Japanese Folk Story Helps KMB 2016 Artwork Relay a Cautionary Tale

KOCHI:
In a dark corner of Aspinwall House, the ‘God of the kiln’ slumbers in silence, waking only once a day to pop a golden ball out from its navel. “Once a day and no more,” says the sculpture’s creator and Kochi-Muziris Biennale participating artist Takayuki Yamamoto.
Borrowing from a Japanese folktale about the ‘Kama-gami’ – comparable to the Aesopian fable about the goose who would lay golden eggs, Yamamoto’s life-size work is a cautionary tale against greed and the present-day repercussions of wanting more.
“The Fukushima reactor is still leaking nuclear waste into the sea. This is a result of human greed. The capacity for greedy acts exists in every human being, but the satiation of one’s greed comes with the cost of someone else’s suffering,” Yamamoto said.
Born in the Aichi prefecture, near the industrial city of Toyota, Yamamoto sees unquenchable greed as the dark side of civilisation and modernity. It is also, he acknowledges, the basis for his practice: this is why his work – the ‘Tale of the God of the kiln’ – bears its maker’s likeness.
To explain, Yamamoto first offers some context. The folk story speaks of an orphan boy who was adopted and raised by a childless elderly couple, who – after discovering that the child’s navel functions as a repository for golden grain – killed him.
“This idea of being able to make money from nothing is born from greed. I see myself, as an artist who looks to make a profit from my own self, to be part of this cycle of creation for cash. In this respect, I see myself in the story of the ‘god of the kiln’,” Yamamoto said.
And just like the greedy couple in the s
tory, who were cursed with regret and guilt after the act, Yamamoto has recreated a replica of his victim – his art which was sacrificed at the altar of profit – and placed it up for worship. “Even today, in many parts of Japan, households will place a wooden mask in the kitchen to respect the ‘Kama-gami’ spirit,” he said.
Beyond a meditation on the ills of pursuing art for gain, Yamamoto intends his sculpture to be akin to holding a mirror to himself. Even after gaining recognition as an artist, he continued to work as a teacher for many years – ‘using’ his students as muses in the pursuit of money.
“I see myself in the Kama-gami because I turned into a teacher for money and took inspiration for my own work from my students’ art projects,” said Yamamoto. One art project – titled ‘What kind of Hell We Go To’ – in particular.
“I guided the children to make art on how they see hell, or their imagination about what hell could be. Their collective works have been documented to help me make my project. One of the striking aspects of that project was a child’s picture of hell as being full of ice-cream. That to m is proof of the desires and wants humans have, even as children,” he said.