‘Enduring Beauty: 5,000 Years of Japanese Art,’ an exhibition featuring the various periods of Japanese art, opens at Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace Museum with the participation of Japanese Prince Tomohito Mikasa.
As part of the ‘Japan Year in Turkey,’ the exhibition displays 47 works from the Jomon Period until Edo Period.
As part of the 2010 Japan Year in Turkey, an exhibition titled “Enduring Beauty: 5,000 Years of Japanese Art” opened Tuesday at the Topkapı Palace Museum’s Dormitory of the Privy Chamber.
Japanese Prince Tomohito Mikasa attended the inauguration of the exhibition, organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, the Tokyo National Museum, and the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
“It is the right time to celebrate ‘Japan Year in Turkey’ since 2010 is the 120th anniversary of the establishment of Japanese-Turkish friendship.
2003 was celebrated as the ‘Turkey Year in Japan’ and Turkey’s politics, economy, culture, education and sports were promoted to Japanese people throughout the year,” Mikasa said at the ceremony.
Mikasa said the 120-year friendship between the countries started in 1890 with the help of Japanese people to Turkish during a maritime event known as the Ertuğrul disaster.
He said the friendship persisted and recalled Turkish Airlines planes that were sent to the region during the Iran-Iraq war in 1985 and rescued hundreds of Japanese citizens.
“The friendship started in the sea and continued in the air,” he said.
Miksa said the archaeologist Tahsin Özgüç and his wife became friends with his father in the same period.
“Within the framework of the Kaman Kalehöyük archaeological works in the central Anatolian province of Kırşehir, valuable remains that might change many historical facts have been found.
The Turkish government approved the establishment of the Japanese Anatolia Archaeology Institute in 1998 in the region.”
He said that in 2001, 730 million Japanese Yen (approximately $6 million at the time) had been collected from all around Japan to establish the institute, adding the institute, where archaeological works will be carried out and researchers will stay, would open on July 10.
“Japan has relations with more than 200 countries and regions but its deep friendship relations with Turkey cannot be compared to others. I think that Turkey is the one having the closest feelings to Japan in the world.”
From Jomon to Edo periods
Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism Deputy Undersecretary Özgür Özaslan said the exhibition included 47 works, featuring the Japanese art starting from Jomon period to Edo period.
Among these was a gold-embroidered tablecloth that the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid had sent to Japanese Emperor Meiji through the Eruğrul frigate.
“Even though we are far from each other, there has been very close relations between Turkey and Japan in recent years.
Such cultural events will be a tool for the continuation of these relations.”
The Topkapı Museum Director Professor İlber Ortaylı said Japan was one of the oldest civilizations and the world’s oldest ceramics were there.
He said Turkey-Japan relations started in the 19th century, and, in 2010, those who lost their lives during the Ertuğrul disaster were commemorated. Works at the Topkapı Palace were previously displayed in Kyoto and Tokyo.
The exhibition “Enduring Beauty: 5,000 Years of Japanese Art,” which includes works representing various periods of Japanese art, selected from the Tokyo National Museum, displays ceramics, porcelains, paintings, kimono, textile, wooden, metal works and different objects of Buddhist culture.
The exhibition will be open everyday between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., except Tuesdays, through June 28.
Source : http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com
