One of the three Shonen manga greats, Bleach was resurrected from certain death and came back to us as the final anime arc, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War in 2022. What’s more, specially produced Bleach manga art scrolls were also blessed in a Buddhist temple.
久保帯人「BLEACH / The Millennium 2」
日本を代表する厄除大師である深大寺（東京・調布）。元三大師堂に完成した作品を掛けさせていただき、厄除けと幸福をねがす護摩祈願を行っていただいた。https://t.co/eOJcXAIPDL…#mangaart pic.twitter.com/kNL9x8LN93
— mangaart.jp/集英社マンガアートヘリテージ (@MangaartJ) November 22, 2023
Bleach Blessing at Jindaiji Temple
Two Bleach art scrolls from the specially-made The Millennium series have undergone a blessing ceremony at Jindaiji Temple in Chofu, Tokyo. According to Shueisha Manga-Art Gallery, this was following the advice of Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, who had previously curated a manga exhibition at the British Museum.
There’s a video of the ceremony played at the “Bleach / Blank, Black and Bleed” exhibition at the Shueisha Manga-Art Gallery. It shows parts of the chanting, drumming and fire-burning employed in order to ward off any evil spirits and to bring good fortune. The video also includes parts of a biwa performance by Kakushin Tomoyoshi held in a room in Jindaiji Temple, in front of one of the Bleach scrolls. That is followed by videos of how the special Bleach art was made.
The spiritual ceremony feels natural as the Bleach story takes place in the equivalents of heaven and hell and involves Shinigami (death gods). The lucky few who buy one of the blessed scrolls will also receive the signature Jindaiji Temple talisman to ward off evil spirits.
Rare Limited Run Art Prints From Bleach
“The Millennium” series was made to preserve Bleach art for at least 1,000 years. It does so by employing high-quality materials used by museums and archives. It’s part of the mission of the Shueisha Manga-Art Heritage project that aims “to pass down the art of manga to the next generation with the help of digital technology.”
The paper for the two scrolls is handmade washi paper from Mino, Gifu Prefecture, while the work is printed using collotype printing. Currently, there is only one company in the world that can perform this large-format color printing. It’s a workshop in Kyoto that has mainly produced reproductions of national treasures and important cultural properties.
There is a limited number of artworks, each one using an art blockchain network (akin to the one used for NFT art). All works are hand-stamped and signed by the author and packed in handmade paulownia wood boxes.
“The Millennium” series contains two artworks at the time of writing: “Bleach/ The Millennium” and “Bleach / Moon Fang Unity.”
