Welcome the Olympic Games and showcase the beauty of Japanese traditional arts and crafts

Japan, which attaches great importance to the promotion of traditional culture, is actively promoting and showcasing the essence of its arts in various pre-Olympic events, hoping to bring the beauty of Japanese traditional arts and crafts to the world stage.

Due to the epidemic, the scheduled pre-Olympic outdoor traditional arts performances were completely changed to indoor performances, and in the Hachioji Art and Culture Hall in Tokyo behind me, artists were putting on a spectacular show.

Noh, a traditional Japanese art that evolved after its introduction from the Middle Kingdom in the Nara period, was performed with masked, ornate costumes and delicate movements. The performance is performed with flutes, percussion instruments, and unique chanting, and introduces Buddhist culture to create a mysterious and elegant world of Noh.

With a history of 120 years, Akikawa Kabuki originates from the rituals of shrines, and restores the costumes and language of the Edo period in Japan, making it easy for people to experience the charm of Kabuki with funny and humorous performances.

The artists of the Hachioji Geisha congregation, dressed in traditional kimonos, dance gracefully to the crisp tunes of the shamisen, with delicate postures that bring out the unique slender and soft beauty of women through Japanese dance.

The Nishikawa Furuyuza Hachioji Vehicle Ningyo is a traditional Japanese puppet show in which the artist sits on a square vehicle and manipulates a special half-body doll. The traditional shamisen and the lines are perfectly matched to make the performance lively and interesting.

Due to the epidemic, the scheduled outdoor event was switched to an indoor online broadcast, featuring nine performing arts groups from the Tama area of Tokyo, mainly from Hachioji City.

Ken Yamagishi, Director of the Hachioji City Civic Activities Promotion Department, said, “We joined forces with performing arts groups from Hachioji City and other cities in the Tama area to organize this event.”

Yu Ota, Director of the Business Promotion Office of the Tokyo Foundation for History and Culture: “The original purpose of this event was to welcome the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games, to pass on the traditional culture of the Tama region, and to promote Japanese traditional culture to the world.”

The event started on May 29 and will last for two days. Due to the extension of the Tokyo Declaration of Emergency, other scheduled Olympic warm-up events are expected to be affected to varying degrees.