In June, 32 members of Aoi Kai participated in the “21st Century Art Borderless Exhibition Takumi TOKYO2023” held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, and three prize winners were invited to exhibit their works at the “21st Century Art Borderless Exhibition Aurora” held at the National Art Center, Tokyo.

We were very happy to have our Tsumami zaiku works exhibited in the largest and most wonderful art museum in Japan.

On December 3, I attended the award ceremony wearing a kimono.It had been a long time since I had worn a kimono… I thought about what to wear for a few days before the ceremony, and I decided to wear a Shark Komon, which has a high-quality pattern among the Edo komon, and an Obi, which has an auspicious pattern of various treasures, called “Takarazukushi”, for the occasion. It is an interesting aspect of kimono that each pattern has its meaning.

The award ceremony was held in the National Art Center, Tokyo auditorium. Among various awards, I received the Grand Prize in my division, and two of my students received the Excellence Award.

It was an outstanding experience for me to receive a certificate and to give a speech, although I was quite nervous.

Afterward, I went to the exhibition hall and was very happy to hear many people congratulate me for winning the awards.

The works of the many artists were all very original.
I was able to ask them about how they made their works and their thoughts about their works, and I was inspired by every one of them.

Later on, we received a contact from an art magazine that had seen our exhibition, which made us realize the importance of having so many people see our works.

I would like to continue to exhibit my works actively in the future.
I will continue to do my best step by step to expand the boundaries of “tsumami zaiku”!