Leiden is a city located in the southwestern part of the Netherlands and is known as the city associated with Siebold. The Siebold House, which contains his ethnographic items from Japan collected during his life and is open to the public, has been turned into a museum of Japanese art and introduces a wide range of Japanese culture from the Edo period to contemporary art..
The contemporary art exhibition “Voices from JAPAN” was held in the Netherlands to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Japan-Dutch relations. The Kaki Tree Project was invited to the exhibition and introduced the project’s activities in the Hortus Botanicus of the Universiteit Leiden. Ms. Nicole Roepers and Ms. Carla Teune of the Hortus Botanicus took the lead in preparing the display and local artists including Ms. Simone de Yong made their works based on the materials sent by the project’s secretariat. Four dutch artists conducted two workshops at a nearby elementary school before the exhibition and the artworks made by children during the workshops were also on display. At the opening of the ceremony, children from neighboring elementary and middle schools marched while playing drums. The seedling was displayed in the center of the exhibition site and leaf-shaped message cards were hung around the tree. Some cooking recipes using persimmon were also introduced.
The seedling that displayed at the exhibition was planted in the Hortus Botanicus on 16th October. Since that time of the year was not suitable for planting, it was temporarily planted in a big pot and planted safely on the ground in May in the following year. Many people gathered at the tree planting ceremony, during which poetry reading and a musical performance by artists were held.
