- A Visitor from Afar in Autumn -

At the Park Hotel Tokyo, we welcome our guests with hospitality in the form of “arrangement”, one of Japan’s aesthetic values, expressed through the medium of art. As part of this initiative, we hold series of art exhibition, “ART colours”, representing the four seasons of Japan. In this 30th exhibition, we will use the work of Daisuke Kagawa to express “autumn,” representing a condensation of the views of nature held by ancient people in Japan.

Twice a year, once each in spring and autumn, there is a period when the sun rises from true east and sets in true west.

These seasons mark the shortest distance to the Pure Land paradise of the Amitabha buddha, and have long been familiar in Japan as the equinoctial weeks. During this time in autumn, people give thanks for the blessings of nature while venerating ancestors. It is a time for worshiping the sun, with prayers for the coming year’s harvest.

According to Japanese literary scholar Shinobu Orikuchi, the “Visitor from Afar” in the title is a term that refers to natural phenomena or things (i.e., the gods) that exceed human knowledge, coming from an eternal and faraway world. It is said that this became folk tradition, and that the people of Japan have welcomed visitors with reverence, cultivating methods of warm hospitality.

Daisuke Kagawa is a painter who, from an old folk house near Nikko Tosho-gu Shrine, draws on his own sensibilities and knowledge, without formal art education, to create works that express the workings of “Visitor from Afar.” This is a serious task, yet a courageous one as well, in which the artist considers relationships with nature based on research into ancient faiths, drawing on an interest in everything around people, especially crafts and old tools made by human hands; and, through his life experiences and connections with colleagues in Okunikko, restates these things into his own unique art that lives in the present. In the Park Hotel Tokyo’s Artist in Hotel project in 2017, Kagawa drew attention with the production of an Artist Room called “Jomon”.

The Daisuke Kagawa Art Exhibition, taking place on the 25F Lobby of the hotel and throughout the 31F Artist Floor, will deepen this Kagawa-style Jomon world. Here, “Visitors from Afar” await guests at the exhibit.

Enjoy a tranquil and rich autumn, with its balanced days of equal daytime and night, together with works of art that summon a deep-seated awareness of nature, at Park Hotel Tokyo.

Exhibiting Artist: Daisuke Kagawa