KAZARIMONO: THE INSTALLATION CULTURE IN HIDA

Artist: Sadao Ayutobi
Idea, Design, Writing and Publishing:
Miki Kadokura for The Simple Society
Copyediting: Sophie Perl
Photography: Mutsumi Tabuchi
Supported by: 5+ Published in Oct. 2013

Kazarimono is a witty and refined traditional pastime culture unique to the region of Hida, central Japan. Kazarimono literally meaning “decorative item” is in this case a creative installation usually displaying some kind of riddle or wordplay. The oldest kazarimono on record dates back to 1787 as a votive offering for a shinto shrine in Hida-Takayama. Some suggest that it later evolved into an entertainment at parties of the nobility and the bourgeoisie. From there it turned into a new year’s tradition popular amongst local craftsmen.

Usually a kazarimono poses some kind of riddle whose meaning the audience is supposed to solve by observing the installation. There are three basic types of kazarimono:

1 TSUKURI-MONO: creating an imitation of an object or scene by using other objects

2 HANJI-MONO: a wordplay

3 MITATE-MONO: an object chosen for its resemblance of another object (i.e. pear → lightbulb)

A traditional kazarimono should follow the following rules.
– One installation should be made from one category of ordinary objects, i.e. tea ceremony tools, tableware or carpentering tools.
– The items used must not be cheap or obscene, but should be elegant and precious – something that can be placed in a tokonoma (the ritual alcove in a Japanese house). This means that for example footwear can’t be a kazarimono since the tokonoma is a sacred place and footwear is considered dirty and desacrating.
– The objects should not be too extravagant but preferably simple and beautiful.

Very much like with modern concept art the audience’s wit and thinking are required in order to complete the communicative experience that is kazarimono.

THE MASTER

Sadao AYUTOBI, whose work is presented in this book, is a retired traditional clay wall plasterer, a craft of high regard in Japan. He was born and grew up in Hida-Furukawa where he is widely known as a vivid storyteller. Both his knowledge of local history and his achievements in kazarimono contests are acknowledged by the city and the people. He is very active in passing local traditions including kazarimono to the next generation by frequently giving lectures at primary schools.

HIDA-FURUKAWA

Hida-Furukawa is a small town in the mountains of the Gifu prefecture that looks back on a long history and has preserved significant parts of it both in every-day traditions and the physical appearance of the city. The people of Furukawa are proud of and active in not only preservation but also the creation of ever new traditions with a high sense for aesthetics and beauty.

KUMO

KUMO (cloud) is the name for a white relief at the end of the black beams that stick out from underneath the roof onto the street side. Furukawa has developed a unique culture around the kumo where every carpenter in town – and there are more than 150 today – has his signature ornament. Since the Nara period (A.D. 710-784) Hida had been known for its carpenters who specialized in building shrines, temples, and palaces. But the kumo craze is actually a rather young tradition. Only after the war (1945) did one carpenter begin to use a unique kumo as his signature and thus started an ongoing competition amongst his peers whose fruits nowadays dominate the city landscape.

THE SETO CANAL

The Seto canal is the lifeline of Furukawa. It’s a small stone embanked canal that runs through the heart of the city and was originally used for irrigation and washing, as a snow dump and for fire fighting. Alongside the canal are located several famous sake breweries housed in large traditional buildings. The canal itself is full of beautiful big koi carps. But this iconic Japanese landscape isn’t as old as one might expect. Furukawa was almost entirely burned to the ground during a big fire in 1904 and hat to be built up again. In the 1960s the pollution of the canal had gotten so serious that the people decided to clean it up once and for all and released 230 kois as a pollution barometer, so to speak. There are an estimated 1000 kois roaming the canal today.

SOBA-KUZUSHI

There is a very peculiar word in the Hida dialect, “soba kuzushi”, literally meaning “disrupting harmony”. The people of Furukawa are very concerned with avoiding soba kuzushi in their lives. This principle might have shaped their aesthetic awareness and may have laid the groundwork for the kazarimono culture.

INTERPRETATION

1 DOG
This is another example of a wordplay. The barking sound of a dog in Japanese is “wan, wan”. The word for bowl is also “wan”. So two bowls equal a dog! This kazarimono is usually Mr. Ayutobi’s opener at primary school lectures. Its simplicity and humor are representative of the ideals of kazarimono.

2 CRANE AND TORTOISE:THE SYMBOL OF THE LONGEVITY
An ogi (fan) as a crane and a kogo (incense container) as a tortoise to depict an ancient symbol of longevity. Both are tools used at the tea ceremony.

3 THE YEAR OF THE BOAR
A chasen is a bamboo whisk used at the tea ceremony. The smaller one being a portable one for outdoor use. The white fan becomes a snowfield on which a family of boars runs uphill. The wild boar farrow is a symbol of the coming spring and its entailing prosperity.

4 THE FROG IN PERIL
A foldable teaspoon representing a snake luring behind a bamboo whisk container and starring at a paralyzed frog represented by a whisk.

5 BUSINESS PROSPERS
This is an example for a hanji-mono using homonyms.　The box is a measuring container called masu. The bigger one is for 1 sho (1.8L) and the smaller one is for a han(half)-sho, the syllable bai means double. The solution if this riddle is the classic saying “Sho-bai Masu Masu Han-Sho” meaning “business prospers”.

6 ASCENDING DRAGONS, DESCENDING DRAGONS
A mitate-mono for the year of the dragon. Ascending and descending dragons depicted by using different versions of the kote, a traditional plasterer’s trowel used for the finishing of walls in ceremonial rooms. In classic belief the ascending dragon sends people’s prayers to heaven, the descending dragon comes down to answer.

7 DEPARTURE
A family of ducks moving quietly on the water depicted by using eight tiny trowels, normally used for the finishing of corners and edges of clay walls. The swimming formation of the ducks resemble the shape of a family tree and thus symbolizes fertility.

8 THE LITTLE WARRIOR IN A BOAT
“KISHI (shore)” was the theme of the 2012 new year’s haiku gathering at the imperial court. This mitate-mono had something to do with it. There is an old fairy-tale called Issun-Boshi (comparable to Tom Thumb). He goes to Kyoto in a boat made out of a bowl and a paddle made out of a chopstick. In Mr. Ayutobi’s kazarimono take on the story, a black thread of a tea whisk turns into the belt of a hakama (formal wide trousers).

9 LIONS DANCE
A fuchin is a hanging weight to keep a kakejiku (scroll) stable in the wind. This mitate-mono uses a fuchin as the traditional lion mask which is used for a dance called shishimai.

10 KOKORO: HEART
This antique key from the Edo-period (1603-1868) laid out in a certain way resembles the Chinese character “kokoro” (heart). This kazarimono was made in the year of the city council elections and was intended as a witty message for the often bullheaded electorate: “open your hearts (minds)”.

11 EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY
MITATE-MONO for the year of the dog by using a portable candleholder. Originally the round part is where the candle stands while the whole apparatus is hanged on the kamoi (lintel).

12 LANTERN
A tsukuri-mono using two lacquer bowls on top of each other as a lantern and chopsticks as its handle. This kazarimono is displayed at the Furukawa festival in January where a lantern parade is considered the highlight.

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