Introduction

Let us introduce here the story that we had received an order of producing kakejiku hanging scroll from my friend, a Malaysian male living in Japan.

In Malaysia, well-known as a multiracial country, people who have various cultural backgrounds are living, with people of Malay, Chinese and Indian descent at the head of the list.

Though the religion in which people living in Malaysia believe varies, it is Islam that the largest number of people in Malaysia believe in. A person believing in Islam is called a ‘Muslim’. The Malaysian, a friend of mine, who ordered the production of kakejiku this time is also a Muslim.

Around 6 years have already passed since my relationship with Islam started (as of 2021).

A lot of things had happened to me. (I still deeply remember about those.)

There are really a lot of memories: I did public relations on kakejiku hanging scroll at the largest sightseeing exposition in the Middle East held in Dubai, dressing in costume as Super Saiyan who appears in a famous Japanese manga(comic), Dragon Ball. I held a workshop to publicize kakejiku to seven Indonesian female model influencers. I hosted ‘the Japan Travel Expo for Muslims 2017 in Osaka, Japan’ which was the exposition for Muslim inbound held for the first time in the Kansai region. I established ‘Kansai Association of Business Promotion for Muslim’, a general incorporate association for Muslim inbound, and has assumed the position of the auditor for the association.

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the activities mentioned above, I met with the Malaysian who ordered the production of kakejiku this time.

He is the first Malaysian Muslim I got along with, in Japan.

 

The Muslim, a Friend of Mine, Came to Our Shop for Consultation

Since he had ordered the production of special kakejiku, he came all the way to our shop to consult about the kakejiku production.

 

He was accompanied by so many friends. Each of them was wearing a mask.

 

We consulted about how we mount main works in kakejiku and what kind of mounting fabrics would be used. We proceeded with the selection of materials, taking account of the things regarded as their religious taboo.

 

The consultation was successfully completed.

 

We decided to produce the following three kakejikus, which were expected completion images created by Photoshop application.

We consider it is important for customers that the expected completion image is clearly visible in advance to prevent any discrepancies.

 

In the following kakejiku, the pronunciation and the meaning of ‘Shahāda’, the words which are recited in the Islamic ritual, are written in Japanese. Reciting ‘Shahāda’ is the ritual for a non-Muslim person to become a Muslim, the confession of faith in other words.

 

According to him, he established a community center in which Muslims and the Japanese would be able to get together light-heartedly and he wanted to hang this kakejiku on the wall of a renovated Japanese-style room in the community center.

Since he has loved Japan and the Japanese, he decided to renovate a Japanese-style room while leaving the Japanese taste, with the desire to hang on the wall of the renovated room a kakejiku in which Shahāda is written in Japanese.

Although he had not known anything about kakejiku until he met me, he learned about my job and started to have an interest in kakejiku while interacting with each other and started to feel that he wanted to ask us to produce kakejiku someday. (I was glad to hear that.)

In the following kakejiku, the slogan that he has cherished, ‘Unity in diversity’, is written. The slogan, he says, contains his wish that this community center would become the place for people with various cultural backgrounds to interact with each other, just like the multiracial country, Malaysia.

 

Those main works will be written by a calligrapher with whom our company has contracted and will be mounted in kakejikus by us. It is exciting to imagine how the completed kakejikus would look like!

 

Production of Shahāda Kakejiku Started

Following are the photographs of working on the production.

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Kakejiku Production Completed

The ordered kakejikus had been finally completed through the long process.

 

According to the calligrapher who wrote three main works, since she was not familiar with the pronunciation of Shahāda written in Japanese katakana in two of three works, she wrote the pronunciation part with extreme care so as not to write wrongly.

 

As for the following main work in which a slogan is drawn, how it would be mounted in kakejiku was left totally to us, making us feel so much pressure.  The completed kakejiku, nonetheless, is quite satisfactory, with refined taste.

 

We are glad that the completed three kakejikus are all magnificent with a solemn atmosphere.

Soon after the completion of those three kakejikus, I went to the community center to deliver them. (We felt quite sorry for having taken so much time to complete them since we received the order because of COVID-19.)

 

How nice the room with the taste of Japanese being left is!! The room is very spacious and has a nice view.

 

This kakejiku has been hung on the 4th floor.

 

As soon as it was hung on the wall, he started live streaming on Facebook toward colleagues in his mother country, Malaysia. Since my friend has been one of influencers with powerful effect, so many Muslims surely watched the streaming.

 

I was unexpectedly forced to introduce myself as the producer of the kakejiku.

 

The second kakejiku has been hung on the wall of a Japanese room on the 3rd floor. It was decorated on the wall next to the worship space which a Tokonoma (an alcove in a traditional Japanese room) had been renovated to.

 

The last Kakejiku of the slogan has been hung on the wall at the entrance.

 

The friend was really impressed and pleased with the quality of the three kakejikus, which was also our great pleasure. We sincerely hope that those with various backgrounds who visit this center will interact with each other, paying due respect to each other’s culture, as this slogan is appealing.

We always make every effort to meet the customer’s request for producing any particular kakejikus like the order we received this time.

If you have any requests, feel free to contact us.

 

MOVIE 001: Order of Producing Shahāda Kakejiku from a Malaysian Muslim

Sorry, Japanese Only.

 

MOVIE 002: Conversation

Sorry, Japanese Only.