I recently made my way to Ogatsu because of my relationship with Shuhei Hasado, the namesake of the “Shuhei Craftsmen Guild”, a sakan (Japanese plaster) craftsman from Takayama in Gifu prefecture.

The wall had already been built by Shuhei’s Guild and many other helping hands. It was magnificent. It was a 4m x 40m that will not be shaken even by the occasional intensely hot, strong winds that blow by.

Local people had gathered to build it up from mud, and the craftsmen had beautifully finished it with trowels. By the time I arrived, they were just finishing, but they had left a little part of the wall for myself. It was my first time working with sakan. I tried to apply the coating with a trowel by imagining a still surface of water… it was rather deep and there was a lot that I didn’t understand, but I felt that there was some part of it that connected with drawing. My first time trying my hand at sculpting mud was happily enjoyable. But of course I was pretty bad at it, so they had to fix it for me…

I got word that they finished the undercoat yesterday. I’m sure they’ll be done with it today. I pray that they have good weather.

I can imagine the pure white plastered wall standing and facing the ocean. It was built almost entirely from materials local to the area. Wood, eath, water, thatch…

The surrounding nature. The strong wood that has survived through strong winds; the sharp black stones that are used to make the famous Ogatsu inkstones; the beige beach; the blue sea. The exquisite beauty that cannot be described with words. The sense of awe and power that you get just standing there. The feeling of being just a speck of humanity in something so much larger, and the enormity that is within each and every single person.

… I’m getting dizzy now so I’ll stop there.

It looks like everyne will be writing and drawing on it on December 1st. I hope that many people will come by to leave their thoughts. I think I’ll go and draw something too.

There will be a completion ceremony on the 2nd.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Humans don’t really have any weapon on our natural bodies, and we can’t really be seen as being that much stronger than other animals. However, the strength of humans comes from us working together, one with another, going back and forth, and living to make things better as a whole. I think that it is a blessing when we have the chance to come together in such a way.