KYOTOGRAPHER × KURAKU

The story about art, and the family

Photo by Kyotographer

“Kyotographer” is a family-driven project with two people at its heart, Moritz and Kaori. Moritz, from Germany, has been interested in photography for more than a quarter century. Kaori, born in Shiga, takes an important role to deliver Moritz’s photography to the customers by carefully selecting packaging materials “Made in Japan” with a dedication to the traditions of Kyoto.

This year, Kyotographer tried their first collaborative work with the late ceramic artist, Kuraku, who was also Kaori’s beloved grandfather. Kuraku’s ceramic works were uniquely named “Mentō,” or “Ceramic of Faces.” This is the story about two artists, Kyotographer and Kuraku, and also a story about a family.

“I heard that my grandfather,

Tokio Hazumi, loved drawing

since he was a teenager. He

even dreamed of being a cartoonist, so

drawing and creating something had

been part of his life,” Kaori starts talking

about her grandfather.

Photo: Kuraku working on one of his Mentō

Tokio was born in Shiga Prefecture in 1926. After World War II, he started to work for Toray Industries Inc. and worked there for 31 years. While working as a full-timer for his company, he continued to create. One of his biggest achievements is that he designed a hexagonal shaped house on his own in his 40s. He made all the interior finishing work and completed the exterior construction work himself.

When he became 51, he decided to pursue his life as a potter and left Toray. Being self-taught, his real career as a potter finally began. He used clay from Shigaraki and began creating human faces. He named those unique ceramic works “Mentō” and started to call himself by his artist name, “Kuraku.”

“When I hold clay it already looks like faces to me. I don’t have to try to create faces, instead they appear naturally on their own,” said Kuraku. Kuraku left a few thousand Mentō in different sizes in his 36 year-long career as a potter. Each Mentō has a different expression, but many of them are contemplating, concerned or shouting while some exhibit smiles. Curiously enough, the Mentō looks different depending on from which angle it is viewed.

In the beginning, the shapes of Mentō were flat, but after a while, their shapes evolved to three-dimensional after Kuraku traveled to India and Nepal. He drove a van around Kansai, eastern Japan and even Hokkaido in order to hold his Mentō exhibitions as well as holding one in Michigan in 1982.

He continued creating Mentō until late in life, but the faces in this stage looked more gentle and calm as if they reflect Kuraku’s internal spirit. He also left many sumi-e ink paintings. His passion for creation never dried up until he closed his life at age 87, in 2013.

"After Kuraku passed away, Mento were left at his house quietly as if they had lost their owner. A few years ago, Moritz and I decided to move into a new house built on the former site of Kuraku’s house. The Mentō came to live in our new house and as we lived together, we became more and more attached to them.”

Photo: Kaori and her grandfather in the early 80s.

“We thought they looked happy when we got them outside under the sun again after a long time. We felt as if we had received a baton from my grandfather,” says Kaori. “We strongly felt that we wanted many people to know about Mentō, that’s why we decided to try our first collaboration project between Kyotographer and Kuraku for the 2023 Kyotographer calendar.”

Moritz adds, “We feel that introducing Kuraku’s Mentō through my photography can become another way to show many people so they can learn about them. They show various expressions depending on the way the light falls on them and the direction the camera is pointed. It was a really interesting subject for me as a photographer. When I took a Mentō outside to take pictures, I didn’t have to look for the place to take the photo because the Mentō told me where it should be right away.”

KYOTOGRAPHER x KURAKU 2023 Calendar is available on the Kyotographer ’s website as well as three postcards featuring Kuraku’s sumi-e paintings.

https://kyotographer.com