Statue of "Mikimoto Kokichi Okina" by Seibo Kitamura
From June 16 to 18, I went on a trip to Ise-Shima, and on the 16th I visited Mikimoto Pearl Island in Toba City. On a small island, Mikimoto Kokichi was the first island in the world to successfully cultivate pearls in 1893. A bronze statue of Mikimoto Kokichi was erected here. Mikimoto Kokichi (1858-1954) of the age of 93, stands facing the Imperial Palace with a cane given by Empress Sadaaki (the Empress of Emperor Taisho). (Please forgive me with a small picture.)
Works by Seibo Kitamura. It was built in 1953. The "Peace Prayer Statue" in Nagasaki is well known as his work, but in Chuo-ku there is a "lighthouse" (completed in 1931) in Sukiyabashi Park, and the bronze statue of Kokichi Okina is his work I was surprised and somewhat familiar.
There is a "Pearl Museum" in Shimauchi, where various jewels of pearls are displayed, and what caught my eye was the "Liberal Bell" decorated with pearls. It will be exhibited at the New York Expo in 1939, then repaired and will be exhibited at the Osaka Expo in 2025 for the first time in 86 years.
It uses 12,250 pearls as the motif of the bell ringed in the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776.
See: www.mikimoto-pearl-island.jp and “Liberty Bell, Made of Pearl”