REGNUM IMAGINARIUM: Realm of the Marvelous and Uncanny National Museum of the Ainu People Shiraoi-cho, Hokkaido

  • Hokkaido
  • Experience Gifu
Animal-shaped clay artifact [Designated by the national government as an important cultural property] / Lent by Chitose City Board of Education

About the Exhibition

How have humans recognized, explained, and depicted "strange" things that deviate from common sense and convention? This exhibition introduces the diversity of creatures of the imagination, such as mermaids, dragons, and kappa, through ritual implements, costumes, paintings, sculptures, and books, and explores the sources of the human imagination and creative power. Strange and weird, eerie but cute, the world's spiritual beasts, phantoms, and monsters will be gathered in large numbers! The following is a list of some of them.

What are the highlights of this exhibition?

A wooden mask of "Fuziru," a monster that has been handed down only to the Ainu people of the Kuril Islands, will be on display. Hujiru" always wear masks, and it is said that they are "nopojiru" under the masks. Are they related to the masks of neighboring tribes? This is a rare opportunity to see the exhibit together with the field notes of anthropologist Torii Ryuzo, who collected the folklore of the Kuril Ainu people.
Mask (Chishima Islands)/National Museum of Ethnology collection
Visitors can look forward to original Hokkaido content such as the ever-changing monster Bibi, materials related to the "Hokkaido image" created by the pioneers, and an introduction to creatures from Ainu folklore depicted by a contemporary illustrator!
Kisaㇻli, a long-eared ghost (Hokkaido) / National Museum of Ethnology collection
The highlight of the exhibition is the collection of mysterious creatures created by people from all over the world, as seen in the tools and costumes of daily life, such as the Vejigante costume of Puerto Rico, fishing equipment for flying fish fishing from the Solomon Islands, and the "Jatayu" costume of the Indonesian dance performance Wayang Orang. From Japan, animal-shaped clay artifacts, designated as National Important Cultural Properties, and "Shoroshoro Fox," a papier-mache doll from Tottori Prefecture, will also be on display. Explore the diversity of creatures of the imaginary world that hide in the water, flap their wings in the heavens, and tour the earth.
From left: Vejigante costume (Puerto Rico) / National Museum of Ethnology; Fishing tackle for flying fish (Solomon Islands) / National Museum of Ethnology; Animal-shaped clay figurine [National Important Cultural Property] / Chitose City Board of Education; Costume for Wayang Orang dance drama "Jatayu" (Indonesia) / National Museum of Ethnology; papier-mache puppet Shoroshoro Fox" (Tottori Prefecture) / National Museum of Ethnology collection

About the cultural history of wonder and weirdness

Himekoku" in Kikokugaku Sankairoku is one of the Chinese words used to describe Japan. Following the ancient Chinese geography book Shan Hai Jing, it records information and diagrams of 25 species of "foreign objects seen in mountains and rivers" that are said to have appeared in various parts of Japan.
From "Himekoku sankai roku" (1762) by Kaikki / Lent by Tohoku University Library
"March of the Variants" (part) by Igarashi Daisuke / Private collection
The exhibition will be held at the Special Exhibition Room of the National Museum of the Ainu People in Upopoi (Symbolic Space for the Coexistence of Peoples) from September 14, 2024 (Sat) to November 17, 2024 (Sun).
Image courtesy of the Ainu People's Culture Foundation
The 9th Special Exhibition "REGNUM IMAGINARIUM: Realm of the Marvelous and Uncanny

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