76th Mainichi Shodo Exhibition (第76回毎日書道展) at The National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT)

The 76th Mainichi Shodo Exhibition (第76回毎日書道展) spans two venues: The National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT) in Roppongi, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Ueno. On display at NACT are the works by members of the Mainichi Shodo Association (including the organising committee of the Mainichi Shodo Exhibition) as well as winning works from the selected public submissions. The selected public submissions that did not win any prize or award are displayed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.

Unlike last year, this year, due to the exhibition schedule, I went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum first. 

 

Although most of the way from Roppongi Station to NACT is underground, there is that final stretch above ground, and this year, it was blazing hot. Especially since I got to NACT at noon.

 

Upon entering NACT, there were posters introducing the exhibition, plus related events. There are live calligraphy demonstrations by winners, and sessions that explain the winning works. I timed my visit this year to coincidence with one of the live calligraphy demonstrations.

The exhibition itself spans three floors, with works by the organizing committee and grand prix winners on the first floor, works by members of the Mainichi Shodo Association and the top public submissions on the second floor, and other award winners (excellence award and merit award) and association associates on the third floor (roughly). Here is a photo showing the entrance area to the exhibition halls housing the works.

My key purpose for going today was to see the live calligraphy demonstration, where three grand prix winners showed how they actually went about writing their works. It started with one of them demonstrating how carving was done, followed by the other two winners demonstrating how they write their kanji pieces.

Similar to last year, I spent close to three hours before I reached the "exit" of the exhibition hall.

And as usual, I took a photo of this shot from the third floor of NACT. This place was featured in the anime movie Your Name. by Shinkai Makoto. There were some other fans too taking photos.

Photography is allowed, but I don't know if I am allowed to post photographs of other people's works, so forgive the lack of actual works in this post. I did take some photos for my own reference.