2013年7月14日 星期日

'Dokake' fabric created for lead float at Gion Festival in Kyoto

'Dokake' fabric created for lead float at Gion Festival in Kyoto


July 12, 2013
By YOICHIRO IKEDA/ Staff Writer
KYOTO--A traditional dyeing technique was used to produce colorful peacocks on a new fabric for the lead float at the Gion Festival in this ancient capital.
The Naginata-hoko preservation association on July 10 showed reporters the “dokake” fabric, which measures 1.7 meters in length and 3.6 meters in width. It will decorate one side of the “naginata-hoko” float in a parade at the festival that dates back to the Heian Period (794-1185).
Local artist Tameji Ueno II, who was commissioned to make the fabric, used the traditional Yuzen-dyeing technique. It took him a year to complete the work, which features more than 100 colors and delicate and minute details of five peacock motifs.
Ueno chose the motifs based on a ceremonial kimono created by his late grandfather, the first Tameji Ueno, who was a designated national living treasure.
“I have illustrated peacocks being given life and flying out to the world with joy,” Ueno said.
Ueno donated a Yuzen-dyed dokake work with a white peacock motif to the association in 2006. This will also be used to decorate a float.
“Dokake used to mean tapestries,” said Toshio Nishimura, the 63-year-old head of the preservation association. “It’s a dream come true to have a brilliant Yuzen-dyed fabric--a very Kyoto-like dokake.”
The pair of dokake fabrics will be shown to the public at the trial parade on July 12, and the float to be on display until July 14.
The fabrics will be removed from the float and exhibited at the office of the association in Shimogyo Ward on July 15 and 16.
The fabric will not be used at “yamahoko junko,” when dozens of floats called “yama” or “hoko” are pulled through the main streets of Kyoto on July 17.

 

A dokake fabric to decorate a Gion Festival float is unveiled at the Naginata-hoko preservation association in Kyoto's Shimogyo Ward on July 10. (Noboru Tomura)
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A dokake fabric to decorate a Gion Festival float is unveiled at the Naginata-hoko preservation association in Kyoto's Shimogyo Ward on July 10. (Noboru Tomura)
A dokake fabric to decorate a Gion Festival float is unveiled at the Naginata-hoko preservation association in Kyoto's Shimogyo Ward on July 10. (Noboru Tomura)
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  • A dokake fabric to decorate a Gion Festival float is unveiled at the Naginata-hoko preservation association in Kyoto's Shimogyo Ward on July 10. (Noboru Tomura)

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