Beads in the World

摘要

In the past, most previous exhibitions or displays of beads at Minpaku have focused on beads of certain areas or ethnic groups; for example, Beads in Africaor Beads of Ainu (Tamasai), and The Sea Otter and Glass Beads. Exhibitions elsewhere have focused on beads of a certain period, for example, ancient beads excavated from an archeological site. There has never been any exhibition that covers beads extensively in terms of area, ethnic group and period. Our special exhibition “Beads in the World” was held to show beads of the broadest range possible: to represent almost all kinds of bead and bead work across the world, from ancient times to present, with the story of the present author’s research on beads. On the first floor the history of beads from 100,000 years ago is introduced (Sections 1–3). On the second floor the theme is beads around the world (Sections 4–6). By looking at beads on a global scale, we can begin to recognize the distinctive cultural characteristics of beads in each individual region.