After a one-hour drive from Kofu we arrived to Koryuji Temple. I really enjoyed just sitting in the car and watching the beautiful scenery and all the blooming flowers. It feels good to sometimes just drive somewhere far away.
At Koryuji Temple we actually went to see a jazz live. I don’t usually listen to jazz at all, so this was something new to me. But I really enjoyed it! It had this artistic feel to it, as if someone was painting an artwork but with music.
After the live we drove to Kobuchisawa, where I read out loud a book in Finnish to the audience. We also talked about Finland in general, and I taught some easy Finnish expressions. I had a good day! I’m glad I got to experience many kind of new things.
I’m happy I had a chance to write this hiking blog! I got to go to many places I wouldn’t usually go, and I got to try out writing a diary. I also learned to enjoy taking pictures when I go to new places. Thank you all for reading my hiking blogs! I hope to meet again someday at AIRY!
This time we went hiking to Daizokyojiyama from Isawaonsen. 15 degrees and sunny was perfect weather for hiking☀️ I think this might have been my favorite hike in Japan so far!
As it’s spring, I could see lots of flowers during the hike. Cherry trees are starting to bloom, and there was some even in the mountain🌸 Near Izawa Onsen Station there were magnolias, and in the mountain there were also these little yellow flowers as in the picture.
On the top of the mountain the forest reminded me of Finnish forests. I really love the smell of nature🌿 We also found this miniature version of a temple (?).
The hike took about 3 hours altogether, and I think it had just the right amount of challenge to give that good feeling after exercising. I really want to come back here once the nature turns green!
The hike of last Saturday was probably the most beautiful out of our hikes so far! The wind next to the lake was a bit cold, but with enough clothes you’ll be fine. This hike was a little longer than previous ones, but it was quite an easy road so 3 hours passed without any problems.
What I liked the most about this hike was Shiroyama (white mountain) with its white sand. From the top of the mountain you could also see Yamanashi and the lake, so the sceneries were very pretty 🏞
戻ったら湖の近くに歩いたらフィンランドの湖を思い出して気持ちよかった。日本で湖やっぱり珍しいよね。
On the way back we walked near this lake, which reminded me of all the lakes in Finland and it felt relaxing. Finding a lake in Japan truly is rare!
This time we walked 30 minutes from Kōfu Station to Yuki Zoo. The weather was perfect, so a relaxed city walk felt good. For me as a Finn, 18 degrees and sun is basically a summer weather☀️
Of course seeing happy and cute animals made me happy, but that wasn’t the case most of the time. Looking at animals put to way too small cages, I could’t help but hate humans. We really shouldn’t take anything we want just because we can.
The most heartbreaking was the swan there. The cage was way too small for it, and all we saw was it trying to hopelessly get out, but ending up just staring at the river right next to the cage. As I’m used to seeing swans in my summer cottage where they live in the nature with their families and swim on the lake, looking at this made me so sad. I just wanted to help it but I couldn’t.
I was happy to see even the cute penguins looking happy. However, I can’t suggest this zoo to anyone. If a zoo doesn’t think about the animals’ well-being, I think we shouldn’t support anything like that.
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2021.02.07 ⛰AIRY→山梨県立美術館
今回はハイキングの替わりに少し散歩してきました!天気がちょうどよくて散歩にピッタリでした🌞
AIRYから出発して、45分ぐらい山梨県立美術館まで歩きました。This time instead of hiking, we took a little walk. We started from AIRY and artived to the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art in about 45 minutes. The weather was perfect for a walk, 15 degrees and sunny🌞
I liked especially this little road and cherry trees you can see on the pictures. It was very quiet there, and it was pretty even if the cherry trees aren’t blooming yet. I definitely want to see this place when the cherry trees bloom! Once I saw the river, I felt like it’s like Yamanashi’s Meguro river 🌸
At the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art we took part in a workshop of an artwork there called Tables. I had a chance to hand-sew something I would not usually make.
桜の季節になったら絶対もう一度この道を歩きたい!
Once the hanami season starts I really want to take a walk here again!
