Japantown – Fan

 Posted by on December 30, 2011
Dec 302011
 
Japantown
Webster Street, San Francisco

There is a plaque near this fan – or Sensu – and this is what it reads:

The Japantown Sensu (fan) is a modern interpretation of traditional Japanese forms blended with the unique Japanese American culture that has existed, persisted and grown in San Francisco’s Nihonmachi since 1906.

Invented in Japan 1300 years ago, the sensu is a palette for artists, an instrument of dance and drama, a graceful and practical part of everyday life. It is an important link to our Japanese culture and continues to be used in the Japanese American community.

Elements of the Design
The design of the Sensu incorporates key elements from Japantown:

• Peace Pagoda – Designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi, the Pagoda was donated by the people of Osaka,
San Francisco’s Sister City, in 1968.
• Origami Fountain – One of the two sculptures inspired by Japanese paper folding, designed by Ruth
Asawa.  ((Found on this blog here))
• Mountain stream motif – Architect Rai Okamoto designed this pattern as the setting for the Buchanan
Mall.

The four seasons are represented by traditional Japanese plant motifs:
• Sakura – The springtime cherry blossom is a symbol of the beauty and impermanence of life.
• Ayame (Shobu) – The summer iris flower symbolizes feminine beauty, its leaves masculine strength and
courage.
• Momiji – The autumn maple leaves evoke the flow of time.
• Matsu – The evergreen pine symbolizes strength and longevity.

Original concept and Sensu design by Tony Kaz Naganuma, Grace Horikiri and Karen Kai of NDD Creative, Japanese calligraphy by Mutsuyo Horikiri, former principal of Kinmon Gakuen Japanese Language School.

 

Japantown – Landmarks Project

 Posted by on December 29, 2011
Dec 292011
 
Japantown
Post Street
San Francisco

This sculpture is part of the California Japantown Landmarks Project. It is made of bronze and stone, stands 9 feet high, and weighs 1000 pounds.  The sculpture is by Louis Quaintance and Eugene Daub.  It was installed in San Francisco’s Japantown in 2005.

A 20th-century sculptor, Eugene Daub has been an instructor at the Scottsdale Artists’ School and designer of the first Philadelphia Liberty Medal, which the city of Philadelphia awards every year to a champion of world peace. He is also a former vice president of the American Medallic Sculpture Association and a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society.

Louis Quaintance  has an MFA in sculpture from Southern Illinois University.  He lives in Berkeley, California.

The landmark was funded by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program with additional resources from Proposition 40 historical and cultural heritage preservation funds.

The story behind the monument:

“From the late 1800s Japantowns began to emerge in California’s port towns and agricultural areas where Japanese immigrants helped build the state’s economy through fishing, farming and other businesses. By the 1930s, as many as forty Japantowns existed throughout the state. The forced evacuation of Japanese Americans during World War II, and later, urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s, greatly impacted the fate of these unique historic districts. This common landmark resides in three of the remaining japantowns in San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles. It pays tribute to the contributions of Californians of Japanese ancestry and is dedicated to Japantowns that today exist only in memories.”

On the first panel is inscribed:
Footsteps lead to destiny, poem by Janice Mirikitani:
We dance honoring ancestors/who claim our home,/and freedom to pursue our dreams./Our voices carve a path for justice:/Equal rights for all./We prevail./Our future harvested from generations./From my life/opens countless lives./The Journey continues…

This panel reads:

A journey detained
Interned by injustice
What lies before us?

There is also a list of all the internment camps.

 

The third panel reads:

Sojourners
Visionaries open hands to the earth
Harvest hope for a future in America

Western Addition – Blue Wall

 Posted by on December 28, 2011
Dec 282011
 
Western Addition
San Francisco
Geary and Fillmore Streets

This is Geary Street in San Francisco.  On the left is Japantown and on the right is the Western Addition.

The Fillmore street overpass has stretches of blue glass on either side.  This installation is titled 3 Shades of Blue by Mildred Howard.

The piece is a “Tribute to the music the continues to define the Fillmore”  It is 20 blue glass panes inscribed with a poem by poet laureate Quincy Troupe – Shades of Blue for a Blue Bridge for Mildred Howard, Joe Rudolph and Yori Wada.

three shades of blue
evoke minnie’s can do,
soo chow’s, yori wada

jimbo’s bop city
john lee’s boom boom room,
history riffing blue matzoh balls,
fried chicken, soba

the jigoku club inside
j town, bold rebels jamming
cross from black town, udon,
grits, barbecue

cherry blossoms blooming
in lady day’s hair, greens and fat back,
sashimi staining kimonos

you walking filmore,
crossing geary with duke,
street cars running over ghost-tracks,
pigfeet in vinegar

indigo-blue & white
red satin, sticky fingers handling
chop sticks, hot cornbread,
sweet potato pie

Mildred Howard has been in this site before.  She is an artist that best uses words as her medium.  The mixed cultures of this area are well represented in the poem.  The neighborhood has a long history of struggle not only between cultures, but between the city and it’s residents as well as the visions that everyone has versus reality.  There have been books written about this strife, suffice it to say I think the poem sums it up very, very well.

Due to the light, it was almost impossible to get a good shot of the etched words, here is a small sampling.

Walking across the Fillmore overpass.

Japantown – Origami Fountains

 Posted by on November 24, 2011
Nov 242011
 
Japantown
These are two of my most favorite fountains in San Francisco.  They are by Ruth Asawa and they reside in the Nihomachi Pedestrian Mall in Japantown.

Nihomachi is a term used to designate an historical Japanese community.  Ruth Asawa has been in the site before, and her website shows the wonderful work she does with wire and other media.

In 1974, Asawa created the Origami Fountains, two lotus, fabricated in corten steel. By 1996, the steel had seriously deteriorated and the fountains had to be removed.   Due to the communities love for Ruth, it was easy to mount support to have the fountains replaced.  They were recast in bronze. Ruth was on hand for the entire process and helped to oversee the process of making molds from the original fountains as well as the fabrication and installation of the new fountains.

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