Born as the Kanna Art Festival in 2014, the new Onishi Art Festival is rooted in the legacy of Chiaki Horikoshi (1948–2016), a visionary artist awarded the Spanish Royal Order of Merit and the driving force behind Onishi’s first art festival. From 2010, Horikoshi attracted artists to the area. In 2013, Kjell Hahn launched the Shiro Oni residency, bringing since then over 300 international artists to the town. During the years, the festival has grown into a sustainable model integrating contemporary art into rural life through community involvement, adaptive reuse of traditional buildings, and long-term cultural exchange.

 With the new Shiro Oni Art Center at the former Fujisaki Sobei Shoten (1728) as a primary gathering space, the festival has a special focus on Spanish performance artists, honoring the legacy and international spirit of Chiaki Horikoshi. The Onishi Art Festival connects people and places within its cultural sphere, forging new relationships and opening the town’s streets and stories to all who are curious enough to wander in.

https://www.kanna-art-festival.com/

The first and final residency groups will fire a traditional wood-fired anagama kiln. The residency founder Kjell Hahn runs the kiln and has been firing anagama for 17 years. Residency coordinator and artist Bella Kubo has been firing the kiln since 2024 and assists Hahn with the anagama firings.
It takes several days to load an anagama, meticulously packing wadding between every adjoining surface. The kiln then requires 4 days of 24 hour stoking, burning through several cords of wood.

The kiln is located across the river from Onishi on a nearby mountain in Kamiizumi town, Saitama prefecture. The kiln is 10 minutes from the nearest building, in the middle of a cedar forest.
During the firing artists will stay in a small cabin next to the kiln.