Follow-up to this illustration of a certain Scandinavian folk-tale. It occurred to me that in almost every description of a troll court in fairy-tales there is a mention of a loud, wild music played by unseen musicians. I decided to fix the injustice and let the band shine for once)
A couple sketches for my illustration for Huysmans’ “Á rebours/Against Nature” (plus a a tip of the hat to Dali’s, Baudelaire’s and Kafka’s (”A Country Doctor”, to be precise) flower allegories) Somebody has been reading too much decadents this summer)
Try to visit State Museum of Oriental Art as often as I can to picture it’s incredible treasures. Fortunately (or should I say alas), it is never crowded.
I made a 2018 calendar for my last semester project. I’ll post the rest on according dates with some descriptions. Hope you’ll find it entertaining)
Unlike my previous project on slavic mythology, here I’m researching and illustrating the culture to which I do not belong. Therefore, despite cheking various sources, I cannot be 100% sure of not making any cultural mistakes either in a discriptions or illustrations. If there are any — please, let me know!)
Children’s Day is a Japanese national holiday which takes place annually on May 5. It is a day set aside to respect children’s personalities and to celebrate their happiness. It has been a day of celebration since ancient times.
The day was originally called Tango no sekku (端午の節句) and was dedicated to the celebration of the boys as future protectors and warriors. It was originally exclusively male celebrating boys and recognizing fathers, but has since been changed to include both male and female children. Until 1948, Children’s Day was known as Boys’ Day (also known as Feast of Banners) while Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri) was celebrated on March 3.
On this day, families raise the carp-shaped koinobori flags (carp because of it’s association with strength, ), with one carp for the father, one for the mother, and one carp for each child (traditionally each son). Similarly to the Girl’s Day, families may also arrange a display, though with samurai dolls, and/or the traditional Japanese military attributes, due to their tradition as symbols of strength and vitality. Nowadays modern toys are also added sometimes.
I did search for the English translation, but found none. It’s part of the “Among Gnomes and Trolls” (”Bland tomtar och troll”), anthology — “Bortbytingarna” by Helena Nyblom. Given that the anthology is so well-known (or i hope so?), it is unbelievable that there is no English translation, so I guess it must be out there and I just haven’t found it.
Unlike my previous project on slavic mythology, here I’m researching and illustrating the culture to which I do not belong. Therefore, despite checking various sources, I cannot be 100% sure of not making any cultural mistakes either in a discriptions or illustrations. If there are any — please, let me know!)
The history of Gion Matsuri (祇園祭) is almost as ancient as the history of Kyoto itself. In the medieval times the city has often been plagued with various epidemics. To please the gods and the local spirits, in 869 it was decided to hold a ceremonial parade, depicting 66 stylized halberds to represent each province. Apparently, spirits seemed to like the performance, as it was from now on held in cases of all Kyoto’s misfortunes. It was purely a religious ceremony at first, but, as the time came by, various performances, music numbers and dances were added to the procession. The festivities escalated, and by the time of 14th century stylized halberds have been transformed into unbelievably enormous and luxurious float-like constructions, and the procession itself has been turned into the month-long festival.
The modern-day Gion Matsuri no longer counts 66 floats, though by the number of participants and onlookers it is one of the biggest celebrations in Japan. The festival is held an entire month, all the events are dated, and the most famous and spectacular happen on 16–18 of July, including Yamaboko Junkō (float parade). The festival itself has become an inspiration for many celebrations throughout the country.
inkyami
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