Moving Zelkova Walk: 2024 Laboratory of Forest Art 2

 

In my previous post for September 29, I showed you this year’s installation by Yoshikawa Youichiro, “Walking companion.” I introduced you tools he provided in the forest. They are

The intention of Yoshikawa-san is using these to walk around his “Lordless Garden” like

A visitor put the wheel before him and
 walked circle around the “Garden.”

Yoshikawa-san secretly invites whoever interested in this year’s exhibition to walk with him “driving” the handheld wheel. Secret? Yep. He did not put the notice in net-sphere. He casually left a pile of cards at the entrance of their forest, inviting anybody who find the card to join him. The itinerary is from JR Nakayama Station to the venue, every day till October 20 (the last day of the show). He waits at the outside of ticket gate of the Station till 13:00 (for 10/20 till 10:00) and walk with us to the Forest Lab via Shikino-mori Forest (my post on June 26, 2020). He carries a wheel bigger than those provided in the forest. It’s made of Japanese zelkova, aka Keyaki 欅 in Japanese. So, he calls his walk “Keyaki’s stroll 欅乃散歩.” The other day, I walked with him to the Forest Lab from Nakayama Station. This week is about my adventure of Keyaki’s stroll 😊

This is Yoshikawa-san’s Keyaki wheel.

I’ve been to ticket gate of JR Nakayama Station. Sure enough, Yoshikawa-san was standing there. He said he always waited till 13:04 when the trains from both directions arrive at Nakayama. We waited a couple of minutes, then started walk. He had an IKEA’s large blue bag with him. Inside was his wheels. But he did not take it out at the station. “I noticed maneuvering the wheel can be intimidating for passers-by. And I’m relatively tall. Naomi, do you know tall guys are always very careful in Japan? If I walk with the wheel in this lively but crowded train station, the situation itself becomes too theatrical. I just want to stroll, not to demonstrate or else.” Oh, is it so? We left Nakayama Station and walked southwest toward Prefectural Road 109 where the promenade to Shikino-mori Forest begins. When we entered the path, he finally brought out the wheels from his IKEA bag, and assembled the doble-wheel.

No, we did not use the wheel for the steps of the train station.

We entered the Promenade to the Park.

Yoshikawa-san opened the bag.

Assembling.

Done!

Yoshikawa-san’s doing it every day during the exhibition. He said the sense of touch was recalled through the vibration of the wheel. He guessed when we were kids, strolling was an adventure of this kind. Now we adults walk to a “defined destination.” Senses of sight and hearing are fully deployed to achieve this goal without accident, like crashing with a car. Senses of smell and touch are not used unless there is an accident along the way, especially such an urban stroll like Nakayama Station to Shikino-mori Forest. Sense of Taste? It should be a rarer occasion when we need this sense to walk as an adult. In contrast, when we were kids all the 5 senses were very busy. We noticed on the ground some sparkling thing (which would turn out to be a chocolate wrapper somebody threw out). We were excited to discover such treasure. Or, we touch the ground that could have different roughness from place to place on a road. Was that sound a chat of grown-up ladies including mammy? What was this smell? A poop of a dog? There were so many wonders in 10m. Now we forgot all. Though, when we walk with the wheels, we naturally concentrate to walk with this tool, and recall the wonders we knew when we were toddles.

He let me experience the wheels. Yeah, the trembling motions coming from the wheels were different according to the condition of the road. An asphalted way and the road of stone paving has definitely different touches. Besides, sometimes I could lose control of the wheels. Naturally, I concentrate on driving them. Yoshikawa-san said, “So, it’s a difficult point. Stroll is something for relaxing movement. But walking with the tool, we can become so attentive at least at the beginning … Now I’m used to walking with the wheels and my body almost automatically adjusts to the variety of the way in the sense of touch. Then, the experience of five senses begins to be enhanced during the walk!”

I’m losing control!

Having said that, once we entered Shikino-mori Forest, very adult requirements ask to join our walk. First, Yoshikawa-san had to say “hello” to the office of Shikino-mori Forest standing at the main entrance. “You know? It’s a prefectural park. I’m a sort of asking permission to do my installation here, although I don’t want to make it a show.” If Yoshikawa-san does it as a performance, the spectator of his act is ready to watch works of an artist as something non-ordinary. No. He just wants to recall the joy of using five senses that were so natural when we were young. It was not at all extraordinary when we were 3 years old, don’t you think? After clearing courtesy ritual at the admin office, when we pass the photo-point for common kingfisher, he carried his wheels on his shoulder, not drove it. “Those photographers with bazooka-sized lens do not want to have noise of wheels. I always shoulder my gadget when I walk through their point.” (My *sigh*.)

