Moreover, some manufacturers and suppliers had to participate in the war effort or fight in person. During this period, ‘ washi, or Japanese paper, a material needed to make kites, was more difficult to come by’. Activités des amateurs de cerfs-volants dans le Japon des années 1960-70 (‘From the Sky to the Museum: Activities of Kite Enthusiasts in Japan from 1960-70’), the Second World War marked a turning point. Its golden age, however, was more recent, between the Edo period (1603-1868) and the first half of the 20th century.Īs Cecile Laly explains in the book Du ciel au musée.
This aerodyne is thought to have first appeared in the 8th century, when it was imported from islands in south-eastern Asia via China and Korea.
#JAPANESE KITE SERIES#
Thus, as the text accompanying the series explains, the term tako, meaning ‘octopus’, is used in Tokyo to refer to the object, while in Kyoto it is ika, which means ‘squid’. In Japan, kites are anchored to territories, identities. Immortalising an endangered family and territorial heritage There are now only around fifteen of these passionate individuals left compared to several hundred at the start of the last century, and they are devoted to preserving the practice and the codes and conventions associated with it.
Mami Kiyoshi is a photographer who trained at Musashino Art University and whose work is frequently exhibited in France, and in this series created in 2018, she captures kite makers and those around them in their workshops. Formed by combining the terms dako (kite) and wa (Japanese), the title of the series WADAKO – Stories of Japanese Kites reveals the players in this discipline that occupies a special place in Japanese society.
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