Nippon Kodo holds the 7th art contest

Nippon Kodo holds an art contest every summer for elementary and middle school children. The theme for this contest each year is “Hometown Obon Memories”. This is the 7 th year for the contest and had the largest number of participants at over 40,000 entries from all over Japan. 48 pieces were chosen to be displayed at the specially made gallery at the Nippon Kodo headquarters. These chosen few were all wonderful pieces that illustrated the hard work that was put into them.
This contest is the largest event of its kind in Japan for children. Nippon Kodo hosts this contest in order to help raise the abundant younger generation and to put in their part as a social contribution in the “Make a place for children” campaign promoted by the Department of Children’s Education.

*In Japan, there is a short period of time during the summer called Obon, where spirits of our loved ones return home. It has become a tradition for all the relatives to gather and pay respects to their ancestors. Obon can be especially memorable to children because they get to experience different events such as the Obon dance and fireworks with family members and old friends in their hometown.