Yashima Visitor Center: Panoramic Painting
The Yashima Visitor Center’s Panorama Exhibition Hall is a semicircular gallery inspired by the 360-degree panoramic halls that were popular in Japan in the late nineteenth century. It features a curved panoramic painting, along with three-dimensional objects on the floor. The painting is designed to connect with these objects in a blending of two- and three-dimensional forms of expression. Unlike a regular painting in a frame, the 165-degree panoramic painting is intended to immerse onlookers in the scene.
The artwork’s primary motif is the Battle of Yashima, which took place in 1185. It was made by artist Hoshina Toyomi and employs perspective to depict the relationship between humans and nature and to highlight dramatic elements in the battle scene. Such elements include the menacing power of nature, light and darkness, the calm sea, and people’s anxiety about nightfall. It is not a complete, historically accurate depiction of the event, but it contains key moments from the battle and there is even a message hidden in the painting for those who look closely.