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Image: Detail from Identity 2023 Iron Will by Kaizawa Tōru, featured in the Ainu Stories exhibition

TALK: Carving Ainu Art: In conversation with Kaizawa Tōru and Katō Hirofumi 

Join us for an evening of conversation with influential Ainu artist and master woodcarver Kaizawa Tōru whose work fuses Ainu woodcarving traditions with his own personal style and contemporary sensibility.

Kaizawa Tōru has been working as a carver for decades at his studio in Nibutani opened by his craftsman father in 1970. His great-grandfather, Kaizawa Utorentoku was one of two Ainu artisans renowned for their skill in the Meiji Era who first began selling Nibutani ita, decorative carved plates or trays, in Sapporo in the 1890s. Influenced by the traditions he has inherited from his predecessors, Kaizawa Tōru has established his own distinctive creative style. His work includes both craft items such as Nibutani ita which keep alive the traditions of his ancestors, and original Ainu art expressing his own personality and ideas His skilful yet free works have been not only bringing awareness to contemporary Ainu lives and culture, but also inspiring younger Ainu generations and even informing visuals in the popular manga series Golden Kamuy.

During the event Kaizawa Tōru is joined in conversation by Katō Hirofumi, Professor of Archaeology at the Centre for Ainu & Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University, to delve into Kaizawa’s roots and his creative journey as a woodcarver and artist. The event also includes an opportunity for guests to ask questions to the speakers.

The talk is a part of a programme of events connected with the exhibition Ainu Stories: Contemporary Lives by the Saru River. Visitors to the exhibition can see a range of Ainu decorative woodcarving including a new specially commissioned work by Kaizawa Tōru called 'Identity 2023 Iron Will'.

 

About the performers

 

Kaizawa Tōru

Born in Nibutani in 1958, Kaizawa Tōru grew up in the company of his craftsman father (Tsutomu) and fellow artisans. His great-grandfather, Kaizawa Utorentoku was one of two Ainu artisans renowned for their skill in the Meiji Era. While valuing traditions inherited from his great-grandfather, he combines them with his unique sensibility and techniques, energetically grappling with the creation of original Ainu art that expresses his own personality and message. He has won many prizes, including the Hokkaido Governor's Award at the Hokkaido Ainu Traditional Craft Exhibition. He is the owner of the workshop Kita no Kobo Tsutomu. 

 

Katō Hirofumi

Born in Yūbari, Hokkaido, Katō Hirofumi completed his doctoral degree at the University of Tsukuba's Graduate School of History and Anthropology in 1996. After working at the Graduate School of Area Studies, University of Tsukuba, and the Institute for Northeast Asian Research, Shimane University, he began teaching archaeology at Hokkaido University in 2001, becoming a Professor of Archaeology at the Centre for Ainu and Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University in October 2010. In April 2020 he was appointed as Director of the Centre.  

 

Booking Essential | Admission Free

*The event will also be livestreamed online on Zoom, Facebook, Twitter (X), YouTube and LinkedIn where a recording will be available following the event.