【Discover the Feature Exhibition】 The Adaptation of the Movement and Tools Related to the Word “Toru”

Feature Exhibition Room 4

August 17th (Wed.) ~ October 23rd (Sun.), 2022

Painting depicts people catching tunas

 The Japanese word “toru” has many different Kanji characters and different meanings, but the pronunciation remains the same. A dictionary search of "toru" reveals more than 30 kanji characters, including 取, 把, 捕, 執, 採, 摂, 撮, among others. These mainly mean "take," "get," "obtain," "pick up," "catch," "manage," "gather," or "ingest," as well as other related meanings. Many of these words are deeply connected to obtaining food and other items to live and the movement of our hands is a big part of that action.

 For example, the method of “hunting” or “catching” (toru, 捕る, 獲る) an animal for human consumption began with or “throwing” (nageru, 投げる) stones at the beast and “hitting” (ateru, あてる) it. The throwing of stones eventually led to the creation of more effective weapons like stone spears that were thrown using the entire body. Later, in order to efficiently kill fast-moving animals, the action of “shooting” (hanatsu, 放つ) arrows was added to the action of throwing. In the Edo period (1603-1867), when hunting rifles became more popular, it became possible to hunt a larger variety of prey at greater distances. The action of drawing the bow with the whole body and releasing the arrow was transformed into the action of “pulling” (hiku, 引く) the trigger with the fingers.

 Among the various “toru” activities seen in daily life, this exhibition focuses on capturing or hunting animals and gathering plants, and introduces various human activities, with a focus on the tools used in them.

Exhibition view