2015 – No. 4, 14 July 2015

Key to the restoration is ‘Art and Culture’
Announcement of the 12th GBFund(The Northeast Japan Earthquake Restoration Fund) selection results
In this selection, new activities were introduced; a revival and industrialization of Japanese traditional crafts; new way ofcommunication between artists and people in affected areas. For example, in order to revive the technology of Yanagyu
Japanese Washi paper and its tradition, which was almost lost due to the tsunami in 2011, Ushiogami Japanese Washi
fatory has been working on a new and stronger material for Washi, and this year, aims the product sales of this new typeof Washi. There are artists’ activities that are expressing the feelings of affected people; ‘Human Celebration: Sanriku
International Art Festival 2015’; ‘Haruka Komori + Natusmi Seo Traveling Exhibition “under the wave, on the ground”’.
These activities show a new approach of arts and culture towards the earthquake restoration.
Kigyo Mécénat Kyogikai (Association for Corporate Support of the Arts) held the 12th GB Fund selection committee,and newly adopted 15 activities. Of these, to support the local festivals and traditional performing arts in Tokoku
region, the “Hundred Festivals Revival Project” adopted 5 activities. The total amount of funds this time was 4,950,000
yen. GBFund total donation is 145,464,736 yen (as of July 2015).

Investigation of new possibilities ofHand-Made Japanese Paper (Ushiogami)

Human Celebration: Sanriku International Art Festival 2015
(NPO Japan Contemporary Dance Network)‘Storytellers’ Tohoku Screening & ‘Express/Listen’
Performance (Silent Voice)

Culture is our everyday life, and Culture is our nutrients - Mr. Makoto Ozone (Jazz pianist)
I think that most fearful thing for those who in Tohoku region is ‘to be emotionallyforgotten’. What I like to express through my donation to GBFund is; ‘Please do not worry,and please believe there are many people who will not forget what happened to you andwho will continue to support’. I really hope something that makes people smile, somethingthat affected people enjoy, will happen through this GBFund.
Culture is always in our everyday life, enriching our hearts. It is different fromentertainment or consumptions. Culture is very important nutrients for us to live. Culture is
the energy shared between those who are living. And it is necessary for us to share andcommunication using our all five senses in order to keep living.
*He has been contributing the sales of charity CDs, produced by ‘Live & Let Live’ project, established by Mr. Ozone andhis musician friends in order to support the affected area and people, to GBFund since 2011.
©Kiyotaka Saito
Activity Report: The Great East Japan Earthquake Restoration Fund through arts and culture（GBFund）[As of 6 July 2015]
GBFund total donation: 145,464,736 yen | GBFund grant total: 140,959,923 yen | Total number of grant: 239 activities

GBFund (The Great East Japan Earthquake Restoration Fund through arts and culture)
Launched in 23 March 2011, GBFund is supporting artistic and cultural restoration activities to support the affected areas andpeople, and to revive tangible and intangible cultural resources of the affected areas. Next selection is scheduled in October
2015.
Hundred Festival Revival Project
Established in March 2012, this grant system particularly supports traditional arts and Matsuri (Japanese festival) activities.

GBFund (The Great East Japan Earthquake Restoration Fund) Selected Activities【12th】
Name of Activities／Organizer(Prefecture)/
Period of activities／ Place of Activities (City &Prefecture)

Great East Japan Earthquake Damaged Equipment
Maintenance Business 2015
Sunagohata Doudou Tramai
1 July 2015- 31 December 2015
Kuribayashi-cho, Kamaishi-shi, Iwate Prefecture

Details

Japanese Traditional Tiger Dance, passed along since long ago
in Kuribayashi-cho, Kamaishi-shi, has been performed in local
festivals and city events. However, equipment used in thistraditional dance were washed away by the tsunami in 2011.
After the earthquake, the population in this area has been
increased due to temporary housings, and there have been an
increasing number of children who would participate in thisJapanese Traditional Tiger Dance. Therefore, they would repair
a hand-made tiger head that was washed away and damaged,
and aim to pass this tradition on to many people including newresidents.

