KUMAGAYA, Japan — The humble blackboard is serving as the canvas, and colorful chalk the paint, for young Japanese artists.<\/p>\n
\u201cKokuban Art Koshien<\/a> ” is an annual national chalk art championship for high school students. Combining the word for \u201cblackboard\u201d (“kokuban”) and the famous stadium where high school baseball is contested, the contest attracts artworks, all drawn on blackboards, usually over summer break, from about 300 high schools and junior high schools. <\/p>\n Each work \u2014 many dazzling in their artistry and often dreamlike themes \u2014 is a collaborative endeavor bringing together anywhere from one or two youngsters to dozens, all delivering a lesson in creativity and teamwork.<\/p>\n The images range from energetic depictions of dinosaurs, dogs and whales; popular manga scenes; Hokusai<\/a> \u2019s Mount Fuji or the Mona Lisa<\/a>, as well as slices of everyday life, except they aren\u2019t all that everyday, such as an underwater classroom. <\/p>\n Some works even show a person writing on a blackboard. <\/p>\n Kazunari Minamishima, an art teacher at the Saitama Prefectural High School of the Arts, whose students have taken part in the contest, believes it appeals to students because it offers the chance to be more experimental than established forms of art, such as oil painting and sculpture.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still a work in progress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The contest began in 2015 by Nichigaku Co., a Tokyo-based blackboard maker. The annual judging is done by examining the photos of the works, given that the medium, blackboards, can\u2019t be moved easily. The winners will be announced in November.<\/p>\n The use of blackboards for creating artworks existed before in the Japanese school system. It was a stunning replica of Da Vinci\u2019s \u201cLast Supper\u201d<\/a> by an unknown artist on a school blackboard that caught Nichigaku\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n \u201cBack then, there was graffiti, but there was no genre called blackboard art,\u201d said Nichigaku President Tomohiro Yoshida.<\/p>\n The contest doesn\u2019t really work as a direct marketing tool because schools already have blackboards. But some contestants become professional artists later, Yoshida added proudly. <\/p>\n Chalk powder gets scattered over the blackboard for an almost stardust effect. Smudging with fingers and tissue paper creates shadows and muted tones.<\/p>\n A skilled blackboard artist can depict the shiny translucence of a dragon\u2019s eyeball. One award-winning work used chalk powder mixed in water sprayed a la Jackson Pollock. <\/p>\n