In August 2016, I permanently relocated back to Japan from Germany. Just before my return, I received an invitation to participate in an art festival in Ofunato City, Iwate Prefecture. Consequently, I traveled directly to Ofunato without stopping by my home in Shiga Prefecture.

In fact, I had previously visited Rikuzentakata and Ofunato in December 2011, eight months after the Great East Japan Earthquake. Witnessing the devastation firsthand, I harbored a deep awe for nature as I volunteered to help clear and clean the affected sites. Listening to the stories of the local people during that time remains a deeply invaluable experience for me.

I never could have imagined that I would find myself returning to Ofunato and Rikuzentakata some five years later. Thanks to the generous support of fellow participants and locals I met through the festival, I was able to exhibit my sculpture, “renmen (outdoor) 2016,” in the garden of a private residence in Ofunato. Measuring 450 × 95 × 95 cm, it is one of my largest sculptural works to date.

The exhibition venue, the Sasaki House, is a former medical clinic characterized by its beautiful, modern Western-style architecture and lush garden—an architectural style that was exceedingly rare at the time of its construction. I felt a profound sense of destiny that a piece from the “renmen” series, which I had been continuously developing and exhibiting in Germany, would be shown in the garden of this historic Western-style building immediately upon my return to Japan.

I stayed in Ofunato for about a month to produce the piece on-site. Living under the same roof with other participating artists and creating the work alongside the people of Ofunato warmly evoked memories of my student days.

“renmen (outdoor) 2016” was exhibited for just two days during the festival and has since been kept in my storage in Shiga Prefecture. Should the right opportunity arise, I sincerely hope to exhibit it again and share it with a wider audience.