After the arrival of the Meiji period, the Japanese were captivated at first sight by Western culture. Everybody wanted to see novel, unusual things. In those days, Asakusa was a trade fair showcasing foreign culture and engineering and was lined with show tents. The “panorama exhibit booth” was born here, standing out among these show tents as a cutting-edge amusement facility.

In those days, the Japanese conception of art consisted of flat “Nihon-ga” paintings. However, the Japanese first learned about oil paintings through panorama booths. Their usage of perspective gave them a realistic, three-dimensional look. And they were uniquely huge, too, spanning a full 360 degrees. It was like being at the theater.

What did those panoramas of old depict? In truth, they were battle paintings. Their advent came at the same time as Japan’s victory during the first Sino-Japanese War, and with such dramatic themes as to be worthy of theater, war paintings were selected to become panoramas. It was an age without many pastimes. People loved the panoramas, and booths were erected all over the country. Apparently, there was also a booth in Kotohira, atop Mt. Konpira, here in Kagawa.

Now, the artist who made the Yashima panorama booth has chosen the Gempei War from the Heike Monogatari as a theme. The Kotohira booth’s theme was evidently Sino-Japanese battle paintings, and many tourists gathered to see the panorama. Let us now recall that Kagawa scene once more. Let us bring that bustle back to Yashima, an attraction as grand as Kotohira. Keep that desire in your heart as you appreciate this work of art.

What is the panorama composed of? As we mentioned before, panoramas depict three key aspects: “Oil painting,” “Storytelling,” and “Diorama.”

Let’s start with the “Oil painting” aspect. Oil paintings originated in realism - in the “reproduction of what the eye sees, exactly as it is.” The panorama is the ultimate expression of the perspective techniques used in oil paintings, an expression solely unique to oil paintings. The Yashima panorama booth is the result of a “Panorama Booth Restoration Project” meant to revive the original techniques as they were long ago.

Next is the “Storytelling” component. The panorama changes as you rotate horizontally around the booth. It weaves the tale along a 180-to-360-degree image, where time disappears as scenes flow into one another, like a picture scroll. At a movie theater, the viewer sits and the picture moves. In a panorama booth, however, the picture moves only when the viewer does, as it were. From that perspective, one might say that movie theaters originated from these panoramas.

Lastly, we have the “Diorama” element. Solid pieces such as trees or rocks are placed in front of the painting, seamlessly interwoven with the world inside the painting. The objects aren’t just placed; three-dimensional shadows and other finely calculated details are painted on each object to turn them into part of the painting’s perspective. This achieves the panorama booth’s trademark illusory effect.

Pictures do not do the panorama booth justice. It is something that must be experienced directly. For one, the work’s visibility is darkened. There’s a reason for that; the lighting actually changes according to the time of day in the scene: morning, day, or night. The morning scene comes first. Feel the sensation of dazzling morning light as you wake up. That is why the outside lighting needs resetting. We can say that this sort of production is an exclusive feature of the panorama booth.

Japanese panorama booths took the world by storm during the Meiji period. However, when movie theaters appeared, they supplanted panoramas, and booths across the country steadily closed. Nowadays, panoramas such as the Panorama Racławicka in Poland are numerous all over the world. In 2022, after a long hiatus, the sole panorama booth in Japan was reborn here in Yashima.

It is a landscape that feels so real, you’ll feel as if you’re standing on that battlefield. We hope you take wonder and surprise home with you after your “One Night’s Dream in Yashima.”