TASHIMA Seizo - art that doesn't exclude living creatures

There was still snow in the shade at the end of April even a warm sun shone through. Fukinoto (mountain vegetable) popped their head out and covered the entire bank behind the Museum of Picture Book Art and you could almost hear their quiet chant that went “spring has arrived!” together with the voices of frogs who woke up from long winter sleep and little birds.

As April begins, local villagers ask us “How is Shizuka. When does she return?”. It is a season for Shizuka, the goat, who resides at the museum from spring to autumn every year to give birth to her kids. It makes us so happy to see that everyone in the village cares about her. The museum where goats exist – is the idea in TASHIMA Seizo’s mind for a long time, even before the establishment of the museum. It has been seven years since Shizuka was welcomed as an important member of supporting the museum as we are today. (She is planning to return in mid May this year).

Children learn the value of life as they spend time with the goats at Abushima Primary School. These goats are not just appeare when children learn “life study”. They are alternate text books in other subjects such as art and craft, Japanese, and mathematics. In recent years, people of the Hachi village have started to bring feed to the goats. The obachan (old ladies) pay regular visits by bringing goats’ favourite grasses. More people visit us during the time of sweet poteto harvest with their truck filled with those potatoes. Looking after goats at the museum plays an important role in engaging with community.

We took down the snow protection and ran through cleaning on 18 April with local people. More villagers joined as we worked on these chores and helped the process efficiently. We used to share lunch after these hard works and it is sad we are not able to do so since last year. People in the Hachi village always worked together on activities that took place at the school. The school was there for the villagers to express their love to the local children. The Museum of Picture Book Art is supported by such warm heart which has been continuing to be nurtured in the village.

It was 2014 when we created a biotope, a space in the pond in the disused rice field for living creatures. The island in the shape of number eight (hachi) is surrounded by water and there is a small rice field adjacent to it. A small creek was added in 2018. For the last seven years we have run regular biological search as well as improved the environment to turn it into a biotope where diverse forms of living creatures can co-exist. Many precious living creatures which once became extinct due to the modernisation have returned to this biotope.

A new artwork which looks like flying in the air in this entire area including the goat will be created for the next ETAT. The work using an iron as material has been under the creation with the help from KURAKAKE Junichi (Professor at the Nihon University College of Art) who is known for the work called “Shedding House”. The aspiration is to become a museum which gives a power to live to every single living creature rather than being a space prioritising how it looks by excluding living things.

A new picture book story about the biotope titled “Towa and Toto” will be published this summer from Hidamari-sha. TASHIMA has taken a new approach to express the world under the water and the world looked through fish’s eyes. The picture book also carries the artist’s message which hopes to raise awareness of environmental issues, including the problem of treating contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. You can pre-order the book at the museum prior to the publishment. The museum is currently showing the exhibition called “A fish seen by a boy and a girl seen by a fish” which include the studies of this picture book and original drawings of “Caught!”, the much talked-about picture book published last year.  

Local ladies of the Hachi village bring lots of mountain vegetables. They would say “let’s send these to Tashima-san as it is not easy for him to visit here frequently.” “Yeah, let’s send them – these should give a bit of energy to him”. You can look forward to hearing such conversations when you visit the museum.

AMANO Tokiko, staff member of NPO Echigo-Tsumari Satoyama Collaborative Organisation
(Cover photo by KURAKAKE Junichi)