This time we went hiking to Yumurayama! There are various routes to choose from, also very long ones, but we went for this one to Azumaya that was a little difficult but last only one hour there and back. We climbed up in the forest, and chose this easier path on the way back. It was pretty windy that day, but it was sunny and it got warm as soon as we climbed a little ☀️
We had these two cute guides for the hike, which made it a lot more fun. Looking at the two run up the hill all excited made me want to climb up faster too 🥾
I think in Yamanashi, no matter where you go for a hike, you will always be rewarded with a beautiful landscape when you reach the top. Today we saw again the beautiful view of Yamanashi, the surrounding mountains and Mt. Fuji. As the route today was pretty steep, it really felt like a good refreshing exercise!
This time we went hiking from Katsunumabudokyo Station 🍇 After about a 30 minute walk, there was a cute market that is held once a month. This time we did our hike in an unusual order – first we walked down the hill, and on the way back climbed up.
There were many kinds of food and handmade items sold at the market. The candy in the picture is a famous handmade caramel that sold out quickly also this day 🍬
As a hike, this one was like a combination of hiking and a city trip. At the market you can get inspiration from the grape tunnel and the handmade items, and near the station there was a beautiful little bamboo forest that looked like a real-life painting 🎍
朝市とハイキングのコンビネーションの小さな旅をしてみたい方におすすめです!
I recommend this hike for everyone who wish to try a city-like hike and make a little trip at the same time!
On Sunday, we went for a little hike near Kōfu Station. I hadn’t tried hiking in Yamanashi before, so I didn’t quite know what to expect. It was nice that the route started right next to Kōfu Station and the weather was good. Sunny and 4 degrees – perfect for a Finn though someone might find it a bit chilly. What I was surprised about was that we found a plum tree blooming even if it’s only January!
I think this hike is good for people who aren’t used to hiking or would like to try it. It takes only about 30 minutes to reach the top, so you’re not too tired at the end and get the feeling you could try hiking also another time. Even if it’s a small hike, you’re rewarded with a beautiful scenery of Yamanashi and the surrounding mountains. Yamanashi looked beautiful on a sunny day, as if it was sparkling.
Because of corona, I think many of us have ended up staying at home a lot. To feel refreshed and get inspiration, I think a hike like this is such a good and easy way to safely enjoy outdoors!
The exhibited works are not the only works, and I think that human beings have lives before they make art, and their daily lives are full of creativity. I am very interested in what kind of moment the artist will be inspired by the life. I’m interested in artist-in-residence because I find the process of creating work interesting. And it may not be enough from the length of stay this time what kind of place Kofu is, where the inspiration is studded, but I hope I can get to know even a little.
「エアリーサポーターズ名簿」を編成して、ゆるく繋がる仲間たちがAIRYを支えている。同時に「足元にある価値」を大切にする若者が増えてきたのは追い風。あなたはこの街でどんな風景を見たいですか。どんな地図を描きたいですか。それは想像力で結ばれた地図であり、指標または象徴。自分自身が風景であることを自覚して示唆するもの。だからWe are a Landscape / 私たちが風景です。
***** ENGLISH ******
For the 15th anniversary of AIRY
Izumi Sakamoto
AIRY will celebrate its 15th anniversary this spring. I
think about these truths: to be a part of a community and the ways in which we
strive to fill our days with love and pride. To know that we are each
indispensable. We are each an important presence to one another, a necessary
piece of the landscape of our community.
What will be next? How will the mission of AIRY in Kofu
change? Looking back, it has been 15 years of serendipitous, beautiful, and
miraculous connections. It took and it takes a village for what AIRY is today.
160 artists from 36 countries have come and stayed at
AIRY. They have hosted workshops, artist talks, live-paintings, dances, dinners
and final exhibitions. They have lived the slow and steady pace of the city
with its close proximity to nature, surrounded by the seasonal beauty of the
mountains. When they needed a break from the studio they took walks, relaxed at
cafes, familiarized themselves within the community. I feel deeply moved that
160 different stories have been spun in Kofu. All of these stories and these
artists have taken root in the town.
From 2016 we also began welcoming student internships.