Investigation of new possibilities of Hand-Made Yanagyu Japanese Washi factory, which had been run for 400
years in Miyagi Prefecture, was washed away due to thetsunami in 2011. It seemed that this tradition of JapaneseJapanese PaperWashi had been lost. However, in 2013, former workers of thefactory succeeded in developing a test type of forcing Japanese
General Incorporated Association Ushiogami
Washi by developing a new material for Washi (adopted at 9thGBFund selection). Today, as a next step, they are trying to find
1 June 2015 – 31 December 2015a possibility of vegetable leather as a new material of thisforcing paper: Yanagyu Japanese Washi. The factory aims toproduce 'everyday use Japanese Washi' by making the best use
Tesuki Washi Factory Ushiogamiof the hard texture of the leather and elegance feature ofKawasaki-cho, Shibata-gun, Miyagi Prefecture
hand-made Japanese Washi as well as adopting current social
trends into its design.
Asahi-za was built as a permanent theatre and picture house by
Revive Asashi-za – in your heart local gentlemen at Hara-cho, Minami Souma-shi in 1923, thenchanged its name to Asahi-za in 1952 as a permanent movie
Association of ‘Engjoy Asahi-za’theatre. It was closed in 1991, since then the preservation
activities had taken place. It was reopened in 2008, with the13 June 2015 – 13 February 2016
establishment of Association of 'Enjoy Asahi-za', and designatedas a registered tangible cultural property of Japan in 2014. Thisassociation promotes the regeneration and revitalization of thecommunity through the film culture, having Asahi-za as theAsahi-za
centre of the town that there are more many elderly
Minami Souma-shi, Fukushima Prefecture
households since the accident of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
power plant.
Photos of People and Port-City Landscape Contest Seiko-kan, where this project is located and based at, is an oldhouse dating back 200 years. Despite of its renewable state,
this house was about to be destroyed due to the dismantling
and Photography Class
fund for disaster damaged buildings provided by the citycouncil. But luckily it was bought by the people of this project,
Nakanosaku Projectand has become a community hub since then. Photographyclass and contest are carried out as a commitment to the local
1 June 2015 – 31 August 2015
issues such as the depopulation of the community spurred onby the earthquake, aging problem and preservation of
old-fashioned streets. In Nakanosaku District, where thedamage of the tsunami was miraculously small, the view ofocean from the harbor is extremely beautiful unlikeneighboring towns that are surrounded by high breakwaters.
Seiko-kan, Iwaki-shi, Fukushima PrefectureThis project aims to promote the community's appeal with fullof atmosphere by setting a theme of 'people and landscape ofport-city'. This is the third year of this project, inviting
photographers Mr. Hidenao Tan and Mr.Arata Shiga, who areboth from this region, as guest lecturers.
‘Create Nostalgic Future Project’ – Rikuzentakata
Artist in Residence Program 2015
Natsukashii Mirai Souzou
1 June 2015 – 31 March 2016
Rikuzentakata-shi 、 Alios Iwaki Performing Arts
Center (Iwaki-shi), Iwate PrefectureThis artist-in-residence program aims to revive and restore themind of people in Rikuzentakada-shi. This is the 3rd year of thisproject. There are many events in this project; Foreign Artists
Invitation Program; Networking Program which London-based
dancer, Sloned Huws creates and presents a new work in eachsite of Tohoku area; Rikuzentakada Meeting 'Future' inviting art
managers working in Tohoku area and discussing local activities;
Performances with works of artists invited in last three years.

Name of Activities／Organizer(Prefecture)/Period of activities／ Place of Activities (City &Prefecture)

Wawa Newspaper 2015
GeneralNon-Profit

Incorporated

ArtisticOrganization Command N
1 July 2015 – 31 March 2016
Editing Team：KANDADA3331（Command N office）

Details

Wawa newspaper is a community newspaper with the purposeof earthquake disaster reconstruction, and has been issued fourtimes a year with 35.000-40.000 copies since September 2011.
Readers are mainly temporary housing residents, and it aims tointroduce good case studies of reconstruction process in eachregion, provide information of regions that are tended to seal
inside the local area, and create connections between disasterareas. Now, the completion of disaster public housings isexpected in many regions and it is expected that many people
will leave their temporary houses. Therefore, the organizationconsiders it as a second phase, plans to find new readers of thenewspaper and develop the website.

