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Location: San Francisco, Asian Art Museum, North Court
FREE with general admission

Japanese artist Natsusaka demonstrates and presents his original narrative sculpture work “A Carved Strip,” inspired by traditional samurai stories. Natsusaka mixes contemporary art, storytelling, kitsch images and text to create this crossover art form.

About the artist:

Born in 1971 in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, Natsusaka Shinichiro graduated from Tama Art University in 1996 with a degree in oil painting. He started creating a series of sculptural works with characters and typography he calls Kambanart (“billboard” in Japanese plus the English word “art”) while he was in school. Since 1997, he has created more than 300 figurines as characters from popular animated movies like Princess Mononoke and Nightmare before Christmas.

Natsusaka relocated to France in 2000 and presented an installation that combined sculptural figures and storytelling titled Bande Sculptée (A Carved Strip). In 2004, La Planète des Samouraïs (English title: Planet of Samurais), a part of the installation Bande Sculptée won the Excellence Prize in the Manga division of the 8th Japan Media Arts Festival.

He also participated in Totoro Forest Project at Pixar Animation Studio, California in 2008 and currently working on continuation of the story La Planète des Samouraïs.

AsiaAlive is a free, interactive, drop-in program for all ages featuring live artist demonstrations, hands-on activities, and information on rotating themes.

Fridays through Sundays, August 7 through 23
12:00 noon–4:00 pm, North Court.
FREE with general admission

In conjunction with Lords of the Samurai, AsiaAlive showcases three Japanese martial art forms.

August 7-9 (Friday through Sunday): Northern California Kendo Federation and Northern California Iaido Association demonstrate kendo kata, fundamental techniques of attacking and counter-attacking with swords.

August 15-16 (Saturday and Sunday) : Northern California Kyudo Federation presents Kyudo, Japanese archery.

August 21-23 (Friday through Sunday): Japanese sword polishing demonstration by Jimmy Hayashi.

Source: http://www.asianart.org/asiaalive.htm

This post was submitted by Larushka.

Location: Asian Art Museum, Samsung Hall (Space is limited and is on a first-come, first served basis.)
FREE general admission courtesy of Target

Films by Akira Kurosawa
Arguably the most celebrated Japanese filmmaker of all time, Akira Kurosawa had a career that spanned from the Second World War to the early nineties and that stands as a monument of artistic, entertainment, and personal achievement. With the production of Seven Samurai (1954), the most popular and important Japanese film of its time, Kurosawa began a long and fruitful obsession with medieval Japan. Kurosawa pioneered widescreen cinematography in Japan, and his films inspired the “Spaghetti Western” genre in Italy. Kurosawa reinvigorated the samurai film genre in Japan and revitalized the American Western in the process.

2:00 pm
Sanjuro
Japan, 1962, 96 minutes, Black and White, DVD, not rated
Japanese with English subtitles

Toshiro Mifune swaggers and snarls to brilliant comic effect in Akira Kurosawa’s tightly paced Sanjuro. In this sly companion piece to Yojimbo, the jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan’s evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a “proper” samurai on its ear.

Source: http://www.asianart.org/samurai/films.htm#july5

Location: Asian Art Museum, Samsung Hall (Space is limited and is on a first-come, first served basis.)
FREE general admission courtesy of Target

Films by Akira Kurosawa
Arguably the most celebrated Japanese filmmaker of all time, Akira Kurosawa had a career that spanned from the Second World War to the early nineties and that stands as a monument of artistic, entertainment, and personal achievement. With the production of Seven Samurai (1954), the most popular and important Japanese film of its time, Kurosawa began a long and fruitful obsession with medieval Japan. Kurosawa pioneered widescreen cinematography in Japan, and his films inspired the “Spaghetti Western” genre in Italy. Kurosawa reinvigorated the samurai film genre in Japan and revitalized the American Western in the process.

11:00 am
Yojimbo (The Bodyguard)
Japan, 1961, 110 minutes, Black and White, DVD, not rated
Japanese with English subtitles

The incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa’s visually stunning and darkly comic Yojimbo. To rid a terror-stricken village of corruption, wily masterless samurai Sanjuro turns a war between two evil clans to his own advantage. Remade twice, by Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars) and Walter Hill (Last Man Standing), this exhilarating genre-twister remains one of the most influential films ever produced.

Source: http://www.asianart.org/samurai/films.htm#july5