Wa-no-akari at Hyakudan Kaidan 2023
Artistic lighting in Japanese style*

1 July – 24 September 2023
Hotel Gajoen Tokyo

*The post title, not the official translation

 
Hyakudan kaidan (literally “One-hundred-step Staircase”), located inside Hotel Gajoen Tokyo, is a wooden structure dating to the early Showa era in the 1930s.

The building has seven Japanese-style banquet rooms that are exquisitely decorated with 126 Japanese paintings and craftworks produced by most eminent artists of the time.

Wa-no-akari: A fantastic show in special settings

The historical place “Hyakudan kaidan” is now regularly used as a special art gallery to host unique exhibitions to showcase works of art and crafts.

“Wa-no-akari” or Japanese illumination/lighting is a special show, which has been held here annually since 2015.

The Japanese-style building is gently lit up with art objects, curated according to a theme or a fictional story that unfolds from the room located at the lower level to the room at the summit.

Wa-no-akari: The 2023 theme is “hyakkiyako”

“Hyakkiyako” or “hyakki yagyo” means that innumerous goblins, ghosts and ghouls alike roam at large under the veil of darkness. The expression and also refers to such a night.

Steaming summer days in Japan are the time when people welcome eerie beings from the other world into this world, in order to feel a bit of chill.

We visited this extraordinary show to give you some views.

本間 ますみ（ペットボトルアーティスト）

高山 しげこ（漉き紙の灯り）

廣田硝子（ガラス）ほか

弦間 康仁（照明作家）ほか

倉敷光作所（希莉光あかり）

大島エレク総業（ライティングデコレーション）