This web magazine proposes new ways to enjoy kogei.
Through interviews with creators, artists and people who live in Hokuriku,
discover the allure of Kogei from various angles.
Washi paper. Japanese cutlery. A bamboo dresser…
Known as a production center of traditional crafts for more than a millennia, the city of Echizen in Fukui Prefecture will, for its third year, host this year’s Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival, themed Echizen Craft Mirai CoNEXTion. With the portmanteaux of “connection” and “next,” the two-day festival is set be filled with potential, where the production area, the makers, the clients, the craftsmanship, and the very future work in synergy together.
from right: Hiroki Uchida, producer of the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival; Yuji Totani, Echizen knife maker; and Hideaki Taki, traditional Echizen washi craftsman. All three of these gentlemen are involved in manufacturing daily, and what they had to say was simple, yet positive and powerful. And they’re handsome, to boot!
Producer of the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival is Hiroki Uchida, president of Hudge Co., Ltd. In addition to design, branding and art direction for stores and companies both in and outside of Fukui Prefecture, he’s been involved in events such as the La Fete du Pain Hamamachi (the Hamamachi Bread Festival) and the Hamamachi Sake Festival.
Yuji Totani, the executive committee chairman for 2020, is a traditional Echizen cutlery craftsman based in the factory and gallery compound, the Takefu Knife Village, a cooperative association of twelve knife companies. Within his own company, Sharpening Four, he’s a third generation craftsman. Additionally, he’s the bassist for his
rock band, “Experimental crossbreed.”
Hideaki Taki works as a traditional craftsman at the Taki Washi Factory, Ltd. in Imadate, the Echizen Washi Village. He was the executive committee chairman for last year’s Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival.
Today I interviewed Hiroki Uchida as art director and producer of the festival; Echizen-cutlery artisan Yuji Totani, who chairs the 2020 executive committee; and Hideaki Taki, who was the chairman the 2019 executive committee and is a traditional craftsman of Echizen washi paper; to find out more about their passion for the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival.
Q. How did the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival begin?
Uchida: Around 2013, a group of traditional craft workers in Echizen City got together and held study sessions on manufacturing with Okisato Nagata, who runs TeTeTe Cooperative, as an advisor. After we’d been doing it for five years, I thought, “It’s about time we gave this real shape.” So Mr. Nagata passed the baton to me, and we decided to hold a craft festival where creators could sell their creations directly. To be honest, when we started the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival, there were already many events with a lot of information about them across all social media spreading over the course of the weekend. I gave plenty of attention to the event’s concept so that it could easily reach more people.
Q. I’m curious about the name, Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival [1000 Years Future Craft Festival]. What was the thought process behind the concept?
Uchida: In May of 2018, just after I took over, there was this grand matsuri for the 1300th anniversary of a festival held around the Echizen washi production area, and I had the opportunity to film it as part of my job. Every May, a portable shrine with the mountain god is carried around to visit five stationary shines and then up into the mountains as part of the festival. You could take a car if you wanted to; modern roads are convenient that way. But, no. They carry the shrine on foot the same way it’s been done for 1300 years. There’s a kind of honesty there, and it inspired a passion in me. Our event has the same spirit of matsuri. I chose the name, Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival, with the desire to make it last a thousand years.
Main graphic for the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival 2020. Archives from the previous year and the latest information are updated in real time, so feel free to bookmark the official website.
Scenes from last year’s Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival. Through the addition of projection mapping and a on-site DJ, the sense of unity in the photogenic venue surprised visitors.
Q. To Taki and Totani: As two people so involved in traditional crafts, what is your take of the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival?
Taki: As a traditional craftsman of Echizen washi, I, myself, have been involved in that 1300-year-old festival, so I can relate. This huge festival has been going on for generations, so I feel very connected to the associated shrine, and I want the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival to become a place like this. If folks involved in this event feel that they want to continue year after year without being restricted to the limits of traditional craftwork, I think it will last a millennia.
Totani: I realize one thousand years is a crazy number. [Laughter]. But it gives us something to focus on beyond the immediate future. As a traditional knife craftsman using hammering techniques, I don’t necessarily feel older is always better. I think it’s a matter of respecting tradition while also adapting to changing times.
Hideaki Taki is shown selling his own products at his booth. He tells me it’s refreshing to be in the store front talking directly with people from all walks of life.
A workshop taught directly by a craftsman. Bringing attention to his own company’s technique further motivated his daily work.
Q. The Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival has run twice already. Have you noticed any changes among the production, crafters or surrounding area in that time?
Uchida: The main event of the festival has always been the craft market, but many of the crafters didn’t know how to be salespersons. However, by having salespersons skilled in creating displays and offering customer service gather with them in one place, the crafters also feel motivated and learn a lot. I’m hoping there will be more opportunities for exhibitors to collaborate with each other in the future.
Takefu Knife Village, a cutlery workshop where Yuji Totani is based. The triangularroofed facility on the right is the gallery shop that opened in 2020.
Totani: I have the opportunity to meet customers at Takefu Knife Village where I usually work, but the people who shop the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival are completely different. It’s a valuable opportunity to talk with other exhibitors and to exchange information with others of my generation. Even conversations like, “How early do you start in the morning?” are interesting. [Laughter].
Taki: Seeing customers who’d come for someone else’s products make their way to my booth was refreshing. In a small business like ours, a lot of our employees don’t usually perform customer service, but getting this chance to work directly with customers seems to increase the drive.
