Hockey in Japan. A dream that Draft Tournament has had for many years is finally coming to fruition this September!
For us it is a far-away land full of energy and culture like we have never seen in North America. So different from the life we know at home that it can be intimidating!
But even in a country that is over 5,000 miles away that is so different, there is one thing we know that can bring us together: the greatest game on earth!
So while celebrating this amazing sport, we also wanted to celebrate the amazing culture of Japan and highlight it’s beautiful art and history on our uniforms.
The theme for the 2019 Japan Draft Tournament is: 日本美術 (pronounced “Nihon bijutsu”)
The second team is based off one of the most famous Japanese paintings of all time. “The Great Wave off Kanagawa, a woodblock print by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai and one of the world’s most iconic pieces of Asian art.
If this climactic moment seems ubiquitous — think T-shirts, coffee mugs, laptop decals — that’s because it was designed to be. The artwork is considered a fine, if somewhat hackneyed, example of ‘ukiyo-e,’ a genre of mass-produced Japanese woodblock prints that displayed everything from theatre announcements to the most salacious of erotica.
Ukiyo-e prints were cheap to produce and widely distributed in Edo (today’s Tokyo) between the 17th and 19th centuries. As many as 5,000 impressions were made from the original woodblocks for ‘The Great Wave.’ Back then, the prints were sold for the price of a bowl of noodles.” (From CNN, to read more about the painting, click here).
Team number two for Japan is the Great Waves!
There are still some spots left if you want to make a last minute impulse decision to join us in Japan! Or you can always sign up for Jasper, Minneapolis, Phoenix and LA!
