Hiroshima Appeals 2006
Comment from Designer
In ancient times, people believed that the dead were reincarnated as butterflies. These beautiful winged insects that emerge from their hard chrysalises to float through the air remain mysterious to us, even today. Thinking of the many people who died when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the countless who have died in conflicts throughout the world, and sensing how endangered is peace in the modern world, I designed this year’s Hiroshima Appeals poster as a prayer for a cessation of hostility.
The gradation into blue at the top of the poster alludes to the ukiyoe woodblock prints of the Edo era, while the gold that colors most of the picture is intended to represent the world above, with the beautiful butterfly symbolizing the reincarnation of the victims of Hiroshima and world conflict.
The butterfly shape follows the stylized patterns found in the publications known as Koetsu-bon, or Koetsu Books and Saga-bon, or Saga Books that were available from the Momoyama Period (1573-1603) to the early Edo Period (1603-1868), and is one that I love. The text HIROSHIMA APPEALS 2006 is presented as a message from the soul revealed on the wings of the reincarnated butterfly. The orb that the butterfly seeks to defend represents both the wish for peace in our hearts and our star: the earth. In embedding a golden butterfly in a golden background I thought to visualize the profundity of this prayer. As a contemporary Japanese poster that incorporates the traditional printing arts of ukiyoe and Koetsu-bon, I was envisaging a simple composition that would also suggest the powerful space that is a Catholic or esoteric Buddhist altar. It is my hope that this image will be seen by many people and that they will feel free to interpret it as they wish.
Hiroshima Appeals Poster Campaign
In 1983, the Japan Graphic Designers Association Inc. (JAGDA) and the Hiroshima International Cultural Foundation announced their collaboration on a project focusing on the theme “Hiroshima’s Spirit” and launched a poster campaign with the goal of promoting peace at home and abroad. The first poster, entitled “Burning Butterflies”, was created by Yusaku Kamekura, the president of JAGDA at the time. Designers affiliated with JAGDA produce one poster each year.
The posters are sold to the general public and exhibited in a nationwide tour called the “Peace Poster Exhibition”. Posters in the series have engaged citizens around the world, displayed in the Atomic Bomb Exhibition preceding to the historic 1985 Geneva Summit, and the exhibition entitled “Hiroshima: A Message for Peace among People” held in Barcelona and Valencia in Spain, and Aosta in Italy in 1997. The 2008 poster was sent to several member cities whose mayors are members of the international group Mayors for Peace. The “Hiroshima Appeals” project, conducted annually from 1983 till 1991, was reinstated in 2005 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Designers: 1983 Yusaku Kamekura; 1984 Kiyoshi Awazu; 1985 Shigeo Fukuda; 1986 Yoshio Hayakawa; 1987 Kazumasa Nagai; 1988 Ikko Tanaka; 1989 Mitsuo Katsui; 1990 Eiko Ishioka; 2005 Masayoshi Nakajo; 2006 Koichi Sato