Inside the workshop at Takefu Knife Village. From here Yuji Totani and other crafters can be observed creating sparks as they forge.
Q. How has the coronavirus pandemic affected your plans this year compared to last?
Uchida: This year we’ll hold a live event. We’ll stream both live and pre-recorded videos. Basically, it will be free, and we’d like to chat with people who can message us with questions. We’ll also have a workshop and some food trucks on site. We’ll be holding events on the same day at each production area for washi paper, hammered knives, and bamboo dresser construction, so visitors can taxi between them.
Taki: Of course, there wasn’t the pandemic last year, and the success of the previous year attracted a lot of visitors. I’ve even gotten messages saying, “I would like to participate as a vendor in the future,” and I’m happy to see this event has become a bridge between dreams and reality. The manufacturing that’s new now will be “tradition” in a thousand years. [Laughter].
Practically speaking, in a situation like we have with the coronavirus, I think most governments would say, “Let’s not do this.” Echizen was different. They were looking ahead and considering what “one thousand years” should really mean, I think.
Q. Mr. Totani, as this year’s executive committee chairman, are you feeling pressure from last year’s success?
Totani: Some, yeah. [Laughter.] But I think there are a lot of people who aren’t able to go to the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival or any studios. That’s why think this exhibition will be a good chance to reach those people. I want to show them that a little coronavirus won’t stop craft production. We want to be positive and proactive.
Q. What are your thoughts on the future of this “Thousand Year Future Craft Festival”?
Uchida: I think being able to continue for a thousand years means making our best work from start to finish regardless of the situation, be it during a pandemic or in any kind of crisis. Had the coronavirus not affected our society, we would have held the event in the same way as last year, but this year we planned it as an entirely new festival. Of course, it’s difficult work, but the way traditional craftwork is continued is its own underlying strength. My hope is that the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival will become loved and needed by everyone like the Milano Salone, that it will become a fair in which craftsmen from Japan and other Asian countries gather.
Totani: I feel fortunate to chair the executive committee during such an unprecedented year. It’s set in history now! [Laughter.] In order to continue for a thousand years, we should work carefully year by year, I think.
Taki: I’ve already done it three times. I can go like this to one thousand. [Laughter]. I think we’ll broaden the scope of people who can participate this time around. And actually, we might not have even done virtual content had it not been for the pandemic. I’m hoping we’ll be able to adapt to any situation.
Traditional crafts that have been passed down for a thousand years…
I’m reminded that these things come from the accumulation of moment-to-moment efforts by human hands. And it’s encouraging to know that a production center with the drive to create even in dire times like these is near. I just want even more from the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival. It’s simply empowering!
PROFILE
Hiroki Uchida, producer for Sennan Mirai Kogei Festival, representative of Hudge Co., Ltd.
Uchida was born in 1976 and raised in Echizen Washi no Sato, formerly known as Imadate Town. He is the representative of the design company Hudge Co., Ltd., and is involved in communication design, corporate branding, and regional renovation, as well as producing and directing various events like Sennan Mirai Kogei Festival. He also established “Flat,” a base for creating culture, and “Craft Bridge,” a working space to connect crafters. Additionally, he serves as as director to the Hokuriku Kominka Saisei Kiko [an organization for revitalizing traditional Japanese houses], where he uses his experience in natural farming to push the envelope of work styles.
Yuji Totani, Sennan Mirai Kogei Festival 2020 executive committee chairman, Echizen sharpener of traditional, hammer-forged knives
Totani was born in Echizen City in May, 1976. He’s the managing director of the Takefu Knife Village Cooperative, and a third-generation sharpener of his family business, “Sharpening Four,” of which he is currently a representative. After working ten years at a local company as a maintenance man, he became a sharpening master in 2005. His primary focus is the creation and re-sharpening of double-edged knives, paper-cutters and the like. Since 2015, he’s been giving sharpening demonstrations and workshops in Paris, France. He also jointly developed a specialty knife for cutting chiffon cake, which was then introduced to various fields. In his spare time, he enjoys musicianship, and plays bass for his mixed contemporary quartet, “Experimental crossbreed,” which is active in and outside of Fukui Prefecture.
Hideaki Taki, Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival 2019 executive committee chairman, Echizen washi traditional craftsman for Taki Washi Factory Co., Ltd.
Taki is a graduate of the Fukui University of Technology. After working at a design office for an interior materials manufacturer, he joined Taki Washi Factory in 2005 and was certified as a traditional craftsman in 2019. His aim is to produce Japanese paper that is both timeless and faithful to tradition. In addition to the Sennen Mirai Kogei Festival, he is also involved in “Renew,” a project focused on the sustainability of Fukui’s crafts manufacturing areas, products and region.
Mikiyo Sato (author of the original Japanese article)（Writer）
Sato was born in Fukui, Japan in 1981 and raised in Hokuriku. She graduated from the
nearby Kanazawa University where she studied French medieval art (primarily the
Romanesque style and the tapestry, “The Lady and the Unicorn”). After working at a
printing company, bookstore and design office, she was able to use her desktop
publishing skills and love of books to set up her own independent bookstore, Hoshido, a
3-minute walk from Fukui Station. In 2019, she published a book about the craftsmen of
wakasa lacquerware [the lacquerware style local to the city of Obama in Fukui], titled
Hashi ha Utau, currently on sale [Japanese only].