Be careful not to disturb these ferocious creatures.

We kept on going southwest, and entered the Hikarigaoka Housing Complex. It’s almost the end of our journey to Forest Lab. The final part within Shikino-mori Forest was along an unpaved trekking road. I found the touch coming from the wheel was softer in trekking roads, though we could be taken the control of the instrument by mud. Once we entered the housing area, it was paved road again till the entrance of the Forest Lab. By then, I’m kind of accustomed to Keyaki’s Stroll. It’s a fun walk. Am I recovering my sense of wonder in daily life?

This part of Shikino-mori Forest is not paved.

Nearly there.

Goal!

After we reached the forest, Yoshikawa-san kindly did a gallery walk for 2024 show. When we reached Yoshikawa-san’s installation, the Lordless Garden, he nudged us to use the wheel provided at the site. I chose one with an iron ball with a flexible handle. It gave me a different touch from the wheels of zelkova. The ball tumbled at the tip of springy metal handle and moved along the circle road. It was like walking with a dog. It was a fun!

I found several installations with new words from the author. Below is what they said.

Are they ascending or descending?

ISHIKURO Kazuo 

A white oak wood ladder stretches up into the sky. There are also some places where it branches out along the way. Is the tower man ascending? Or descending?

Is there a country in the forest

ASADA

In the forest, I created borders for red countries, white countries, blue countries, yellow countries, black countries and green countries. Why?
The world is divided into countries, but if you look closely, you will see that there are countries in the sea, sky and forests too. It's the same forest, but there are red forests, white forests, yellow forests, black forests and green forests. Even the forests have countries? Why is that?

Woods or something else?

KIGA Youko

Unfortunately, woods near residential areas are often overgrown with vine and ivy due to lack of care, and littered with what looks like industrial waste.
In many cases, they are not so clean.
Even such overgrown mountains, there are times when a flash of light shines through from the sky and transforms the place into a place of purity.
The light is gone in an instant, but it is breathtakingly refreshing.
Longing for such a place of prayer, I am trying to create a convenient and instant place of prayer by hand.

If art of near future becomes like “Keyaki’s Walk,” what kind of world we would live? 

2024 the Laboratory of Forest Art will be held during September 29 – October 20 in the same forest of the previous years. Since there is no parking, a recommended access to the Forest is by bus. The most convenient transportation is a bus ride to Yokohama Zoorasia, from JR Nakayama 中山 Station, Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station, or Sotetsu Mitsukyo 三ツ境 Station. (Timetables are here.) Get off the bus at the North Gate of Zoorasia that is the closest to the art exhibition entrance. When you leave the terminal stop of Zoorasia North Gate, go back a bit along the bus road, and on your left is the sign for the GROUP. From there enter the forest. The road is a relatively wide walking promenade. Soon you can see a big banner over there saying “the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声.”

When you find a problem in the site introduced in this post, the best contact address will be GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods.

https://morilab.amebaownd.com/
e-mail: morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp

The city office which is in charge of this forest is

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016 

FAX: 045-316-8420

Babys when the planet is boiling: aquatic animals in Yadoriki Water Source Forest, September 2024

 

Last month in September, it was still hot even in Yadoriki Water Source Forest, ASL 390m+. We forest instructors did a little research in Yadoriki Stream to see what kind of water animals we could find in late September. The high season for water play in the Water Source Forest was supposed to be over by the end of August. But this year it was still boiling hot. Inevitably, Water Source Forest had lots of visitors during weekends to have a chill with Yadoriki Stream. It was still summer. We were delighted to wade in the stream and have a chill. Several families leisurely had picnics in a quiet but gargling sound of the river. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh … summer.

