Strength in “Locality” and “Tradition” – what Yuta Orisaka treasures

The next destination was Ubusuna House, an approximately 100-year-old minka house transformed into a restaurant. The entire house is an artwork where visitors can enjoy meals cooked by local people making the best use of local ingredients.

Master potters from across Japan created food plates and bowls, and other equipment in the house.

After appreciating the house’s timber framework using “nemagari-sugi” (bent-root cedar tree), a distinctive tree grown in harsh wind and snow, and master craftsman’s ceramics in their specific places in the house, it was time for a long-awaited lunch.

Orisaka was particularly taken by “Itouri” which became like noodles when heated. As he tucked into lunch, he asked “What does “Ubusuna” mean?”. The manager, Michiko Higuchi, told us that “Ubusuna is written using “birth and soil” in Chinese characters. It is one of the 8 million gods and guardian of the land”.

“This is such a beautiful place. The water is clean, the air is fresh and most of all the people are great!” The way local people including Michiko-san laughed and talked made Orisaka smile.

“The festival has become part of local people’s lives” – Orisaka was impressed and contemplated the character of a place and his own musical activity.

Orisaka: The landscapes of regional areas are interesting as they are all different, as if they are of foreign countries. As for my music, I have thought about music from the perspective of time, gave the title “Heisei” to my 2018 album. However, I believe the theme for 2019 should be “place”.

Orisaka: What I mean is that, for example, I launched a music band called “Juso” in Kyoto this year. I began this music band as there are distinctively different musical communities in Kyoto and Tokyo. This is fudo (local atmosphere), which can only be found in a specific place or a sensation that only makes sense to you when visiting such a place. I believe such things exist in every different region.

Orisaka: Although we are in a rather globalised era, the expression by every country has become more localised. Probing one place has rather become the way to expand to the outside. That is why I would like to invest my time in a place I find interesting and engage with people of such place.

Orisaka spoke with passion and remembered his impressions of the festival when he visited for the first time.

Orisaka: I was able to encounter many artworks which were irreplaceable as if they were rooted in Echigo-Tsumari. This experience must have been the trigger that I felt the strength in something that is rooted to a particular place.

When leaving “Ubusuna House”, Michiko-san and other local people sang a local folk song called “Tokamachi-kouta” and danced as they saw off Orisaka-san.

Orisaka rather hesitantly joined in the dancing and said “my heart flutters when listening to these songs. Their voice is amazing and I wish I could remember and sing the song”.

Orisaka: My songs are influenced by traditional Japanese music such as Rokyoku and Kojo (the prologue at the start of Kabuki performances). Although I do not have any particularly distinctive roots as such, from the experience of matsuri (traditional local festivals) something like a basic melody becomes part of your body. I believe that having these faint traditions inside yourself as a base would make your songs stronger.

Orisaka: Pop music overseas are originally based on traditional music. Likewise, popular music in Japan has universality which has taken the essences of traditional music such as minyo and enka. This may relate to how to reflect locality in expression. How to present what is rooted to a particular place as it is, rather than diluting its origin. Such sense is much more closer to what I would like to pursue.

As his journey through the festival continues to deeper levels, Orisaka Yuta’s thought follows.