Hara Museum ARC

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the atomic-bombed kaki (persimmon) tree which was planted in the museum’s garden in 2005 as part of Tatsuo Miyajima’s Revive Time Kaki Tree Project. To commemorate this event, we will be hosting an artist talk by Tatsuo Miyajima and two workshops by Gunma prefecture-based artist Daisuke Nukui.

For more information about “Meet the Artist: Tatsuo Miyajima”, please click here.

Daisuke Nukui Workshop 1: Creating a Kaki Tree Collage on the Wall
Date and Time: October 19, 2025 (Sun.) to January 12, 2026 (Mon./public holiday) 10:00 – 16:30
Location: Cafe d’Art, Hara Museum ARC
Participation fee: Free (museum admission not included)

In this workshop, participants will write messages of peace on prepared paper kaki, kaki-shaped cards, or origami paper that they fold into kaki shapes themselves. They will then paste them freely onto a large kaki trunk painted on the wall. The key phrase of the workshop is “Scattered on Ice, Painted on Water,” a saying created by Nukui that evokes the ephemeral, like the sculpting of ice or painting on water. In contrast to the short-lived nature of many events and projects, the Kaki Tree Project has spread worldwide and continues to be etched in the hearts of people. The hope of this event is that its messages of peace will remain and resonate in the hearts of visitors in the years to come.

Daisuke Nukui Workshop 2: Kaki Kaki Nyoi!
Dates and Time: November 1 (Sat.) and 15 (Sat.), 2025, 13:00 – 15:00, and November 16 (Sun.), 10:00 – 12:00
Location: Cafe d’Art, Hara Museum ARC
Participation fee: 600 yen (museum admission not included; cash only)

In connection with the Revive Time Kaki Tree Project, we will be holding a workshop using rubber stamps made from erasers. The title, “Kaki Kaki Nyoi!” is an auspicious Chinese phrase derived from the characters for “persimmons” and “matters,” which are pronounced the same: “shi shi”. The title is thus a play on the famous Chinese wish for good tidings: “Shi Shi Ru Yi.” (may all go well with you).
In this workshop, participants will first roll a die, the number of which will determine the motif of a stamp: for example, one for “kaki seedling,” two for “kaki sapling,” etc. The color of the stamp will also be determined by a roll. Guided by Nukui, participants will layer several motifs using the printing principles of multi-color woodblock printing, then superimpose their own image on top to create a single print. Through this simple process, participants will rewind time and project their imaginations into the future, using images from the past such as “sapling” and “green fruit” to represent summer, and “red fruit” to represent a point two weeks later. Furthermore, because of the dependence on chance and inability to predict the outcome, participants will find themselves wishing for “all to go well!” Just like a photograph that freezes the passing of time, participants will be able to take home a memory of that day’s Revive Time Kaki Tree Project. This event is open to anyone from preschoolers to adults.

Daisuke Nukui Born in Gunma prefecture, he majored in Western Painting at Tohoku University of Art and Design in 2005 and completed the correspondence course in Western Painting at the graduate division of Kyoto University of Arts in 2024. His awards include the Graduation Selection Award (Tohoku University of Art and Design) and the IAG Grand Prize 2025 (Ikebukuro Art Gathering). While working as a teacher, he organizes and supports art projects. Under his current research theme “Why paintings never die,” he is creating two-layer compositions that feature the Northern Renaissance painter Rogier van der Weyden and the Gunma painter Kaoru Yamaguchi. He organized the group exhibition Myogiennale! from 2008 to the present. His major group exhibitions include From Professor Yamaguchi Kaoru to You (Takasaki Museum of Art, 2018), Art Project Takasaki (Takasaki City, 2020-2024), Nagano City Art Group Exhibition (Nagano City Art Museum, 2025), and Ikebukuro Kaiyuha Exhibition (Ikebukuro Jiyu Gakuen Auditorium, 2025). His major solo exhibitions include IAG Grand Prize Commemorative Exhibition: Nukui Daisuke Solo Exhibition TUAD ART-Links (Ikebukuro B-gallery, 2025) and A Spell to Seal the Soul (ya-gins Maebashi, 2025).

The Revive Time Kaki Tree Project
On August 9, 1945, a single persimmon tree miraculously survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. With more than half of its trunk burnt black, it was barely standing and about to die at any moment. But in 1994, thanks to the care of Nagasaki-based arborist Masayuki Ebinuma, the tree eventually recovered enough to produce second-generation seedlings. Contemporary artist Tatsuo Miyajima, learning of Ebinuma’s activity, launched the Revive Time Kaki Tree Project together with Ebinuma. By handing out saplings from the mother tree to children around the world and encouraging them to express themselves through art, using the kaki tree as a theme, the project seeks to teach them about peace and the importance of life. To date, the project has expanded to include more than 320 kaki trees planted in kindergartens, schools, art museums and parks in 26 countries.
Art cultivates the imagination to help us feel others’ pain, and fosters creativity to build a new world. It goes beyond borders, religion, race and even language to help us feel sympathy for each other. In agreement with the goals of the project, Hara Museum ARC became a foster parent of a tree in 2005.