KM13
KANEGAE
（Kyoto）
Miyama, Kyoto Where Satoyama Meets Okuyama
In the northern reaches of Kyoto City lies Miyama, a quiet village embraced by mountains. Its rows of thatched-roof houses evoke what may be called Japan’s archetypal landscape. Yet in recent years, the explosive increase of deer and wild boar has blurred the once-distinct boundary where people inhabited the satoyama—the cultivated foothills—and animals roamed the okuyama, the deeper mountains. The consequences are grave: agricultural damage, forest decline, soil erosion, and the destruction of electric fences meant to safeguard the fields.
For generations, humans and wildlife coexisted in balance, each inhabiting their own realm. Today, to restore that balance, municipalities rely on hunters to cull overabundant animals. Venison enters the market, yet deer hides and bones—difficult to process—are often discarded. Can we not honor these lives, taken to protect human livelihood, by using them fully?
In this project, artists transformed antlers and bones into sculptures and ceramics, and from hides produced glue for painting. But art alone cannot provide a sustainable answer. Broader industries must engage. At this year’s ACK, artists and the fashion brand T.T confront Miyama’s reality, seeking to make full use of the deer culled from its mountains, and to raise questions about the future of these landscapes. From once-wasted hides, T.T has crafted leather jackets and shoes, planting the seeds of new commerce. Here, we present one example of how contemporary art and the fashion industry can be brought together to address social problems.
Gallery Information
100 years from now,
when the work currently in the making process becomes an antique,
will it be able to tell the story of its time?
Today, craftspeople
seem to be on an island, separated from society.
Society is changing and progressing, and craftspeople are still bound by tradition.
It is time to correct this distortion.
For that reason, we doubt all common sense here,
strive to go far beyond the conventional boundaries of traditional craft.
Use of materials and tools created by new technologies,
the physical support of hardworking craftspeople,
concepts and forms of distribution that did not exist in the previous century,
also a way of interacting with the global environment, which is of paramount importance to craftspeople who work in close relationship with nature.
With combination of a highly developed social perspective and
the unrivalled craftsmanship of our artisans,
like sport, which has evolved and developed with the times,
I believe that this combination will bring craft to the next level.
Let's start building the future of craft here, 100 years from now.
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