On tuesday may 6th, six grade took a trip to Ueno zoo and the Tokyo national museum. We went to Ueno zoo first then walked across the street to the Tokyo national museum. It was very quite in the museum so coming from the zoo it took some time for me to appreciate the artifacts. I usually don’t like going to quite museums, but because I had never been to a japanese museum before it was interesting to see all the ancient artifacts and discover more about Japan’s history. Looking at all the artifacts i realized that each one had something interesting and/or unique about it. I saw some designs that were so detailed and that i had never seen on any other piece of work. I think that some of the designs i saw were a combination of different cultures. When i was looking at all the different artifacts designs i think that the they were mostly a combination of Japanese and Asian, Chinese culture and patterns.

I looked at so many different interesting artifact, but one of the them i was most interested in was called Dish. The dish was a big dish with different designs such as patterns that included flowers. Right next to the Dish were two jar shaped pottery artifacts. They had the same design as the Dish except at the the very top there was a rooster. I found out some interesting facts about this artifact. The Dish of Imarii Kinrande wares were based on reproductions of  chinese Kinrande wares, so i think that the design on the dish is a combination of Japanese and Chinese designs. The dish was a gift from Dr. Yokogawa Tamisuke. I think that the design was like a pattern, but at the museum i found out that the Dish is an undergraze blue and over glaze enamel design. It was created in the Edo period, the 18th century so i am really Impressed with how detailed they made the Dish. It was created in japan, but based on a chinese design. This design and reproduction became so popular that they started to import it to different parts of europe.

This is the picture of the artifact Dish, from the Tokyo national museum.

The picture above is one of the interesting artifacts i looked at at the museum, called dish. I think that the designs on the artifact in the middle is amazingly detailed. I think that all the colors together created really great contrast that mixed in with the designs. At the same time as i looked at the pictures on the artifact i wondered what they mean? What was the owners idea while they created this artifact? I really wanted to find out answers to these questions, but i couldn’t read japanese so i asked my friends to help translate. I found out that the dish didn’t really have a reason for creation, but became popular and then was made for the public. Because this artifact is based on a chinese design it doesn’t really represent so much japanese culture. I looked at some artifacts around the museum that were also based on a chinese design. I could see some similarities in the designs, but they were still different and unique at the same time. I think that this is a great example of how things traveled across the world and the silk road. Because this is artifact was based on a chinese design, but created by a japanese artist. This just shows how other cultures can be taken around the world with travelers and different ways. In modern days all around the world people with different cultures are trying to embrace other cultures.

I also looked at many other artifacts that i took an interest in. For example a sword called the Katana sword . It is a japanese sword from the kanagawa prefecture. The thing that drew my attention was the carved shape to it. This Katana sword is also called the Ki’ko sadamune due to the tortise shell partern. Another artifact that i became interested in after reading some of the information is a old Backgammin Board. I was interested that the backgammon board has lasted so long because we still play this game today. And the designs on the side of the board were really detailed and looked like an Asian design.

Katana sword

I talked about all the connections between the Dish, but i didn’t talk about any connections i saw with other artifacts i looked at. I think that the Backgammon Board is a game that is played all around the world in modern days. It must have traveled through different countries and cultures so now it is a popular game. I really enjoyed our field trip and i got to learn more about japanese and Asian past. I think if you ever need to research about connections between countries or you just want to go to a good museum you should go to Tokyo National Museum.

Chinese tile designs