Aug 01 2012

Yappeshi Festival in Tohoku, Japan

by James Jack

In this area of Japan’s northeastern Iwate prefecture, the impact of last year’s tsunami can still be strongly felt: abandoned train tracks fill with weeds growing where people once stood waiting at the station, cement foundations are all that remain from countless houses and buildings that stood in low lying areas, the remnants of a public bathhouse with its roof torn off—and the endless debris. As destruction is gradually being cleaned up and relief efforts are bringing many people their essential needs in the seaside areas of Tohoku, artists too are playing a significant role in the emotional recovery of residents in towns such as Ofunato.

The first trip to Tohoku after the water subsided in May 2011 was very emotional for the artists, collectors and gallerists who traveled with well-known Tokyo art collector, Hiroko Ishinabe, to Ofunato, where she grew up. Feeling the need to do “something,” she resolved to engage her creative network to spark new life amidst the loss and devastation in the city, where many of her relatives still live. Since the March 11 disaster last year, she has brought a steady stream of creative volunteers to her hometown to contribute to the many festivals that dot the Japanese calendar, bringing signs of hope into an everyday where daily necessities such as food, water and a warm place to sleep are no longer taken for granted.

Yappeshi Matsuri was a name chosen by the local people, taken from a dialect term used in the Iwate region, meaning “lets do it!” (yappeshi), emphasizing the local nature of the event. It was held during the Tanabata festival, which traditionally celebrates the union of star deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (seen to be the stars Vega and Altair respectively) for just one evening of the year, based on the Chinese Qixi festival. Despite rain on the first day, hundreds of local community members came to hang up their handwritten hopes and wishes, receive massages, play games, fly paper lanterns and visit the “listening booth”—all set up along the temporarily rebuilt Yume Shotengai (“Dream Shopping Street”), which had been completely destroyed by the tsunami.

Some of the Yappeshi Matsuri organizers and volunteers pose beneath the Yume Shotengai street sign.

As is the Japanese custom, local elementary school children shared their handwritten dreams for the future by tying them to bamboo trees in the “Dream Shopping Street” for the duration of the Yappeshi Matsuri.

An abandoned train station in Kesennuma, a town 30 kilometers to the south, in the heart of the region hit hardest by the tsunami.

This ship, brought nearly 500 kilometers from the ocean line to its present location in the town, is a sober reminder of the waves that surged through the area.

Art collector Hiroko Ishinabe stands with her father. Ishinabe’s father watched the tsunami from a hillside in the town of Ofunato.

Yappeshi Matsuri organizer, art collector Hiroko Ishinabe with a painting by a friend of her mother’s that was rescued amidst the anonymous rubble by another resident of the town.

Preparations for the festival began early in the morning as approximately 90 volunteers convened from areas as far south as Kyoto to areas as far north as Aomori.

Planning the flow of the festival Hiroko Ishinabe (left) alongside planning committee members Sō Teruchi (architect) and Shotaro Yoshino (artist.)

Responsibilities were delegated for constructing a grass park for children to play, obtaining a table for aromatherapy massage and assembling a crew to fly lanterns after sunset as well as organizing other activities.

Veteran volunteers taught newcomers how to manage the many activities for the festival.

Rain didn’t prevent artists, residents and volunteers from enjoying the beginning of the festival.

Artist and planning committee member Shotaro Yoshino has been going to Ofunato regularly since May 2011 to envision, execute and evaluate the Yappeshi Festival activities.

Wishes from the community were tied to a “milky way” in the sky above the temporary shopping street, as well as on bamboo trees, sharing peoples’ hopes for the future.

A wish for “World Peace!”

The outdoor play park designed by Hiroko’s son Yu Ishinabe along with Shūji Yamamoto and Daichi Konaka began with the removal of glass and debris in the days preceding and continued with the installation of grass, toys and a bridge on the day of the festival.

Despite the rain the children’s play park nears completion with the help of twenty volunteers.

Where a house once stood, a newly constructed bridge leads to the new grass park.

It was the first time many local people had seen children playing outdoors in this area since the devastation of March 11 last year.

Paper lanterns were lit by volunteers.

And flown in the night sky by local children.

One girl looks on her lantern enthusiastically before letting it fly up to the stars.

All images in this slideshow are courtesy James Jack and Yoshito Otani.

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