Mainichi Shodo Exhibition

The Mainichi Shodo Exhibition

The Mainichi Shodo Exhibition

The Mainichi Shodo (calligraphy)Exhibition is the largest exhibition of its kind in Japan, covering all seven calligraphic categories. It is sponsored by the Mainichi Newspapers and the Mainichi Shodo Association. The first exhibition was held in 1948,when conditions in Japan were still unsettled following the end of World War Ⅱ, and there were only 686 entries that year. Now, after 65 years, the exhibition attracts 30,000 entries a year and more than 3,900 association members and judges are involved.
The exhibition opens every year at the beginning of July in Tokyo with 15,000 works on display. It then travels to nine major cities: Kyoto, Hiroshima, Matsuyama, Toyama, Nagoya, Sapporo, Sendai, Yamagata and Fukuoka. More than 100,000 people are estimated to see the show every year.

The Mainichi Newspapers and The Mainichi Shodo Association

The Mainichi Newspapers, which supports the Mainichi Shodo Association, is Japan’s oldest newspaper company, having published the first daily newspaper in Japan in 1872.
It now has a circulation of 4 million and, in addition to being a leader of public opinion, continues to make significant contributions to the cultural life of the nation.
The Mainichi Shodo Association was set up in 1981 to handle the running of the calligraphy exhibition and operates with the cooperation of the Mainichi Newspapers and calligraphy-related
groups and individuals, contributing enormously to the world of calligraphy in Japan.

Exhibitions overseas

The Mainichi Shodo Association held its first overseas exhibition of calligraphy as an art form in 1970 in Paris.
Since then it has held similar exhibitions in major cities all over the world, including NewYork, Milano, SaoPaulo, Frankfurt, Moscow, Beijing, and Shanghai.

 

1970   FRANCE Paris Marseilles
1971   USA New York Philadelphia
1972   BRAZIL Rio de Janeiro/ITALY Milano/SPAIN Barcelona Madrid/Sevilia Valencia
1975   BRAZIL Sao Paulo Belo Horizonte
1976   USA Seattle
1978   FRANCE Paris
1982   SINGAPORE Singapore
1988   CHINA Beijing Shanghai/GERMANY Munich Offenbach/AUSTRIA Wien
1989   RUSSIA Moscow/BELGIUM Gent
1990   GERMANY Frankfurt/DENMARK Copenhagen/CHINA Beijing/SINGAPORE Singapore
1991   RUSSIA Sankt-Peterburg(Leningrad)/GERMANY Munich Berlin/U.K. Dublin Belfast
1993   U.S.A Washington D.C. Little Rock/CHINA Beijing
1997   MALAYSIA Kuala Lumpur
1998   CHINA Beijing/FRANCE Paris/SWEDEN Stockholm
2000   GERMANY Berlin
2002   CHINA Beijing
2003   KOREA Seoul/VIETNAM Hanoi
2004   CHINA Beijing
2005   UKRAINE Kyiv
2006   SINGAPORE Singapore/CHINA Lianyungang
2007   CHINA Beijing
2008   CHINA Beijing/CHINESE TAIPEI Taipei/BRAZIL Sao Paulo
2012   FRANCE Paris/MALAYSIA Kuala Lumpur
2013   FRANCE Paris
2014   THAI Bangkok
2015   FRANCE Paris
2016   CHINA Tianjin
2018   SINGAPORE Singapore
2019   FRANCE Nice