The Battle of Sekigahara, fought on October 21, 1600 was one of the most important battles in Japanese feudal history. The scene was depicted in the 1700s on a 6-panel byoubu folding screen that remains housed in the Osaka Museum of History. In a new installation that just went on display, the videographer Yusuke Shigeta has utilized pixel animation to reconstruct the battle as depicted on the folding screen, adding details of the natural landscape that still exists at the ancient battlefield.
Shigeta used digital techniques like 3D modeling and crowd simulation to bring his folding screens to life. The artwork is currently on display at Chubu Centrair International Airport, which serves Japan’s Chubu region: home to some of the most famous samurai who ever lived.
Titled “Sekigahara-Sansui-zu-Byobu” (Folding Screen of Painted Sekigahara Landscapes), the artwork is part of Culture Gate to Japan, an initiative to convert Japan’s airports — drastically underutilized due to the pandemic — into museums. All the artwork is online and viewable over on the official website. The artwork is expected to stay up until at least September 2021.
March 21, 2021 at 10:01 am
It would be funny if it started and stopped at intervals, surprising the passerby. Or have it operated via remote control to prank people. “Mom! The little people moved!”