Cultural Event

The ICRA2024 is pleased to provide an opportunity for you to experience 3 cultural events. We hope you can make some time to enjoy the taste of Japan’s charm.

“Shodo” Calligraphy Workshop

We present the “Shodo” Calligraphy Workshop for ICRA2024 participants to share this aesthetic art.

Japanese Calligraphy is called “Shodo” in Japanese. “Sho” means writing, and “do” means the way.  Writing is a daily activity, while calligraphy is an activity that elevates writing to an art.

Using washi paper, fude-brushes, and sumi-ink, we create works of art by reflecting the feelings of the person who writes, with the delicate touch of the brush, the gradation of the ink, the contrast between black and white, and the beauty of the blank white spaces.  It is also a perfect activity for mental concentration or mindfulness practice.

In this workshop, we use a calligraphy brush pen (fude-pen) that combines brush and ink so anyone can easily experience calligraphy.  Write your name, favorite words, etc., in kanji (Chinese character), hiragana, or katakana on Japanese paper to complete the work. The instructors will explain the words and how to write them with hand-written examples. The calligraphy experience at this shodo workshop will be a precious memory.  We look forward to receiving your application.

Notes
・Applications for this workshop are on a first come, first served.
・Please be punctual to each class. If you are more than 10 minutes late, your class will be canceled.

MIYADAIKU Mobile Tea Ceremony

This shrine carpenter mobile tea ceremony room was unveiled in Paris in 2019 with the aim of spreading Japanese shrine carpenter wooden techniques and traditional Japanese culture to the world. Nowadays, it has become a beloved work in museums and luxury hotels all over the world.

～Experience～

Authentic Japanese experience

The Japanese wooden construction techniques of shrine carpenters have been registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, and today we will be offering a “cha-no-yu” experience, which is an ancient Japanese culture that believes that a Japanese-style room is “beautiful only when used.”

Date	Time	Place
May 14th	10:30～16：00	Room 317, Conference Center, Pacifico YOKOHAMA
May 15th
May 16th

Sougai OKADA

A teacher of the Omotesennke way of tea
An organizer of  “Sekai Chakai” community.
*He organizes a group called “Sekai Chakai”, or World Tea Party Community in Tokyo to spread traditional way of tea among people especially younger generation.

～Features of the mobile tea room～

１】 Complete a full-fledged tea room anywhere in the world in one hour
２】 Each piece is handmade by a shrine carpenter, and no nails are used in the structure, which is a condensation of the shrine carpenter’s “timber construction skills.”
３】The mobile tea room is not disposable, but is sustainable and can be assembled and used over and over again at the exhibition venue.
４】The mobile tea room uses thinned wood from local water source forests, contributing to forest issues.
５】The structure of this mobile tea room is a condensation of the skills of temple carpenters, and will serve as training for young temple carpenters to develop and pass on their skills.
６】 The fee for using the Miyadaiku Mobile Tea Room is

It will be used for water source forest maintenance projects and for passing on the skills of young shrine carpenters.

Kendama

Kendama is often featured in the media these days, but there are very few opportunity to actualy experience. We hope that you will have some memorable time by experiencing Kendama.

Yusuke Ito, 10 times number one kendama player in Japan, Two Guinness World Recordswill teach you how to play Kendama. (https://kendamashi.com/enhome/)

Date	Time	Place
May 14th	①10:30-11:00 ②12:45-13:15 ③15:15-15:45	Room 513 (5th Floor) Conference Center, Pacifico YOKOHAMA
May 15th
May 16th