National Gallery for Foreign Art
The Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Bulgaria
The Japanese Foundation
present:
The Spirit of Budo: The History of Japan`s Martial Arts.
September 25-October 14, 2009.
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The Japan Foundation engages in international cultural-exchange activities in cooperation with over 130 countries around the world, focusing on three major program areas: Arts and Cultural Exchange, Japanese-Language Education Overseas, and Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange. In order to enhance the understanding of Japanese arts and culture through the visual arts, the Foundation collaborates with overseas museums on a wide range of exhibitions from traditional to contemporary arts. The Foundation also organizes traveling exhibitions of paintings, crafts, photographs, design, and architecture. About twenty traveling exhibitions of various forms are being shown around the world.
"The Spirit of Budo: The History of Japan's Martial Arts" was planned and produced against a background of strong overseas interest in Japan's martial-arts culture. In this exhibition, we seek the understanding of viewers about the brief history of Japanese martial arts—from battlefield combat techniques [bujutsu) to popular sports or physical exercise tempering body and spirit {budo).
This exhibition consists of two parts: in the first part, reproductions/originals of historical weapons such as bows and arrows, suits of armor, helmets, and so on are shown, and the development and changes of Japanese martial arts from 8th century to 19th century are explained. Many of ancient types of armor and weapons have not survived to the present or are too fragile for international transport. That is why we decided to include reproductions, which would give the appearance of suits of armor and helmets at the time of original production even more vividly.
The second part deals with the reorganization of bujutsu to budo in the 19th and 20th centuries, and how spirit of martial arts is still inherent in the daily life of Japanese people today. Nine budo associations are also introduced and the clothes and implements such as bamboo swords, protectors, bows and arrows, and so on, which are used by players and students in the present day, are also to be seen.
We hope that through this exhibition the viewers became aware of not only the history of Japanese martial arts, but also of people's aesthetic awareness and creativity, and Japan's social history and the Japanese way of thinking from a new angle.
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