Sculpture Culture

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

We decided to spend our time near our hotel today. It is too much of a hassle to go back and forth to the Hakata area, and there is a lot to see in this part of town. In fact, the website we used yesterday has a walking course featuring the public art here in the Momichi neighborhood. We had noticed a prominent piece of art in the park across the street from our hotel entrance, and we were curious about it.

So, we started our walk by crossing the street to check out Grand Oiseau Amoureux by French artist Niki de Saint Phalle. according to the online brochure for the walk, this sculpture combines elements of Horus, the falcon-headed god of Egyptian mythology, and Cupid, the god of love from Greek mythology. If you say so.

Oh, look! Cherry blossoms!

Oh, look! There’s our hotel, the Hilton Sea Hawk!

This little free spirit is called “Tree Spirit.” It’s by UK-based Dhruva Mistry. Wish I could be more of a free spirit.

Some days I just feel like a pinecone. “Pinecone” is by Etsuro Sotoo, a Fukuoka-born sculptor. Sotoo, “the Japanese Gaudi” is known for his sculptures at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The pinecone marked the completion of the Fukuoka Dome and was originally a fountain. I can act like a pinecone.

“Poodle” is by Seoul-born artist Shin Myeongeon. Sorry, I’ve got no pose for this one.

“Kobayo,” by Kyubei Kiyomizu, resembles a torii gate. It is situated in front of a broadcasting building, where it symbolizes “the support of electromagnetic and sea waves by humans.” Did something get lost in translation?

And here we have “Water-Land” by Kikutake Kiyoyuke. This piece was originally designed with sensors to alter fountain patterns. I didn’t even realize it was a fountain.

Soon we arrived at the Fukuoka City Museum. The ground floor was mostly a large empty space. In one corner was an enormous and colorful “festival float.” It’s like a parade float, except that it is carried by many people (mostly men) in a festival parade. it is considered an honor to participate in carrying a festival float - the kind of honor that requires a lot of physical training. This one was about 18 feet high.

Most cities in Japan seem to have at least one big festival. The Hakata festival is believed to have originated in 1241 as part of an effort to rid the city of plague. The figure on the float is a priest casting purifying water around the city. The Hakata festival has been designated as an Important Intangible Folk Culture Asset.

There was a very fun display of small clay figures depicting the festival parade. I think these are done on the style of the Hakata doll, i.e. unglazed clay. Look at the hats!

Another display shows miniatures of a a whole village celebrating a festival, and carrying an incredibly tall festival float.

I really enjoyed the kimonos displayed in the museum. This is a “work kimono” made of more than 40 pieces of scrap cloth.

This kimono is embellished with sashiko-style stitches.

A quilted kimono shows off a beautiful print.

At first glance this looked like more sashiko stitching, but upon closer inspection, I thought it might be some type of tie-dye made with hundreds of exceedingly tiny knots. Yikes!

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The final chapter in today’s story is about our visit to the “yatai street.” Back we went to the old part of Fukuoka to seek out Hello Kitty stanchion supports and a little night market action.

This is so kawaii

The yatai are traditional Japanese food stalls offering a bustling and lively atmosphere for diners. They are definitely a”thing” in Fukuoka, where there are several groups of yatai to be found. We went to the oldest yatai location, called Nakasu.

Grilled beef

Small gyoza are a Fukuoka specialty

The ramen here is not the soupy style we are used to. It’s called “yaki ramen.” I had “Napolitan” ramen (they never call it Neapolitan), which was ramen with ketchup on it. It was quite good.

This was ramen with chicken - no ketchup.

The verdict on our yatai experience: 

• Greasy
• Some of it was tasty, some of it was meh
• More expensive than it should be
• You are expected to order food and a drink at each yatai you visit
• You have to sit on rickety, uncomfortable metal stools at a crowded counter
• Napkins are hard to come by - bring your own

Today’s fabric is “Pinecones | Teal Seaweed” from The Grove Collection by Island Batik.