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