Ashiya Sand Craft Exhibition

The Ashiya Sand Craft Exhibition is an autumn show of sand sculptures held every year on a special site inside Aquacean, the leisure pool of Ashiya Seaside Park in Ashiya, Fukuoka Prefecture. Professional sculptors invited from Japan and abroad carve the works from white sand, and each year's exhibition is built around its own theme. Members of the Japan Sand Sculpture Federation, students and local groups also help make the works and run the event.

Sand sculpture

A sand sculpture is made from nothing but sand and water. The two are mixed well and packed hard into a solid block, which the sculptor then carves from the top down. The carving is done in a single attempt, with no room for mistakes. Kajiwara Tetsutaro, who heads the Ashiya branch of the Japan Sand Sculpture Federation, says the first cuts decide the balance of the whole piece. A large work takes from several days to a few weeks. He describes the sand at Ashiya as fine-grained, which allows close detail. The finished works are fragile and cannot be kept for long.

Highlights

The sculptures are lit up after dark, and in the evening a sound and light show plays over them. On weekends and public holidays the show is accompanied by fireworks.

Umaiccha Hiroba, a food area made up mostly of restaurants from Ashiya, is open every day. From Friday to Sunday the venue adds events that change from week to week. Among them are fairground stalls and games, a bubble show, concerts, a Halloween costume event, a sand sculpture contest, public carving and vegetable stalls.

A photo contest runs during the exhibition, and the winning entries are published on the official website.