EDITORIAL: Order of Culture

This year's Order of Culture winners were announced on Tuesday. Three renowned artists with global reputations were among the seven recipients: the architect Tadao Ando, the stage director Yukio Ninagawa and the designer Issey Miyake.

The Order of Culture has tended to be awarded to leading figures in the realms of fine art, literature and the classical performing arts. Ando, Ninagawa and Miyake are working in relatively new fields that have received less recognition.

It is important for artists to reach as many people as possible, and to move and inspire them with enjoyment, pleasure and thought.

In addition, the achievements of these artists help us realize what kind of power art can exert in society.

All three emerged in the 1960s, without the support of school cliques or prominent art organizations, and built powerful international reputations. Their work is rich in the aesthetic sense and craftsmanship for which Japan is renowned abroad.

Ando uses the prosaic medium of concrete. A superbly honed artistic sense breathes within his austere and unaffected constructions. Foreign admirers have identified these designs, made with Japan's reputedly world-leading modern construction technology, with "Japanese tradition."

For the designer Miyake, the concept of "one piece of cloth" is a key doctrine: the idea of wrapping oneself in material in its original state, as opposed to cutting cloth to fit the specific physical requirements of individuals.

His clothing is engineered to expand, much like a collapsible paper lantern, to fit people of all ages and figures, and yet to flatten like a kimono when folded. Sophisticated modern fiber technology transforms the beauty of this idea into physical form.

The stage director Yukio Ninagawa has produced Shakespeare's works and Greek tragedies, infusing them with Kabuki and Noh drama, Buddhist altars, cascading cherry blossoms and other Japanese elements.

His endeavors to create stage performances that touch the hearts of Japanese audiences have projected the universal nature of drama more vividly, and his artistry has also amazed and earned resounding applause from audiences in other countries.

All three men are actively engaged with issues in the world around them.

Ando passionately supports tree planting efforts and envisions transforming an island spoiled by garbage, landfill sites and other eyesores into green zones.

Miyake has shown sensitivity toward environmental issues, too, using fiber recycled from secondhand clothes in his latest creations and trying thread made from old plastic bottles.

He is also working to reinvigorate depressed local economies. Through his proposals on materials development and design, he has tried to revitalize factories in outlying areas, which, despite having outstanding technology, are facing economic hardship.

And his activism has gone further than his own business: He recently attracted attention by writing in an American newspaper that he is an atomic bomb survivor and appealing for a world without nuclear arms.

Ninagawa has zeroed in on the issue of how to best live in an aging society. At a theater in Saitama Prefecture, where he serves as artistic director, he has formed a theater troupe with more than 40 older people with virtually no acting experience.

These artists have conveyed refined images of Japan abroad, have proposed clues to surmounting contemporary problems, and have inspired us with their energetic approaches to life.

This year's selections for the Order of Culture serve to remind us of the universal power of art.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 27