Published in May 2014
What message did three-dimensional modeling artist Katsuhiko Azuma convey through his design?
About a hundred years ago, the literati of Shirakabaha (White Birch School) lived along Lake Teganuma in the northwestern part of Chiba Prefecture, engaging in creative activities. Among them, Kaneko Yanagi, the wife of Muneyoshi Yanagi, prepared a delicious mild curry with miso based on advice from Bernard Leach.
Who could represent the history and culture rooted in this region, along with curry? The Shirakabaha’s Curry Promotion Association consulted Katsuhiko Azuma, a sculptor based in the Toukatu area, for design ideas.
Looking back on that time, Mr. Azuma said, “When I first received the proposal, I learned for the first time about the energetic and unique era in the Taisho period along Lake Teganuma in Abiko. The initial request was to create a ‘lunch mat’ to present the curry, which had gone through several trial versions, to the general public and generate more interest.”
The paper handed to him during the meeting was almost entirely blank, and he was asked to freely come up with ideas.
His first idea was to include a character resembling a “baron” as the chef and create an illustration for the background depicting a café setting from that time, considering that the literati of the Shirakabaha were mostly male, and some were graduates of Gakushuin.
To make curry more familiar to everyone in the community, however, he started thinking that it might be better to have a woman represent it, as it was Kaneko Yanagi who actually made and served the curry.
So, he came up with the idea of a character resembling the women depicted in the works of Yumeji Takehisa. Yumeji himself seemed to have a strong interest in the Shirakabaha, so it was a candidate, but some members of the Shirakabaha’s Curry Promotion Association felt that the character resembled Yumeji’s women too much, so he reevaluated the idea.
As a result, despite his lack of confidence, he settled on the current character. With the protagonist decided, the focus shifted to what to express in the background. What everyone in the Shirakabaha’s Curry Promotion Association agreed on was that we were still receiving various things from the existence of Lake Teganuma, just as they did in the past.
Mr. Azuma decided to incorporate this concept into the background of the lunch mat. Furthermore, he included cutouts of the materials used to make the curry in the four corners. As curry was considered a “fashionable food” at that time, he wanted to convey that atmosphere as well. However, when it was finished, the lunch mat didn’t quite look like a design for curry.
“A Stroll to Visit the Literati of the Shirakabaha”
(All small texts in the explanatory text are handwritten by Mr. Azuma)
By the way, it seems that Abiko City has quite a few “citizen activity groups.” The idea incorporated into the lunch mat was to express the passion of the people engaged in citizen activities, the local environment unfolding around Lake Teganuma, and the hope that these treasures would continue into the future. The main character ended up being a figure offering curry while supporting us.
Through this initial encounter, Mr. Azuma became a member of the Shirakabaha’s Curry Promotion Association and started receiving design requests from their meetings. He thoroughly enjoys expressing these designs each time.
With the cooperation of new stakeholders, retort curry was also released, and he has designed many other things. As a result, with the support of the members, he believes that he has been able to create unique works that are true to himself. Before he knew it, and as it may seem obvious, he found himself being supported in return!
The second lunch mat was created in the summer of 2008, featuring an image of the rural landscape around Lake Teganuma in its former days. The back side includes photos provided by the Everyone’s Album Club, introducing the appearance of Abiko during the Meiji and Taisho periods.
