Seto Cat Festival
Peter Bakelaar
December 20, 2019 • Nagoya, Japan
『風が吹けば桶屋がもうかる』
“When the wind blows, the barrel maker makes money”
(Old Japanese Proverb)
When the wind blows, dust blows into people’s eyes.
When dust blows into people’s eyes, some people go blind.
When some people go blind, they become itinerant shamisen-playing story-tellers.
(Traditional role for blind people in Japan.)
When people become shamisen-playing story-tellers, they buy shamisen.
When people buy shamisen, cats are killed for their skins.
When cats are killed for their skins, there are more mice.
When there are more mice, people put their rice in barrels.
When people put their rice in barrels, they order more barrels.
And barrel makers make money.
Shamisen Cat and Cat Hondana were displayed during the Seto Cat Festival October 4-6, 2019 to participate in the life of the community, engage traditional cultural issues, and introduce Studio Nani. The mice coming out of the bottom of the stand (not shown in picture) always got a laugh!
The bookshelf displays a book compilation of cat pictures. People drew, painted, or photographed cats to contribute to the book, and a picture of the artist (wearing a provided cat hat) is featured with every entry. As a collaborative art piece, it played an important role in involving the community in the exhibition.