Exhibition location: Bellow building, Sōtetsu building
Title: Untitled (Flower vase)
2022 Waste wood from trees
A flower vase made from scraps of trees native to Amami Oshima. The tree species is Inumaki.
In Kagoshima Prefecture, Inumaki trees have been planted since the Edo period by order of the feudal lord Shimazu, and as a result, there are many Inumaki hedges, windbreaks, and tree-lined paths, and they have come to be affectionately known as “Hitotsuba”. Many giant Inumaki trees are hundreds of years old at shrines and temples.
In Okinawa, Inumaki trees are highly valued as a building material, having been used in the Nakamura Family Residence, a national important cultural property, and Shuri Castle also used it as a structural material before it was burned down in World War II.
However, since no Inumaki trees were planted in Okinawa after World War II, Inumaki trees from Okinawa could not be used in the reconstruction of Shuri Castle in 1992, and Inumaki trees sourced from Kagoshima and Miyazaki were used for the wall materials and the four pillars of the front porch.
Artist: Tomoyuki Imada (Woodworks CUE)
Born in Amami Oshima in 1979.
Each of his pieces is unique in color and shape, but all arecharacterized by their rounded designs.
The wood he works with is all native to Amami Oshima, including banyan trees, Ryukyu pines, Rhaphiolepis umbellata, bishop wood, Fukugi trees, and Japanese yews. Rather than using commercially available lumber, he uses wood felled for garden and field maintenance.
He makes use of the grain, knots, cracks, and resin stains in his designs, and brings out the charm of wood to the fullest through various processes such as mud dyeing and firing.
