KAZARIMONO: THE INSTALLATION CULTURE IN HIDA

ABOUT KAZARIMONO
Kazarimono is a witty and refined, traditional pastime culture unique to the region of Hida, central Japan. Kazarimono (literally meaning “decorative item”) is a creative installation that usually visualizes some kind of riddle or wordplay.

The oldest kazarimono on record dates back to 1787, a votive offering for a Shinto shrine in Hida-Takayama. Some suggest that it later evolved into a type of entertainment at parties of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. From there it turned into a new year’s tradition popular among local craftsmen. Usually a kazarimono poses some kind of riddle whose meaning the audience is supposed to solve by observing the installation. There are three basic types of kazarimono:

1. TSUKURI-MONO: an imitation of an object or scene using other objects.

2. HANJI-MONO: a wordplay.

3. MITATE-MONO: an object chosen for its resemblance to another object (e.g., pear/lightbulb).

A traditional kazarimono should adhere to the following rules: - An installation should be made from one category of ordinary objects, for example tea ceremony tools, tableware, or carpentry tools. - The items used may not be cheap or obscene but should rather be elegant and precious—things that could be placed in a tokonoma (the ritual alcove in a Japanese house). This means, for example, that footwear cannot be part of a kazarimono, since the tokonoma is a sacred place and footwear is considered dirty and desecrating. - The objects should be simply and beautiful rather than extravagant. As with modern conceptual art, the audience’s wit and intellect are required to complete the communicative experience that is kazarimono.