Saturday, November 01, 2014

Meet Shiraishi Island's new character!

Recently the island held a contest to come up with an island character to use for promotional purposes. We had over 50 entries and many very professional ones. Thanks to everyone who entered the contest! We had so many good entries, as a matter of fact, that rather than choosing just one, the island decided to create an amalgamation of all the ideas, which resulted in this seagull!

A few points to note: The straw hat represents that used in the Shiraishi Bon Dance, a designated national treasure in Japan. The overcoat has two blue spots in the shape of Shiraishi Island. At the bottom is shows waves of the Seto Inland Sea.


Hanging from the belt are fish and mulberries, two products the island is known for. The star is a "starfish" from the sea and the cat with the fish in it's mouth represents the many beautiful stray cats that grace our island--especially near the port!


 The hem of the kimono has a drawing of the Bussharito Buddhist stupa on the island, which is said to hold some of Buddha's ashes. Lastly, the seagull's sandals (Of course even birds wear sandals in Japan!) have crab pincers in the front.


We hope you enjoy our new character! We are now soliciting entries for a name, so if you have any ideas, please let us know by leaving a comment.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

エイミーさん

wonderful character だよ

      mimiko

Anonymous said...

Call him/her Shirakko しらっこ, a nice amalgamation of Shiraishi and Umineko.

-James

Anonymous said...

they should have an exhibition of all the entries, a little recognition for all the artists hard work ( and postage costs lol ), or maybe an article showing them all ?


:D

Anonymous said...

its a wonderful mascot
and basing it on an amalgamation of all the entries is a great idea
you should show the entries too
put them on the blog or something
:D

Cow Lady said...

Thanks for your comments everyone! I also would like to post the entries, but I don't know if it's legal or not as it was a private contest and contestants didn't agree to having their work put up on the net. Some of it was quite professional looking. I can't wait to start using the character on the blog :) Thanks everyone for your entries--you've influenced an island and we really appreciate it.

Kuroyong said...

Hi there,

This is great that they used an amalgamation of all the ideas in one lovely character.

I was one of the artists who submitted (I entered a character called 'Shirockun' that was basically a cute little rock with some shiraishi accessories :) and I'd LOVE for there to be an exhibition of all entrants. For many reasons, it would be a great way to recognize the artists and showcase a range of inspirational ideas...

I'm sure you could notify each artist with the contact details given when we submitted our works, and we'd all give consent :) PLEASE consider this idea, as we would definitely share the love and support for shiraishi.

Thank you!!

Anonymous said...

So the cow character was voted down?

But, if it is an amalgamation, which part represents the cow?

 
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