Originally published at: New DG Post: Japan? | Basecamp 33
Deirdre has a new clue (thanks to resident schmoofy luvvy wuggins, Cole.)
Can we help her out? Let’s put together thoughts in the forum and send her the top options!
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Her clue is “The trembling light of ukioy-e is printed on the souls of the lost and the damned.”
Ukiyo-e is a japanese printing/painting style that florished through the 17th through 19th centuries.
It arised just after the beginning of the period where Edo, now Tokyo, was the new seat of the governent.
It was enjoyed by many and was a staple of the pleasure districts in Edo.
So we are probably looking for some kind of exhibit that is fairly well known and has creative/magiqal signifigance. So I looked up Ukioy-e muesuems in Tokyo.
I found this -
That link takes you to the Ota Memorial Museum of Art, they showcase Ukioy-e artwork.
Their address -
1-10-10 Jingu-mae Shibuyaku Tokyo, 150-0001 Japan
One of their exhibitons may be what the clue refers too. I’ll have to look later though.
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“souls of the lost and damned” in Japan makes me think of Aokigahara forest.
It’s a forest widely known as a place Japanese go to commit suicide. Not sure if there’s any ukiyo-e art about the place though.
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This looks interesting:
Maybe the trembling light is mentioning the old red-light district in Tokyo (Yoshiwara).
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It’s worth noting that ukiyo-e has also gained a resurgence in recent times, in the form of ukiyo-e pop.
Funnily enough, one of my favorite artists, Takato Yamamoto (warning: he does gory horror pieces, so don’t google him), satisfies this clue. He’s an artist that does traditional woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) and his paintings are often of horror depictions, people in hell, which would satisfy “the souls of the lost and the damned”. Probably not the right guy, though. 
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Okay, so, I found a link to an Ukiyo-e museum that has over 10,000 pieces in their collection. A good place to start?
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I find it interesting that the clue mentions the “trembling light of ukiyo-e”, when even low levels of light can deteriorate ukiyo-e artwork. Probably not relevant, but interesting nonetheless
Also - @Revenir, just to expand on your point, from my research there are a few ukiyo-e museums throughout Japan. One in Shibuya, Tokyo with roughly 14,000 pieces, and there is also a massive one in Nagano with roughly 100,000 pieces in it.
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This might be me shoehorning my own interests into all of this, but the part of the clue that reads, “souls of the lost and the damned” reminded me of a notorious work called One Hundred Stories of Demons and Spirits by Kitagawa Utamaro. Sprits being the lost souls and demons being the damned? He was a renowned ukioy-e painter. Thoughts? Maybe there’s a copy in a museum? Hmmm… I’m now realizing that even if I’m right it doesn’t really give Deirdre anywhere to start.
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Seems like as good a place to start as any. A little digging shows that it may be in the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art on the crest of Mount Carmel in Haifa, Isreal. I want to find a little more confirmation on this. That could be where she has to go?
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I think I agree with you. I’ve scoured the web and can’t really find any other location for that specific piece of work. I couldn’t even find it on the Tikotin website, but this website says that it is the property of that museum, so if this is the work she needs, then that’s where she likely needs to go.
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Yeah, you found the same information I did. I might look a little more into some other paintings, but if nothing really speaks to me on this, I may just go ahead and write a comment to Deirdre suggesting this, if that is okay with the rest of you?
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Comment is posted. I hope we are giving her the right direction, but I really don’t know what else it could be.
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Should we be concerned that we haven’t heard from Deirdre? I get that she is in new countries and is probably visiting and looking around, but a part of me is starting to get a little concerned.
And I also get that there isn’t much we can do, but yeah…
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