The peaceful town of Iida in Nagano Prefecture is known for its annual puppet festival and the
Kawamoto Kihachiro Puppet Museum.
The Takeda Memorial International Marionette Museum just outside Iida near Motozenkoji Temple is another must for fans of the art of puppeteering. Set in a beautiful garden, this modern museum presents a traditional puppet stage with a video explanation (in Japanese) as well as beautifully-crafted puppets from Japan and the rest of the world.
The Takeda name has long been associated with Japanese puppets since the 1660s.
Takeda Memorial International Marionette Museum
Zakoji 2535
Iida, Nagano
Nagano 395-0001
Tel: 0265 23 4222
Hours 9am-5pm; closed Mondays
The nearest station is Motozenkoji on the JR Iida Line.
Access: Iida can be reached by train from
Nagoya via
Toyohashi on the JR Iida Line (2 hours, 30 minutes). There are also highway buses from Tokyo (4 hours) and Nagoya (2 hours). By car, exit the Chuo Expressway at the Iida interchange.
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水引
Mizuhiki is a traditional Japanese craft using rice paper, which is tightly binded and wound, starched and then bent into various shapes for use as decoration.
The cord can be painted or entwined with thin strips of silk to color it.
Mizuhiki was used to tie the hair of samurai in the Edo Period (1600-1868). Nowadays
mizuhiki items in the shape of animals or just about anything (plants, cakes, scrolls, birds, dolls, ships, battledores, family crests, keyrings etc) are given as presents for weddings and births.
Colorful small
mizuhiki knots are also attached to envelopes, especially those for giving money at weddings and
funerals.
Traditionally
mizuhiki was made in artisans' homes over the winter after the rice harvest was gathered in. The area around Iida and
Hirugami Onsen in Nagano Prefecture is famous for the art of
mizuhiki. Craftspeople may give a demonstration in your ryokan in the evening or visit one of the arts and crafts museums in the area, where you can purchase pieces ranging in size from full suits of samurai armor to tiny mobile phone straps.
Furosato Mizuhiki Kogeikan (Tel: 0265 25 5222) just off National Highway 153 close to the Iida Interchange of the Chuo Expressway is recommended.
Hours: 8.30-5pm daily.
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柳田國男館
Kunio Yanagita (1875-1962), known as the father of Japanese ethnology and folklore studies, was born in Fukusaki, Hyogo Prefecture, but was adopted into the Yanagita family in Iida, taking their name and dropping his birth name of Matsuoka.
Graduating from
Tokyo University, Yanagita worked as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, which lead to him traveling the length and breadth of Japan for his work.
On retirement, Yanagita plunged into the study of Japanese folklore and oral traditions which he recorded in his classic book, The Legends of Tono.
Yanagita's work divides opinion - some critics see him as asserting the lives of common people in Japanese history; others see him as creating an homogenous view of the Japanese people in the newly unified nation state.
The Kunio Yanagita Memorial Hall in Iida lies next to the modernist Iida Fine Art Museum designed by architect Hara Hiroshi, who was also responsible for Kyoto Station, the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, and Sapporo Dome.
Kunio Yanagita Memorial Hall Iida
Tel: 0265-22-8118
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飯田市川本喜八郎人形美術館
The Iida City Kawamoto Kihachiro Puppet Museum in Iida, southern Nagano Prefecture is the town's must-see attraction and a world class museum. During the Edo period, this old castle town was known for its two performing puppetry troupes - the Kuroda and Imada groups - as well as its delicious apples.
In 1979 the Iida Puppet Carnival (now the Iida Puppet Festa) was established to preserve Iida's puppet heritage and quickly became Japan's biggest puppet event. Puppet animator Kawamoto Kihachiro visited the festival in 1990 and his animated films received an enthusiastic welcome. In response, Kawamoto donated 200 of his puppets which make up the core of the exhibits on display in the modern facility.
Many of the puppets are taken from Kawamoto's two NHK television dramas: Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Tale of the Heike.
One of Kawamoto's short films is shown in the media center at regular intervals during the day.
Iida City Kawamoto Kihachiro Puppet Museum (in Japanese)
Nagano Prefecture
Iida City
Motomachi 1-2
Tel: 0265 23 3594
Admission: Adults 400 yen
Access: Iida can be reached by train from Nagoya via
Toyohashi on the JR Iida Line (2 hours, 30 minutes). There are also highway buses from Tokyo (4 hours) and Nagoya (2 hours). By car, exit the Chuo Expressway at the Iida interchange.
Here are a list of Kawamoto Kihachiro films available from Amazon:
The Book of the Dead,
The Exquisite Short Films of Kawamoto Kihachiro, and
New Animation: Works of Kihachiro Kawamoto.
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