Shishi-Odoshi is a fun and playful artwork by Jin Hasegawa. It was a series of artworks at the top of Yashima, just a short train and bus ride from central Takamatsu. When I first visited Yashima, I was a little confused as to how many pieces are part of this artwork and I wondered if I missed anything. The official guide didn’t really have precise information on the artwork but thankfully I was able to find all of the pieces.
Shishi-Odoshi
Shishi-Odoshi is basically a collection of animals in a cartoon styling. They are all life sized and placed in 3 locations around Yashima. The point of this artwork is to show how these animals would “encroach” on human lives in the reverse of what we have done to them. Jin Hasegawa’s main idea is to show where these animals would be if they were not afraid of us, and this is a real possibility in the future.
Shishi-Odoshi
Shishi-Odoshi
Near the New Yashima Aquarium is a small park with a flock of sparrows just resting in a tree. They have small silver discs, similar to CDs hanging from them to help them rotate and reflect the sun. It was a very cute looking and I really loved watching them dangle from the tree. I could imagine having a nice picnic there while most of the people were oblivious to the artwork that surrounded them.
Shishi-Odoshi
Shishi-Odoshi
The second location of Shishi-Odoshi that I saw is near the main entrance to Yashima Temple. It is a single wolf just standing near the front gate. It looks a little shell shocked but it is very cute. I would have loved to climb on top and get a photo of me riding the wolf, but I’m sure I would have gotten into trouble. I felt sad for the wolf as it was all alone but everyone seemed to love taking photos of it.
Shishi-Odoshi
If you head out of the outer gate towards the forest of Yashima you will see a small family of wild boars as well as a raccoon dog (tanuki). The family of wild boars were really cute and really is truthful. The boars in the Setouchi Inland Sea area are starting to encroach upon people and they can be a little dangerous. The tanuki, or raccoon dog, is another such animal that is starting to be seen around urban areas when they used to be hidden.
Shishi-Odoshi
Shishi-Odoshi
Shishi-Odoshi is a fun and playful artwork and definitely worth a visit when it was available. I don’t believe it is worth the cost of visiting as it can be a bit expensive and time consuming to get to Yashima. I really loved the look and wonder if Jin Hasegawa would have time to add to this artwork as it is just cute and fun.
Shishi-Odoshi
Shishi-Odoshi
Shishi-Odoshi
Note: Shishi-Odoshi is no longer available on Yashima.
Information
- Shishi-Odoshi (Official Setouchi Triennale Site)
- Shishi-Odoshi (Official Jin Hasegawa Site – Japanese Only)
- Jin Hasegawa (Official Site – Japanese Only)