AIZUWAKAMATSU and KITAKATA, Fukushima Prefecture--Many regions in Japan have their own distinctive arts and crafts that are rooted in local history and natural resources.
AIZUWAKAMATSU and KITAKATA, Fukushima Prefecture--Many regions in Japan have their own distinctive arts and crafts that are rooted in local history and natural resources.
So it is with Aizu lacquerware, known as “Aizu-nuri.” Aizu-nuri was developed more than 400 years ago and handed down generation by generation.
The neat thing about the Aizu lacquerware industry is that it has always been totally self-reliant--from growing lacquer trees for their sap, up to the final decoration.
The Aizu Urushi Art Festival began with the goal of highlighting local traditions and culture. This year, the third Aizu Urushi Art Festival looks at the future of lacquerware, exploring what lies ahead when the barriers that mark the boundaries between “crafts” and “modern art” are taken away.
The Aizu Usuhi Art Festival actually sprawls through two cities, Aizuwakamatsu and Kitakata, in Fukushima Prefecture. A total of 82 exhibition pieces are on display at 39 venues that include shops and traditional warehouses. The exhibition is unusual in that it does not discriminate between traditional Aizu-nuri ware and modernistic installation art.
Aizu lacquerware is trying to survive difficult circumstances that have been brought on by changing lifestyles, among other factors.
“We have been seeking ways to discover and propose a new allure of lacquerware," said Norio Akasaka, director of the Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art and director of the art festival.
The museum was instrumental in bringing modern artists and lacquerware artisans together for collaboration pieces. It worked as the intermediary, pulling the festival together.
Ryota Shioya’s installation, “Hitotema” is made up of numerous “remnants” of handshakes. The artist placed a piece of clay between two hands shaking, fired the clay with the handshake imprint and arranged the finished pieces on a large lacquerware tray. The iridescent black shimmers like a subterranean lake, serving as a perfect backdrop for the traces of handshakes that take on the beauty of fallen petals.
Kanae Ako is a lacquer artist renowned for her dynamic pieces that show reds erupting from darkness. For her “born--zakuro--” (pomgrenate), Ako used a technique called “tamamushi-nuri,” which was popular in the postwar period for lacquerware items for export.
Traditional lacquerware with a story can also become a contemporary “piece of art.” The “Kuizome-wan Project” is collaboration between the Aizu-nuri traditional art and crafts association and graphic director Tadanobu Hara. The project has a specific message: “For the children of Fukushima who live in difficult times.”
Kuizome is a traditional Japanese ceremony in which a baby symbolically eats his or her first meal. The kuizome-wan is the ceremonial bowl used for the ceremony that wishes for the well-being of the tiny person. The bowls will be given away to young children after the art festival.
Kazuhiko Tokida’s piece is titled “Satogaeri,” which means returning home. When an earthquake struck in 2011 devastating Sakae village in Nagano Prefecture, many pieces of lacquerware were discovered. They were pieces that were originally produced in the Kitakata area, dating back to the Meiji Era (1868-1912) up to the Showa Era (1926-1989). Tokida brought them to Kitakata and put them on display.
Real local Aizu dishes are also served, alongside the display. Utensils that were actually put to use in people’s daily lives reflect the connection between lacquerware, people and the community.
People in Aizu were already using lacquer, going all the way back to prehistoric times. The theme for this year’s art fair is aptly called “Memories of the Land--To the Future.” As the theme indicates, for the Aizu area, lacquer symbolizes the accumulated layers of time.
Naoko Chiba prints photographs on washi paper, which she covers with lacquer so that they can be preserved. Her goal is reflected in her piece titled “2011: Preserving the Memories of Tohoku for 1,000 years,” which was created to mark the Great East Japan Earthquake.
New installations have been created from the world of traditional arts and crafts. Students studying lacquer gather here from across the nation. The Aizu Usuhi Art Festival has succeeded in breaking down barriers and bringing in a gush of new freedom and creative energy.
Still the festival is not devoid of challenges. While the Kitakata end of the exhibition had a lot of installations that made use of traditional "kura," or warehouse space, the locations in Aizuwakamatsu relied on general shops and stores, which caused restrictions. The multi-venue project had some problems trying to create a unified image as an art festival.
“We need to continue doing (this art festival) for at least 10 years before we can see some direction emerge and see where it takes us,” said art festival selection committee member and art director Fram Kitagawa.
The past three festivals have been managed by the Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art. At this point, nothing has been decided for next year.
“We need to come up with a new way of organizing it so that the local people can take the lead,” Akasaka said.
Spotlighting lacquer, which is a natural material, leads to environmental issues and thinking about how people interact with nature. The way forward for this art festival may simply be to stay committed to its current vision: lacquer as a unique commodity that is rooted in the region and has an inherent universality. And that is what will take lacquer to the new level, in the future.
The Aizu Usuhi Art Festival runs through Nov. 23.
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