Our seventh intern is working with us now. A local college professor first
connected us to our first intern and since then it has been a continuous chain
of acquaintances connecting one another. Some have joined through workshops we
have hosted. Within them we’ve had as young as high school students who’ve
absorbed the diverse worlds artists have brought to AIRY. Collaborations with
local universities have been in the works as well.
There have been a unique number of returning
artists—those who had stayed at AIRY prior or artists native to Kofu returning
to their parents’ homes and utilizing the studio during the day. I think we can
call the latter: artists inbound. Unlike the prevalent and quickened wave of
tourists bustling in and out of Kofu, these artists steadily come and go in an
autonomous fashion.
Artists’ stays are becoming more diversified. We began
welcoming artists and their families recently, initially as an experiment. They
move from town to town during their children’s long vacations; the parents will
focus on their artwork and the children enjoy a taste of living in Japan. In
these cases I think it will be important to increase local places where kids
can play such as nearby school grounds and playgrounds. There is a lot of
potential space in Yamanashi where there are many abandoned houses.
We are
consistently supported by our “AIRY Supporters,”
an unofficial roster of friends, acquaintances, townspeople, collaborators.
What has changed slightly is the encouraging increase in a vibrant younger
generation.
It is to them that I want to ask, What would
you like to see in this town? What would you like to create here? What kind of
map would you like to draw, to realize? Yamanashi, Kofu, and AIRY is a
landscape of hopes, visions, and our connections to one another with the truth
that you yourself is a part of this landscape. This is why “we are a
Landscape”.
*「We are a Landscape」Advocated by Leanne Dunic / Canada/ 2013
藍染の銀座通り商店街にて、アートオークションを開催します。山梨にアートの光を発信しつづけ、今年で活動15周年を迎えたAIRY。そんな記念すべき年に新型コロナウィルスの影響を受け、滞在作家が0になってしまったAIRYの力になりたい。歩帆舎とアーティストたちが賛同し、この度チャリティーオークションを開催する運びとなりました。AIRY滞在アーティストや、こうふのまちの芸術祭ゆかりのアーティストたちによる絵画、写真、版画、オブジェや、歩帆者が手がけたアートプロジェクト「あいで染めよう甲府銀座通り商店街」で商店街に飾ってある藍染暖簾の一部など多数出品予定です。また、オークションとは別にAIRY15th記念誌「We are a Landscape」やアーティストグッズ、藍染小物の販売もあります。
AIRY ART AUCTION with LOVE
We’re going to have a charity auction on Ginza Street where indigo tapestries are now on display. AIRY is celebrating its 15th anniversary, it has been the beacon of light for Kofu City’s art scene. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, AIRY is having a severe financial situation. There’s no artists coming to AIRY this year. Hohosha and the artists wanted to and decided to support AIRY. The artists who had once stayed at AIRY have donated their artworks such as paintings, photographs, wood prints or objects, and Hohosha is going to help the charity auction. On the 31st, you can enjoy live music as well. Artists’ goods, the 15th anniversary AIRY magazine “We are a Landscape” and Indigo items will also be on sale!
Auction donators: Eric Pelletier, Kate Hill, Nurdin Musaev, Alma Bolokova, Ceallaigh Norman, Leanne Dunic, Jen Tyers, Lucas Dillon, Josephine Watanabe Vejrich, Adeleine Daysor, Kei Ota|太田恵以, Julia White Sandra, Leandersson, Matt Forsythe, Noriko Nakamura|ノリコナカムラ, Judy Pilarczyk, Thomas Lo (MC Z), Carla Canellas, Gaku Okata|大方岳, Akitaka Kamijo |上條 暁隆, Chie Koda | 幸田 千絵, Sho Saito| 斎藤 翔
AIRY ART AUCTION with LOVE October 31st (Sat) 1:00 p.m. – 16:00 p.m. Location: Ginza Street, Kofu City Music performers Shinobu Shinohara/DJ Ryo Wakao/JIMMYTAX
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Auction pre-exhibition
October 24th (Sat) – 30th (Fri) *closed 27th (Tue) and 28th (Wed)