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