer and visual artist Umeda Hiroaki.
Mr. Umeda’s performance was the opening event of the “IMPACT Project” (an international project bringing together performing arts and creative technologies). The dance choreographed by Umeda, in combination with various graphics projected by a computer he made himself, was certainly a worthy opening act for the IMPACT project, with its fusion of visual and physical art.
By the way, the Théatre de Liège is also known for the issue of the logo of the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020, when it was at one time on the news every day in Japan. As a keepsake, I received an “I 💛 Japan”-T-shirt from them that was made at the time, wanting to make sure that they do love all things Japanese.
Still more to come …
Furthermore, end of February, upon invitation of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan Mr. Oshima, the President of the Chamber of Representatives of Belgium Mr. Bracke and his delegation will visit Japan. Mr. Bracke is also chairman of the Belgium-Japan Interparliamentary Committee on the Belgian side. I hope it will be a wonderful visit and provide an occasion to further strengthen the friendship between Japan and Belgium.