We expected the thing we found in water might not have been different from July or August. Nah. Already a little bit of algae started to establish in the nooks of torrent. They were absent just a couple of weeks ago. The algae will be more by December when all the deciduous trees shed their leaves and started their winter sleep. Confused? Well, while trees have lots of leaves and cover water, the amount of sunlight reaches inside the water is limited. It’s not an algae-friendly environment, mate. Finding algae in Yadoriki Stream would mean fall is approaching, perhaps ... already different from the river during high summer. Then, what our hand nets scooped from the river was definitely different from those a month ago. In September, they were few, and tiny, tiny, tiny. “Hmmmmm. No large larva of Tipulidae or Stoneflies …” “Even Japanese freshwater crabs are pequeños.” The largest specimen we could make on that day was only 2cm or so in body length. Cuties. But in terms of “Gotcha!” feeling … er, you know?

Yadoriki Stream, September 2024

I intentionally scooped the point of algae
as it can cradle the aquatic animals.
But no large ones here …

Tiny crab

In the lab

Lots of tiny heptagenioidea. They are cute!

When we recall a standard lifecycle of water animals, there is no secret for these tiny trophies we could have in September. They mate, lay eggs in water, mum and dad died after that, eggs hatch and larvae spend their child days in water, pupate, and emerge to mate. On average, this cycle takes about 1-2 years, but the time they mate is from spring to early autumn. If the eggs hatch early spring, say March, the babies start to dwell in water from that time, together with those which take more than a year before pupating. i.e. If we do research early spring, or winter, we can catch both big and small aquatic animals. In contrast, from late summer to early autumn, those remaining in water are small babies that come out from the egg recently. Larger aquatic animals in July or August already have become adults and lie eggs by September.

Er … sky was very summer on that day.

OK, OK. What I was surprised was, even in this boiling climate, these creatures follow their traditional lifecycle. Or, maybe they cannot change it easily. Procreation for them is often a one-shot event. It’s not uncommon the bugs to die immediately after a successful egg lying. Unlike humans that can enjoy a long summer for reproduction, they have to do it just once with whatever conditions they are thrown at. I don’t know if the baby water animals are OK with ever-lasting summer. Maybe we should continue collecting data to have some idea what is happening for the baby gadflies under climate change …

Though, fruits of Japanese peppers
already took red autumn red color.

If you find environmental issues in waters of Kanagawa Prefecture, please make a contact with Kanagawa Environmental Research Center 神奈川県環境科学センター

1-3-39 Shinomiya, Hiratsuka City, 254-0014
〒254-0014平塚市四之宮1-3-39
Phone: 0463-24-3311
FAX: 0463-24-3300

k-center@k-erc.pref.kanagawa.jp 

https://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/docs/b4f/index.html

Movement: 2024 Laboratory of Forest Art

 

Please follow the direction the eyes point,
by INO Ryoko.

This is the time of an annual art exhibition in the forest under the care of the GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods. It opens its door today, September 29, 2024. After nail-biting months for funding last year, they received the 11th Yokohama Hito Machi Design Award (“Yokohama People-Town Design Award”) for their contributions connecting city forest and locals, especially kids, through sharing art-creation process (; my post on September 8, 2024). It seems to me the prize has reassured their mission in the forest, which is “sharing joy of art in forest with lots of people.” I think we can find such atmosphere of the GROUP in this year’s installations. Without much ado, let me show you the works artists provide for this year’s show. The comments after the photos are provided by the author and shown in the forest.

Map for this year’s show

Weekend Marche provide us small objects
created by the artists.

Magnolia Garden
KANAI Toshikazu

“Four years ago, I created a work called "Garden of Fallen Trees" where a magnolia tree has grown considerably. I wondered if I could create another garden with this tree as the center, overlapping it with the previous garden. The fallen tree I used in the previous work has decayed considerably, but still retains traces. I dream of the dense forest air and time flowing through a transparent vessel, filling it like a fountain.”


Recycling - Plastic

CHIKADA Haruna

“BB bullets that came from outside the forests are now buried here and there as if they were part of the forest from the beginning. Apparently, some types decompose, but it still takes more than 10 years. Some of the ones I picked up were a little smaller. I don't know how many years ago they were buried, but perhaps they are in the process of decomposing. There are cycles in the forest that the people who brought them there cannot see.”


Recycling - Forest
CHIKADA Haruna

“The seasons change. The forest also changes. A year from now the forest will not be exactly the same. Are the changes in the forest this year big? Or small? How much of an impact climate change having? What is the probability of a mutation? Regardless of human evaluation, the forest will continue to change.”

