Listening Session “Soundscapes of Japan (1) – Bells on New Year’s Eve at Daitokuji Funaokayama”

2016.03.18
ACADEMIA

Nowadays, every city is flooded with images and sounds. On the other hand, opportunities to thoroughly listen to a given sound have become scarce. At the Intermediatheque, we are launching this year the sound event series “Soundscapes of Japan”, where we will listen to various sounds recorded throughout Japan. We will successively present various sounds such as those pertaining to festivals and seasons, to nature and to traditions.
For the first session, we will listen together to sounds of the last New Year’s Eve and New Year. Although bells rung at temples on New Year’s Eve (joya no kane) are shrouded in a solemn atmosphere, the sound of these bells in Kyoto, where temples abound, is quite peculiar. On the top of Funaokayama, a small hill on the northwestern side of Kyoto, we can hear the sounds of bells from all over the city. The sound of the joya no kane ringing here and there like a chime constitute a unique soundscape, absent from all other regions of Japan. This year, the weather was not particularly clement, but the rain falling from time to time added a special effect to the atmosphere.


Date & Time: Friday, March 18 2016　6:00 p.m. (expected to end at 6:35 p.m.)
Venue: Intermediatheque 2F Lecture Theatre ACADEMIA
Admission free
The number of seats is limited to 48. We request your comprehension.
Organizer: The University Museum, the University of Tokyo (UMUT)
Cooperation: Akio Nonaka, Jun Fukuda, Kazuo Ikeda, Kengo Miyahara, Seizan Toda, Shigeki Kohno, Takehiro Yamada, JOEDOWN Studio

Program
6:00 pm: Presentation
6:05: Sutra recitation at the Daiji-in subtemple, Daitokuji temple, on a day in December 2015
6:10: To Funaokayama, on the 2015 New Year’s Eve
6:30: At the Kyoto Kasuga shrine, on January 3 2016