Residents Survey Business of the Library
Reconstruction in Rikuzentakata
Hokkaido Book-Sharing (Hokkaido)
1 June 2015 – 31 December 2015
Rikuzentakata Library, Rikuzentakata Takemagoma
Community Center (Iwate)/ Sapporo Public Activity
Plaza Seien, Sapporo Ooba University (Hokkaido)
Rikuzentakata-shi Takata-cho, Moving Tanabata
Festival, Chuo Matsuri-gumi
Chuo Matsuri-gumi (Iwate Prefecture)
19 May 2015 – 16 August 2015
Old Takata-cho, Rikuzentakata-shi, Iwate Prefecture

Rikuzentakata City Library was completely destroyed by theearthquake, and all the library staff were dead or missing.
Hokkaido Book-Sharing has been continuing to support
activities towards this city's reconstruction, and now going todo the residents' intention survey by interviews in parentheses
visit. They provide a report based on this survey to the Board ofEducation of the city, with the aim of library reconstruction
through residents' eyes.

The neighborhood association is planning to create floats anddecorations for the Tanabata festival. After the foundation offloats the earthquake, although it continues to use it rescued
from the rubble, and the repair/rework are needed due toadvanced corrosion. They aim to keep the previous communityand bustle earthquake, moving out the people who are going toleave come home back, by continuing to participate in thefestival,.

YIDFF 311 Documentary Film Archive and GreatEastJapanEarthquake

DocumentaryFilm

This film festival started from 1990, and since 2011, the festival
has continued to hold the East Japan earthquake reconstruction
Screening Project 2015
volunteer screenings. They established '3.11 Documentary Film
NPO Yamagata International Documentary Film Archive' in 2014, since then have collected and preserved
documentary films about the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Festival (Yamagata Prefecture)
They created a database on the website and outreachingnationally and internationally. They also conduct archive
19 May 2015 – 31 March 2016
regularly, and hold a screening event of registered works.
Yamagata Documentary Film Library, Yamagata
MuseumHaruka Komori + Natsumi Seo Traveling Exhibition
They moved to their work base at Rikuzentakata in 2012, whileliving there, they have been recording the residents’ voices andcity landscape via photography, videos, texts, drawings andHaruka Komori + Natsumi Seo (Iwate Prefecture)
painting. In 2014, they exhibited an installation of three-yearrecordings configured on a wall. This time, they will be doing
19 May 2015 – 31 March 2016
Traveling Exhibition with the aim of delivering these recordings
Rikuzentakata-shi,Morioka-shi (Iwate)/Sendai-shi nationwide, and of collecting voices of the people in various(Miyagi), Kanazawa-shi, Shizuoka-shi (Ishikawa), places while creating opportunities for workshops andtalk-dialogue.
Minami Souma-shi, Fukushima-shi (Fukushima)/Koube-shi (Hyogo)/Osaka-shi (Osaka)
Great East Japan Earthquake Damaged Equipment Sunagohata Tannai Kagura was an intangible cultural heritage ofKamaishi-shi, and also a familiar local traditional art in this area
performed in festivals and taught in the elementary schools
Maintenance Business 2015
through dance instructions. However, all the equipment used inthis tradition was washed away at the time of the earthquake,
Sunagohata Tannai Kagura (Iwate Prefecture)and currently it cannot be taught nor performed. By preparing
all equipment and resuming the previous activities, they aim to
1 July 2015 – 31 December 2015
pass on this Kagura tradition to many people, not only young
people who left the local but also new citizens after theearthquake disaster.
Kuribayashi-cho, Kamaishi-shi (Iwate Prefecture)‘under the wave, on the ground’Name of Activities／Organizer(Prefecture)/
Period of activities／ Place of Activities (City &Prefecture)

