A Devotion I Cannot Overlook

In Japan, our forebears changed the furnishings of daily life with each of the four seasons.

In summer, hanging wind chimes and reed screens,

feeling cool with a fan in hand;

in autumn, arranging susuki and autumn leaves indoors,

admiring the moon and stars afloat in the high sky;

in winter, gathering around the kotatsu and taking warmth from hot-pot dishes;

in spring, admiring cherry-blossom folding screens and hanging scrolls, and coloring the table with wild mountain vegetables—

they devoted their wisdom to cherishing each season and passing it in comfort.

In modern life, civilization has advanced, and even without contact with nature or changes to the interior, an environment has been so fully arranged that we can pass our days comfortably without being conscious of the four seasons—and so it feels to me that the seasonal charm felt through the five senses is being lost.

At this state of affairs, I feel a trace of unease and loneliness that the Japanese sense of beauty toward the four seasons we surely once possessed, and the flexibility to make use of the wisdom of merging with our surroundings and enjoying life, are in decline.

Changing the furnishings with each season as in the old days is physically difficult, but I want to go on proposing new seasonal furnishings that breathe in tune with modern living.