Quiet Happiness

In mid-January, I evacuated to my parents' home in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, due to the effects of the Noto Peninsula earthquake on New Year's Day. I gradually began to regain my sense of self. First, having time to be alone. As the peaceful time passed, I began to feel more at ease. Then, eating meals cooked with ingredients suited to my physical condition. By discovering seasonal produce and using my hands, I was able to feel excited and my mind and body were in balance. Things weren't going as usual, but I was filled with gratitude for being able to spend my time casually.

The world expands from secondary evacuation

In the midst of these days, I have been reunited with people I've missed, and have had encounters and chance encounters that were only possible because of the earthquake. My solo exhibition that was scheduled to be held this spring was canceled, but with the cooperation of everyone at Space Takamori, a gallery in Tokyo, I was able to exhibit lacquerware on a smaller scale. I was given the opportunity to write this "Wajima News" to talk about the earthquake and write about it as if I were writing a letter. For me, who would have been spending the winter hibernating at my home in Kuroshima, lacquering, all of these things have happened that far exceeded my imagination.

Although I had a deep desire to continue working with lacquer, an unexpected landscape spread out outside the window, and I felt like I was taking a step into a new world through a door I had never opened before. Although I was conflicted with complicated emotions, I encountered the earthquake and valued the roles and experiences I have because I am alive now.

Future prospects emerge from recollections

In winter in Odawara, it is warm enough that you don't need heating during the day, and you can enjoy the sunshine under the blue sky. On the other hand, in Noto, thick gray clouds cover the sky, and snow piles up and melts every day. When the Kawazu cherry blossoms are in full bloom in Odawara, you can feel the air slowly turning to spring through the mud underfoot in Wajima.

Moving from Odawara to Wajima. I was looking back on the years I spent calmly adapting to the land while enjoying the changing seasons and their differences in each region. I was born and raised in this family home, which is currently a secondary evacuation site, and memories of when I left home 20 years ago came back to me, and I realized that I had completely become accustomed to the Noto climate. At the same time, my desire to continue creating in Wajima, as if to extend roots into the soil that I have carefully accumulated until now, has not changed.

I don't know why I made this choice or what will happen from now on, but I feel that if I face the sensations that suit me and the subtleties of my heart, and live life as I am, one step at a time, the path will naturally open up.

The lacquer tapping season is upon us

The work of lacquer work goes hand in hand with the changing of the seasons. Lacquer is a liquid extracted from the urushi tree. This tree grows in Japan, China, the Korean peninsula, and other places. When the weather warms up in spring, the tree begins to sprout and rapidly spreads its branches and leaves. The small flowers that bloom in early summer attract bees and other insects, and after a while the fruit grows in clusters. In autumn the leaves turn color and fall, and the tree survives the winter. Seedlings are planted in mountains or elsewhere, and the lacquer is harvested from the trees that have grown large over the course of around 10 years.

In June, urushi tappers (kakiko) begin preparations for harvesting urushi on-site. They plan their work and cut the undergrowth around the trees. The first step in the urushi tapping process is to make short cuts in the trunk of the urushi tree with a sickle. This marks the area on the tree where they will tap, and also serves as a signal to start tapping.

About a week later, the "edge-attaching" process begins, in which a second, slightly longer cut is made on top of the previous cut. The lacquer liquid that oozes from the wound is scooped up with a spatula and "raked" away. Once scraped, the tree is allowed to rest for at least four days, and the edge-attaching and raking processes are then continued. The length of the cut is gradually increased while observing the condition of the tree, and lacquer is continued until autumn.

The lacquer scraped in this way is a natural material, so it has its own unique characteristics. The amount of lacquer that can be harvested varies from tree to tree, and the properties of the lacquer vary depending on the time and place it was harvested. These characteristics are utilized in the lacquering work by using the right materials in the right place.

Before the rainy season begins, I try to visualize my thoughts

I want to resume my lacquering work as soon as possible, but every day I am still busy cleaning up after the earthquake and thinking about what to do next. I am exploring various options for where and how to set up a temporary studio and home. There are many things to balance, and in this reality where progress is slow, it feels like the speed at which the vegetation is growing is accelerating. I wonder what flowers will show up in the grass today, and what expressions the sky and sea will show at dusk, and from the changes in my daily life, I feel truly alive.

As I walked through the town, I met local people who were considerate of each other's situations, saying, "Let's work together! Let's move forward gently." As the days get longer, the insects and birds become more active, and their calls echo around. Baby swallows fly between the houses before they leave the nest. How do they look at the people who live in this town from the sky or under the eaves?

Just as all living things are interconnected under the circulation of this planet, we envision living and working in this environment in tandem, aiming for a place to call home in the future.

“Wajima News ~While looking up at the starry sky~” is…

Yukiko Akiyama, a lacquer artist who lives in Wajima, writes ``Wajima News ~While looking up at the starry sky~''. 30 minutes by car from the center of Wajima City. The Kuroshima area, located in the northwestern part of the Noto Peninsula, flourished as a residence for Kitamae-bune ship owners and sailors, and its beautiful landscape with black-tiled roofs has been designated as a nationally important preservation district for groups of traditional buildings. I did. After 16 years in Wajima, lacquer artist Yukiko Akiyama set up a workshop in an old private house in the Kuroshima district, and was just about to work on her work while restoring it, when she was struck by the earthquake. Like many buildings, Akiyama's workshop collapsed. Although there is no prospect of resuming production in her workshop, she will continue to work with lacquer here, and while working on the town development of Kuroshima, she will aim to rebuild the Noto Peninsula and solidify her resolve to start a new life. I am. The rich lifestyle of Kuroshima in the past, the beautiful nature, the interaction with people, the passion for lacquer, and the current situation of the disaster area... She is a woman who lives her daily life in the disaster-stricken area and strives for reconstruction, but at the same time, she depicts the true image of Noto as depicted by a woman who deals seriously with lacquer.