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[music]
Earl A Powell III: This is the first time that the Imperial
Household Agency has loaned
Ito Jakuchu's entire set of thirty scrolls
called Colorful Realm of Living Beings anywhere outside Japan.
This Edo masterpiece is widely considered to be the most important and
remarkable ensemble of bird and flower paintings ever created
in the history of Japan and possibly in all of East Asia.
First and foremost we extend our deepest gratitude to His Majesty the Emperor of Japan
and to the imperial family
who recognize the importance of the occasion and of the celebration of long cherished ties
between Japan and the United States.
The occasion for this landmark exhibition is the centennial celebration
of the historic gift of cherry trees from Japan and their first planting here in the
nation's capital.
The exhibition, on view from March 30th through April 29th,
only four weeks, will be almost as brief as the cherry blossoms themselves.
This is due to the high level of fragility of the eighteenth century
hand painted silk scrolls, which recently underwent
conservation over a period of six years.
[bell rings]
[chanting]
[bell rings]
[chanting]
[bell rings]
[chanting]
Ambassador Fujisaki: It's great luck for all of us here in Washington
to see this and I hope that not only Washingtonians but people around the States and people around
the world will come here to see it.
It's a great opportunity, so I think it's really something very special.
[music]
Yukio Lippit: As witnessed in the Colorful Realm Jakuchu's technique
was both classical and experimental at the same time.
The Colorful Realm is like an encyclopedia of Japanese artistic techniques.
You find everything in there, all of the traditional pigments,
vegetal and mineral pigments, all kinds of techniques from different
subject matter folded into it.
So it's wonderful to be able to bring it here now
as something like an ambassador of Japan's nature of culture
on the centennial of the Cherry Blossom Festival.
[music]