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| Kite Museum | |
| (Nihonbashi, TOKYO) |
T he Kite Museum ("TAKO-NO-HAKUBUTSUKAN" in Japanese) exhibits mainly typical Japanese traditional kites, "Edo Nishiki-E Dako", and other Japanese kites from all over Japan, together with kites from China and other Asian countries.
T he kite framing materials is mainly bamboo (can be found everywhere in Japan), having the virtue of being strong, flexible and lightweight. Splitting bamboo into flaming strips from a pole can be accomplished by a sharp knife.
T he sail material is mainly Japanese handmade paper called "Washi", and it has extraordinary strength. The "Kohzo" tree, a type of mulberry, is the most important source for paper fibers in Washi. The kite picture is first outlined in dark "sumi" ink to restrict the pigments to the desired areas, and then outlines are filled in and accented with colors traditional to Japanese paintings.
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| Edo kaku dako "The battle of Ichinotani" |
Edo kaku dako "Waves & Rabbit" |
Edo kaku dako "Kabuki actors in Kanjincho" |
| (1025 x 640 mm) | (1120 x 710 mm) | (780 x 465 mm) |
| JPEG (165 kB ) | JPEG (120 kB ) | JPEG (121 kB ) |
| Click on the thumbnails for large image. | ||
T he museum occupies the 5th floor of TAIMEIKEN, a well-known restaurant, located in downtown Tokyo. Shingo Modegi, the former owner of the restraunt, was one of the greatest kite enthusiasts and fund this museum. The museum's floor space is rather small comparing with any other kite museums in Japan established recently, but its collection reaches up to 3,000 and the museum is known as one of the unique museum in the world. The Japan Kite Association has its head office in the museum.
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