How can straw from the rice paddies become artwork that every household in Japan hangs in their houses? In Japan’s Shinto religion, shimenawa is a form of artwork that every household must hang up during the New Year. In each shrine, festival, and New Year celebration, you can see shimenawa woven straw art everywhere. Shimenawa bridges people and the deities to pass on peace and blessings, and it also marks the division between the heavens and the Earth. Many of these traditional items of worship that people in the Shinto religion use were made by a Taiwanese straw weaving artist: Lung Lee.

Lung Lee has been learning how to weave straw since childhood. He started learning the traditional Japanese custom and skill of shimenawa weaving in 2010. Since then, he has been exporting 30 to 40 cargo containers of his products to Japan each year. He has made a miracle of agricultural art creation and cultural exchanges. As a result, he has been awarded the label of “The Soul of Craftsmanship” by Taiwan’s General Association of Chinese Culture, which was presented in-person by Taiwan’s Vice President William Lai and Pingtung County Magistrate Pan Men-an. This exhibition will display Lung Lee’s special shimenawa artwork, telling the stories of this agricultural craftsman from Taiwan. These straw artworks simultaneously bring good fortune to Japan, connect Taiwanese crafts with Japanese religion, as well as reflect on how these two countries derive culture from their common abundance of rice.