Details

Trial seminar of a traditional carpentry course for

The goal of this society is to establish 'Kesen School for
Craftsmen' in order to hand 'Kesen Craftsmanship'- a tradition
since the ancient times- down to the next generations. In thethat is to inherit the culture of historical 'Kesen'
past, they created and published an educational textbook of'Kesen Craftsmen Guide' (adopted at the 5th GBFund selection),
Society of Traditional Wooden Structures (Iwate and held ‘Kesen Craftsmen Seminar' as a next step in 2014
(adopted at the 10th GBFund selection). They are planning toPrefecture)hold the seminar again this year, obtained the support from local
citizens. They expect to build the continuity in order to keep the1 June 2015 – 31 March 2016
tradition alive as well as to nurture the next generation's
Hakoneyama
Terrace,Kesendaikusakan craftsmen.
Denshoukan, Sugi House (Iwate Prefecture)'Kesen School for Craftsmen'

Human Celebration: Sanriku International Art
Festival 2015
NPO Japan Contemporary Dance Network (JCDN)(Kyoko Prefecture)
16 August 2015 – 18 October 2015
Kesendaikusakan Denshoukan、Ofunato-shi Goishi
Coast Camping Area etc (Iwate Prefecture)

It is the second year since this festival was established, and its
objectives are to international exchanges through rediscovering
the charm of traditional arts and transmission of these nationallyand internationally, creation and presentation of theatrical works
that focus on people in Sanriku area with the aim ofreconstruction of the community through culture and art as wellas creation of new culture through art. The festival period is twomonth and a half focusing more on exchange such as expanding
the foreign artist invitation program, involving local citizen inTohoku area.

Yamada Daikagura Preservation Association

Yamada Daikagura traces its origin to Isejingu (Ise Shrine)
Daikagura, which a group of performing artists who were purveyors
Yamada Daikagura Preservation Association (Iwate of Iwate Southern Clan, learned and passed through in the coastal
area of Iwate Prefecture in Edo period. It was then taught first timein Sekiya district, Yamada-cho, in the beginning of Meiji period, andprefecture)
had been inherited as Yamada Daikagura since then. It is dedicatedin every year's local festival as a cleansing ritual and exorcism. It
19 May 2015 – 31 March 2016
will be performed as a cleansing ritual and will lead the van for
Yamada Abare Mikoshi (rampaging portable shrine), moving acrossthe ocean, at Yamada Hachimangu Shrine and Osugi Shrine festivals
Yamada-cho, Shimohei-gun (Iwate prefecture)in September. They would like to redesign the costumes that are
no longer in use.
‘Storytellers’ Tohoku Screening & ‘Express/Listen’
PerformanceGeneral Incorporated Association Silent Voice(Miyagi Prefecture)
19 May 2015 - 31 March 2016
Community Center in temporary housing areas,
Tohoku Coast Line

This association offers a place of relaxation and gathering for
affected people and elderly in Tohoku coastal areas, byconducting a free screening of 'Storytellers', the third part of
Tohoku documentary film trilogy. It is also aimed to rebuild thecultural tradition of folklore through the movie. After thescreening, there will be 'Express/Listen' session, in order tocreate a place that is beyond the generations and regenerate thecommunity.

※Hundred Festival Revival Project grantees■ Kigyo Mécénat Kyogikai (Association for Corporate Support of the Arts) is a Public Interest Incorporated Association. And many
corporations and organizations that are involved in cultural sectors participate and corporate. The aim of the association is tocontribute to the establishment of rich society with full of creativity and vitality as well as valuing diversity, and its business is variedsuch as the promotion of corporate mecenat as a main, research/investigation, certification/award, exchange, and transmission ofcultural promotion.
Mr. Tatsuyoshi Takashima (Chairman of Dentsu Inc.)/ Mr. Motoki Ozaki (Chairman of the Board of Kao Corporation)
Members: 171 corporations and organizations/ 20 individuals (As of July 2015)[CONTACT US]
Public Relations: Marie Sakamoto | GBFund: Kanako Sato, Kokoro Ito, Aisa Nemoto
Address: Aise Shiba Bldg. 8F, 5-3-2, Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0014 JAPAN
Telephone: +81-(0)3-5439-4520 | FAX: +81-(0)3-5439-4521 | E-mail mecenat@mecenat.or.jp | URL: http://www.mecenat.or.jp/en/