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Gallery Nagaragawa
- address: 2f. 16 Izumi cho Gifu city Gifu pref.
500-8073 Japan - tel (within): 058 263 4322
tel(outside):81 58 263 4322 - fax:058 263 4323(from outside , like the one above)
- mail address: nagaragawagarou@nifty.com
Gallery Nagaragawa Tokyo Gallery
- address: The Park Maison Roppongi 1F
3-6-20 Roppongi Minatoku Tokyo
106-0032 Japan - tel:03 5544 9091
- Fax:03 5544 9092
- mail address: nagaragawagarou@nifty.com
Yamazaki Ben'nei Memorial Museum
- address: 1f. 16 Izumi cho Gifu city Gifu pref.
500-8073 Japan - tel ( within ): 058 263 4322
tel ( outside ) : 81 58 263 4322 - fax : 058 263 4323 (from outside , like the one above)
- mail address : nagaragawagarou@nifty.com
Nagaragawa Workshop
- address: 3f. 16 Izumi cho Gifu city Gifu pref.
500-8073 Japan - tel (within) : 058 263 4322
tel (outside) : 81 58 263 4322 - fax : 058 263 4323 (from outside , like the one above)
- mail address : nagaragawagarou@nifty.com
Message from the Owner
Thank you for visiting the Nagaragawa Gallery website.
Gifu is a city roughly at the center of Japan, the capital of Gifu Prefecture. In medieval times, when this region was known as the province of Mino, people used to say: "who rules Mino rules the country." It was here, some 450 years ago, that Oda Nobunaga, the warlord hero who first made peace among the warring clans of the medieval age, built a castle on Mount Inaba (now called Kinkazan, or Mount Kinka) in what is today the city of Gifu. Luis Frois, the Portuguese missionary who visited Nobunaga in Gifu in 1569 with his companions, is said to have likened the thriving castle town to the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon.
The city of Gifu now has a population of around 410,000. The Nagaragawa river, known as one of the country�fs cleanest, flows right past the base of Mount Kinka, where for over 1,300 years the great tradition of cormorant fishing has been practiced, today an industry symbolizing the city and a major tourist attraction. (Working at night using small bonfires hung out over the water from the bows of their boats, the cormorant fishermen skillfully manipulate trained cormorants to catch ayu, or sweetfish, and deliver them to the boats.)
Here in this beautiful, historic city where I was born and raised, in 1987 I founded the Nagaragawa Gallery. Now in its twentieth year, the Nagaragawa Gallery cannot claim a long tradition, nor does it deal with exclusive or very expensive works. Rather, drawing on my own extensive study of Japanese history and culture, and resisting passing fads and trends, it is my sincere hope to introduce interested people from anywhere in the world to genuinely valuable works of Japanese calligraphy and art to be found in my beloved hometown of Gifu.
I hope you will visit Gifu when you come to Japan. I would be happy to show you the town. I look forward to seeing you here.
8 Aug 2008
Susumu Tsuchiya
Owner
Gallery Nagaragawa