Shin Hongo 'Hymn to the Green' 🌿 Nakanoshima Park [Osaka 💐 Sculpture Tour]

📍At Nakanoshima Park

😁Did you know there's a sculpture like this
near the Osaka City Central Public Hall?

😵‍💫Whoa
That's a huge piece of work, isn't it?💦
It's so high up I can't even see their faces.

😅And it's not just one person either.
There are two of them.

😵‍💫Hey you two,
what are you doing way up there?

😁The title is "Hymn to Green"🌿

😯? If anything,
it looks like they're about to do a high dive~

The way their feet are hooked on the edge of the pedestal!
It's so beautiful, isn't it?👇

😅Haha...
Doesn't the expression of their hands raised high
look like a tree growing
upwards⬆️ and upwards⬆️?

😁With this pose👆,
it's said to represent the power of life
and a wish for nature.

😄This statue was erected in 1973 (Showa 48),
after the 1970 Osaka Expo.

At that time, Osaka was experiencing rapid economic growth,
and while the city became more vibrant,
pollution was also becoming a serious problem.💦

😩It was an era of bad air and dirty water.

😁So, in 1964 (Showa 39), the City of Osaka
issued the "🌿Greening Centennial Declaration"
and started a campaign to "create a green, lush city over a hundred years."

😲A hundred years... that's really serious.

😁This sculpture was built in Nakanoshima Park
as a symbol of that.🌟

🌿

😄It was donated by the businessman Etsujiro Asai.🌟

😯I've never heard that name before.

🧐He started his business in Itachibori, Osaka,
and supplied steel materials
from back when Toyota was just starting to make cars.

He was the kind of person who continued to supply materials
even when Toyota was in a management crisis after the war,
prepared to risk his own fortune.

😲Really!?
He was the one who supported Japanese manufacturing from the shadows.

😁It seems he donated this sculpture in his later years
with the wish that 'I want to make Osaka a city with a sense of richness.'

🌿

💐 Artist

Shin Hongo

Shin Hongo
Born in Sapporo
1905-1980

😁He studied sculpture at the Tokyo Higher School of Crafts (now Chiba University Faculty of Engineering)
and studied under Kotaro Takamura.
Influenced by Rodin and Bourdelle,
he is a leading expert in powerfully expressing the human body.🌟

🤩It certainly has a dignified presence~
I can feel the energy.

😁Moreover, Mr. Hongo's belief was,
'Sculpture is not just for museums;
it only has meaning when it is part of the lives of citizens.'

😲That's why it's in a park.

😁That's right.
Mr. Hongo was 67 when he created this work,
a piece from his prime.🌟

😁It's about 12.5 meters tall!
It's a huge monument.
A masterpiece that can be called one of Hongo's representative works.🌟

🤩It really has a lot of spirit.

😁The government's goal was,
'We want to create a lush, green city.🌿'
The businessman's wish was,
'I want to give back to Osaka.🌿'
And the sculptor's belief was,
'Art lives within the city.🌿'

😃I see!
The three thoughts have become one.

😁It's not just a 'goddess standing in a high place,'
but a 'symbol of urban development watching over the future of Osaka.'

🤣When you walk through Nakanoshima,
I definitely want you to look up at it.
Though your neck might hurt...

💐Places where you can meet the work

📍Osaka, Nakanoshima Park

🔸

【Source】