【Event】Senior Fellow Jun Rekimoto Contributed to the Exhibition at Kyogashi Exhibition 2026

From October 1 to 15, 2026, the “Kyogashi Exhibition 2026 – Kan’ei Imperial Procession Picture Scroll” was held at the Yuuisai Kodokan and the Former Shimogamo Villa of the Mitsui Family. This year marked the 400th anniversary of Emperor Go-Mizunoo’s imperial procession to Nijo Castle in 1626. Inspired by the magnificent scenes depicted in the Kan’ei Imperial Procession Picture Scroll, a wide variety of contemporary Kyogashi works created by confectionery artists and craftspeople were on display. 

The designs of Kyogashi were widely solicited, and selected works from both the Kyogashi Design Category and the Tea Ceremony Sweets Practical Works Category were exhibited throughout the venues. 

Junichi Rekimoto, a Senior Fellow at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, also participated as one of the judges. He contributed to the evaluation of the submitted works from the perspectives of cultural preservation and the exploration of new forms of creative expression. 

Furthermore, as part of Senior Fellow Jun Rekimoto’s research theme, “3D Tea Ceremony Records,” digital technology was used to explore ways of preserving and recreating the sculptural beauty of Kyogashi. “3D Tea Ceremony Records” is a research project that supports cultural preservation by recording and archiving cultural assets, such as Japanese confectionery and tea utensils, as three-dimensional digital data and recreating them in digital space. 

At the venue, visitors were able to view three-dimensional archives of the award-winning works from the 2025 Kyogashi Exhibition through Sony’s Spatial Reality Display, offering them a new way to experience the unique appeal of Kyogashi. For the image capture and 3D modeling process, we received technical cooperation from Sony Corporation’s Technology Development Laboratories. 

▶ For more information about Kyogashi Exhibition 2026, please visit the official website(https://kyogashi.jp/).