Acclaimed artist Koji Kinutani designs a vibrant new landmark for Japan’s Dinosaur Kingdom.

Cover photo: Installation view of Jurassic Echizen (ジュラシックえちぜん), LED-backlit stained glass mosaic, designed by Koji Kinutani and produced by Creare Art, at Echizen Railway Fukui Station, Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture, Japan (2023). Photo by Danny With Love.

Last Sunday, March 12th, a brilliant stained glass mosaic was unveiled at Echizen Railway Fukui Station, located just outside the ticket gate. This permanent art installation is Jurassic Echizen (ジュラシックえちぜん), a stunning collage of Northern Fukui’s most famous attractions sitting underfoot a pack of mighty dinosaurs.

A section of the station’s northern wall had been covered by a curtain for several weeks with no hint as to why, so I was truly surprised and ecstatic to see the new work.

The giant LED-lit work features many popular sites such as the acclaimed Ichijodani Asakura Clan Ruins, Eiheiji Buddhist Monastery, old Maruoka Castle, and the Sea of Japan’s unique geological feature known as the Tojinbo Cliffs. Two railway attendants and Fukui Prefecture’s mascot Hapiryu (Happy Ryu) are also depicted, as well as the forthcoming Hokuriku Shinkansen (Bullet Train), scheduled to arrive in Fukui next spring.

Jurassic Echizen commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Echizen Railway Company, a third-sector (joint public-private) rail operator which serves the northern area of Fukui Prefecture including the cities of Fukui, Katsuyama, and Sakai.

“We hope that this work will become familiar as a new symbol of the Echizen Railway, which connects Fukui Station with tourist attractions throughout the prefecture,” proclaims Tatsuji Sugimoto (杉本達治), Governor of Fukui Prefecture.

Looking upon the mosaic is like gazing into a fresh rainbow. A vibrant kaleidoscope of color, the installation is composed of 1,327 pieces of hand-blown German glass, rendered in 171 individual colors, measuring an impressive 7.1 by 2.8 meters (23.3 by 9.2 feet).

The original design was created by award-winning artist Koji Kinutani (絹谷 幸二), and ‘translated’ by a team of experts at Creare Art, a Shizuoka-based production company specializing in ceramics and glassware. The final work was completed by seven stained glass artisans over a period of six months.

Born in the city of Nara in 1943, 80-year-old Kinutani is a distinguished Western-style painter with formal training at both the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, in Italy.

Kinutani is a recipient of the Order of Culture — Japan’s highest cultural award — best known for his official poster for the 18th Olympic Winter Games held in Nagano, 1998. He has designed multiple public artworks, including Twinkle Twinkle Shibuya (きらきら渋谷), on view at Tokyo’s Shibuya-Eki, the second busiest train station in the world.

The Japan Traffic Culture Association, a nonprofit organization which promotes the production of public works, commissioned the installation from Creare Art, that in turn tapped Kinutani.

Jurassic Echizen marks the fifth collaboration between Kinutani and Creare Art, and it is the 555th public art work produced by the Japan Traffic Culture Association since 1972. The Japan Lottery Association subsidized the production and installation of the mosaic, which was officially donated to Echizen Railway.

Home to 80% of the nation’s excavated dinosaur fossils, including five unique species, Fukui Prefecture is known as Japan’s Dinosaur Kingdom. This served as the conception for Jurassic Echizen. For the work’s plaque, Kinutani writes as follows:

You are now in Fukui, which is a unique area in Japan where dinosaurs used to walk around as if they owned everything, and it is very exciting to imagine that. Strangely enough, when you look around thinking about that period, wondering whether the dinosaurs also looked over at that sea like us and imagining that the landform must have changed a lot, even the familiar landscape that comes into view looks new.

Cherishing this feeling, I developed my imagination and created an image that features the dinosaurs and the artifacts of the Echizen area in Fukui.

I hope that seeing this image at the beginning of your journey will help you get a feeling of the joy that you are about to experience in Fukui.

A fact easily lost in the mundanity of the 21st century, it’s both awe-inspiring and humbling to consider we inhabit a planet where fearsome dinosaurs once roamed. They are our distant relatives, who too enjoyed the gift of life. Through samurai, monks, and us, this gift goes on.

Kinutani further explains, “In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and other hardships, life continues forever. Remembering the nature of the dinosaurs that once roamed the plains of Fukui, let’s spend each day carefree and brightly in this era.”

The mosaic is a welcome addition in a prefecture with a sparse offering of contemporary art, especially compared to neighboring Kyoto and Ishikawa. It’s exciting to know Fukui Station and Shibuya Station now both feature a work by Kinutani!

Creare Art chief Chieko Kouzuki (上月 智恵子) tells me she hopes the artwork will contribute to local pride. I was certainly moved to see this wondrous depiction of my adopted home and pleased to witness many Fukui residents stop to admire it as well. Having lived in Fukui for over a year now, I have grown quite fond of the city I first demeaned as unforgivably inaka (rural).

Now I can look forward to seeing this mosaic every time I take the train to Fukui Station! If you visit, please take a moment to enjoy it, along with the world-class Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum once it reopens this summer.

Author’s Note

As part of the Fukui Reporter program, I am tasked with participating in local events and publicly promoting the prefecture. This is a volunteer position that allows me free entrance to a selection of museums throughout the area. The opinions I share are my own.