ENDLESS MOUNTAINS: Spanning Mountains and Seas—An Exhibition of Art and the Tang Poetry Road opened on April 13 at the Osaka Culturarium at Tempozan, Japan. It was hosted by the China Academy of Art (CAA), the Chinese Consulate General in Osaka, and the China Academy of Building Research (CABR), and organized by the Research Development & Innovative Office of CAA and the Architectural Design Institute of CABR.
Endless mountains; Ceaseless waters. The exhibition unfolded with one year to go before the World Expo 2025 opens in the key port city of Osaka where the "China-Japan Maritime Poetry Road" started, echoing the theme of the China Pavilion: "Jointly Build a Community of Life For Man And Nature—Future Society of Green Development" in the spirit of "mutual learning between civilizations". Across the waters from the Expo 2025 Osaka venue, the event gathers 22 Chinese and Japanese artists for a Tang poetry journey with the audiences in the context of a new era.
The exhibition is a review of cultural and historical legacies that still have a positive impact today, a showcase of civilizations that have been thriving for centuries, and a revelation of advances that many generations have made, as the "Tang Poetry Road" is a geographical road connecting mountains and seas, and most importantly, a road linking poetic souls. Derived from this road is the "China-Japan Maritime Poetry Road"— the road of seeking Dharma for monk-poets in ancient times; the road of poetic diplomacy for the envoys of the two nations; the road of communication for Chinese literati and ancient Japanese missions to the Tang Dynasty; the road of the dissemination of Chinese poetry to Japan as an extension of the Road of Tang Poetry in Eastern Zhejiang; and the road of people-to-people exchanges through seas. The route witnessed the long history of cultural exchanges between China and Japan and the traces of numerous poets and envoys who loved, depicted and crossed mountains and waters, demonstrating the deep friendship that transcends physical boundaries and eras. These are what the exhibition aims to display.
The exhibition links the Road of Tang Poetry in Eastern Zhejiang and the China-Japan Maritime Poetry Road through the "waterway" theme. Preluded by a line from Tang poet Meng Haoran: "Seeking the immortals on the sea, observing the three mountains", the three Celestial Mountains appear on the "sea" of the exhibition hall, leading the audiences into a journey on a boat in between, reciting landscape poems as if they were seeing Chinese and Japanese poets of the Tang Dynasty traveled across the oceans in search of the Way and interconnectivity. The visual imagery of the Celestial Mountains, pagodas, and caves—the key connecting points of the two poetry roads from Mount Tiantai—is intertwined to show the convergence and inclusiveness of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.
The exhibition showcases more than 70 artworks including calligraphy, Chinese painting, lacquer painting, multi-material painting, sculpture, photography, image, and installation. At the exhibition space in the colors of skylight, neutral natural light, and warm light, they together present a scene of poetic realms: the external, the mutuality, and the inner, and the views of different depths, transcending the physical boundaries of mountains and seas for comprehensive interconnectivity. The exhibition venue is well-arranged into the oceanic settings, with ripples on the ground, where the viewers feel as if they were journeying in mountains and seas like those poets and travelers who walked the China-Japan Maritime Poetry Road in ancient times. The exhibition lasts from April 13 to 27.