Snake Garden
KANAI Toshikazu

“Last year, I found a large Yamakagashi snake right next to the "Ruined Boat" that I made three years ago. I had been feeling their presence for some time, so perhaps I had been building a boat on their dwelling. I traced my unexpected encounter with clay on the ruins of the boat.”

* Yamakagashi snake = Rhabdophis tigrinus, also known commonly as the tiger keelback.


Bust of a Tower Man
ISHIKURO Kazuo

“A bust of a tower man made from clay. Inside is a container for water, which can be used as a flower vase.”

And this year Ishikuro shows us
another tower man climbing up high.

... In the Forest
ASADA

“What is this thing that lives in the forest? It came? It went back? It went away? It was left there? What is it? Is it scary? Is it real? Is it fake? Does it move? What does it eat? Can it be eaten? Have fun, freely, and as you like please feel free to use your imagination!”

And near ASADA’s installation,
there are 3 objects by KIGA.

Walking companion
YOSHIKAWA Youichiro

“When I walk around town with "keyaki no SANPO" in my hands, the subtle vibrations and various sounds are transmitted from my hands and ears directly to my brain. It's like I've regained a little bit of my childhood before I learned to speak. The "Dragon's Beard" growing in the forest will be replanted to create a winding path and a large round garden. But after a year, the alley and round garden are buried undergrowth.”


Basic shape of life forms
HARADA Akatsuki

“If you look at the growth of grass and trees, their branches and leaves, from the root, you will see that they grow in a spiral. The nerves in the bodies of animals, including humans, also run in a spiral. Blood vessels and DNA are also connected in a twisted manner.
When I saw the way new shoots grow from a stump and grow, and the way ivy wraps around the trunk of a tree, I was reminded a never-ending fractal (self-similarity) shape. So I created this spiral shape in my workshop and installed it on a stump. The material I used was 2*4 lumber, a common building material.”


Study for bling-bling
KIGA Youko

“Why is it called imitation if it does not have the natural sparkle?
The techniques used to create imitation gemstones are amazing, and they appear to be as shiny as natural ones.
Shining things sometimes give the meaning of good luck or good luck charms, but does the imitation shine have the same effect?”


Bond (Wood connect)
HARADA Akatsuki

“It is not easy to transport dead forest tree once they have been cut down. Even if a tree has tattered bark, if you cut it into pieces to make it easier to transport, the center will still be solid. I tried connecting the logs with reinforcing iron bar. When I connected each piece with rebar stakes, I realized that it resembled the shape of a ‘Clamp.’
By using these wooden clamps to connect the logs in a circle, we can create a sturdy structure ... just what we need right now.”

Appearing Disappearing, by ISHIYAMA Katsuyuki

The pergola is now decorated
by objects made by kids in September.

And now WATABE Hisako invites visitors
to make “walls” of pergola by
knitting with whatever material you think
 it can be braided with Trachycarpus harvested in the forest.

Don’t you think all the installations this year has a feel of … movement? Anyway, maybe their activities are getting more notice this year. Near the venue, I passed by several groups of college kids (maybe) wondering which way to go for the exhibition. 😊

A Shaft of Light in Parallel World, by ENDOH Norio.

Life and Work in Satoyama, by David Winer

Summer Greetings from the Universe, ZAMA Kimihito

2024 the Laboratory of Forest Art will be held during September 29 – October 20 in the same forest of the previous years. Since there is no parking, a recommended access to the Forest is by bus. The most convenient transportation is a bus ride to Yokohama Zoorasia, from JR Nakayama 中山 Station, Sotetsu Tsurugamine 鶴ヶ峰 Station, or Sotetsu Mitsukyo 三ツ境 Station. (Timetables are here.) Get off the bus at the North Gate of Zoorasia that is the closest to the art exhibition entrance. When you leave the terminal stop of Zoorasia North Gate, go back a bit along the bus road, and on your left is the sign for the GROUP. From there enter the forest. The road is a relatively wide walking promenade. Soon you can see a big banner over there saying “the Creation and Voice of the Woods 創造と森の声.”

When you find a problem in the site introduced in this post, the best contact address will be GROUP the Creation and Voice of the Woods.

https://morilab.amebaownd.com/
e-mail: morinokoe7@yahoo.co.jp

The city office which is in charge of this forest is

Office for the Park Greeneries in the North 北部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-311-2016
FAX: 045-316-8420