Japan’s rabbits, frogs and monkeys from a long, long time ago are collecting goodies from a galaxy far, far away.
Products from the Star Wars universe truthfully don’t need any sort of promotion or crafty sales pitch to get sold, usually you can just slap the Star Wars font on merchandise and watch the products fly off the shelves.
Even so, there was a sales clerk at Hokkaido University who decided to put some pizzazz into a Star Wars display using characters from Choju-Jibutsu-Giga. Better known as Choju-Giga, these scrolls are hundreds of years old and depicts frogs, rabbits and monkeys playing together; often it is classified as Japan’s oldest known manga.
These same animals are now lounging about at a Hokkaido University co-op store, where they were beautifully drawn by their talented employee. If you look closely, there is evidence of careful brush use which gives rise to the distinct thick and thin lines that Choju-Giga is known for. Whoever it was, they’ve clearly been practicing the art form a lot.
[tweet https://twitter.com/hokubucoop/status/671883861719052289 align=center]The detailed art isn’t the only fun aspect of the drawings though. What may seem like normal but beautifully written hiragana characters is actually conversations and comments about Star Wars and chocolate.
[tweet https://twitter.com/lmtr_yrs/status/672678575074508800 align=center]▼ “They’re doing the chocolate eggs with things inside.” “What, really?!” “Let’s go!”
“I’ve got a case.”
“Chocolate is delicious.”
“I got a good one.” “Which one?”
▼ “Trade me Chewbacca.” “No way”
“Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth Vader.”
“Use the Force. Feel it.”
“Hooray, I collected them all!”
The whole display is a mastery of art and one of our favorite movies. Japanese culture and traditions have a long history with the Star Wars universe, so it’s interesting to see the reverse happening, a little bit of Star Wars influence on Japanese traditions.
Source: grape
Top Image: Twitter/hokubucoop
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