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KA・TA・O・RI・HA

KATAORIHA KATAORIHA
KATAORIHA KATAORIHA
KATAORIHA KATAORI

KATAORIHA KATAORIHA
KATAORIHA KATAORIHA
KATAORIHA KATAORI
HAKATAORIHAKATAORI
HAKATAORIHAKATAORI
HAKATAORIHAKATAORI
HAKATAORIHAKATAORI

KATAORIHA KATAORIHA
KATAORIHA

HAKATAORI

(Chorus)
Hakata-ori, Japanese weaving passed down from generation to generation for 777 years.

HAKATAORI

  • Kei Uehara
    Director
  • Kei Uehara
    Writer
  • Masaki Shimamura
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    かたおりは
  • Project Type:
    Music Video, Short, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    1 minute 22 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 27, 2018
  • Country of Origin:
    Japan
  • Country of Filming:
    Japan
  • Language:
    Japanese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 2019 FUKUOKA AD ASSOCIATION PRIZE
    Fukuoka
    Japan
    April 12, 2019
    WEB video department：GOLD
  • TOP SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL JUNE 2019

    United States
    Best Microfilm／Best Commercial
  • SHORT to the Point JUNE 2019
    Bucharest
    Romania
    BEST MINI SHORT
  • rolling ideas 2019
    Transylvania, Targu Mures
    Romania
    WINNER
  • Moondance International Film Festival
    Boulder
    United States
    SHORT FILM WINNERS
  • London International Awards 2019
    NY
    United States
    November 4, 2019
    Music & Sound: Music Original - Song[FINALIST]
  • The Telly Awards
    NY
    United States
    May 27, 2020
    PROMOTION VIDEO−Craft:Directing【Gold】
Director Biography - Kei Uehara

Kei started working for MTV Japan in 1997, after winning an award in the MTV StationID contest the previous year. He also worked for P.I.C.S before becoming a freelancer.
During this period he was involved with the making of adverts and music clips, with his role ranging from visual direction to art direction, creating motion graphics and music scores. His high reputation comes from creating videos that make viewers feel the sound.
He won the Asian Television Technical & Creative Award for Best Direction in 2003.
He then joined KOO-KI in 2012.
“Tomorrow begins”, the PR video he directed to promote Tokyo as a host to 2020 Olympics, won K-ADC Members Prize for Movie, Digital Communication in 2013. In 2015, his work “Sporting Spirit”, one of the largest scale projection mapping works in Japan, was exhibited at TOKYO BIG SIGHT. 2019 saw him win the Gold Medal at FUKUOKA AD ASSOCIATION PRIZE for Web Movie with “KA TA O RI HA”, a celebratory film made for Hakata-Ori textiles’ 777th anniversary. Uehara seeks to keep breaking the boundaries in visual art, going beyond screens.

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Director Statement

This video visualizes the image of Hakata-Ori with modern twist, with the chanting rhythm of KA-TA-O-RI-HA.
Hakata-Ori is a specialty silk textile of the Hakata area, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It’s said to originate from the textile weave which came to Japan from Southern Song in 1241. To this day, Hakata-Ori is a beloved textile used to make obi sashes.

The video “KA・TA・O・RI・HA” was made in celebration of 777th anniversary of Hakata-Ori. The inspiration for the lyrics is how the textile is made- careful stitch after careful stitch. The repetition of the word KA-TA-O-RI-HA mimics those stitches. It is a nonsense word in Japanese, coined by the film, and invented by displacing some of the sounds of the word Hakata-Ori. By repeating KA-TA-O-RI-HA as in the film, it starts to sound like Hakata-Ori.
The movement of dancers evokes an image of weaving Hakata-Ori such as spinning looms and yarns, while implying its long history of 777 successive years of production.
The video was shot at Jouten-ji temple, the place of origin of Hakata-Ori.