午夜剧场

In the southern part of Dresden, Germany, along the border with the Czech Republic, lies a highland region called the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge). This area is famous for various woodcrafts, such as nutcrackers. In this region, which spans approximately 140 kilometers east to west and 40 kilometers north to south, hundreds of woodworkers run workshops, with about a hundred concentrated in the central town of Seiffen. Originally, this was a region where people made a living from metal mining, such as silver and tin. When silver was discovered around 1168, men dreaming of striking it rich gathered here from all over Germany.

Place names derived from the mining industry remain, such as Erz (ore) and Seiffen (ore washing). However, as the mining industry declined, woodworking became a side job during the winter, and when the mining industry came to an end in the mid-1800s, woodworking became the primary occupation. When the mines closed and many miners decided to make a living through woodworking, a vocational school for woodworking was established to support them technically and academically. Although it was temporarily closed during the East German era, it reopened in 1995 after the reunification of East and West Germany. The Tradition & Form Award was established that same year to honor woodworkers who produced outstanding works.

I graduated from Juku in 1971 and entered the banking industry, but I became captivated by the charm of authentic nutcrackers when I was stationed in New York in 1975. In 2003, my wife and I started a business to introduce German wood art to Japan. Since then, I visited the region about 30 times until the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019, and began importing and selling the works of approximately 100 wood artists. At the same time, I focused on documenting the artists' personalities, lineages, and dedication to their work for future generations.

In the summer of 2023, I suddenly received a message from Germany. To my surprise, they informed me that they would present the Special Achievement Award within the Tradition & Form Awards to my wife and me. Considering it a great honor, I attended the award ceremony in the fall of that year and learned that we were the first non-Germans to receive the award, and that the board of directors had unanimously selected me. I was surprised by this unexpected news, but I am happy that my 20 years of effort in introducing German woodcraft culture to Japan has been recognized, and I intend to continue introducing this culture in the future. I also hope that the Tradition & Form Award will become more widely known.

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.