Dialogue - COSMIC WONDER [Part 1] -

The village's existing thatched-roof houses were built between the middle and end of the Edo period.

It is said that in ancient times, people from Baekje on the continent came to Satoyama and established villages there, and the legend of Dragon Palace remains along the 35th parallel north from Baekje. Maeda felt that his thatched roof hut and studio in the valley deep in Satoyama was a place between this world and the next, so he named it "Dragon Palace" and expanded his activities to include the production of art and clothing, and the dissemination of tools for daily life.

Art as a way of life

"Even after I started COSMIC WONDER, I was always based in the urban areas of Kansai. I was drawn to the countryside and satoyama (rural areas) since I was a child, and I always wanted to live in such places. At one point, I started to feel uncomfortable living in a landscape of buildings." In 2014, Maeda left the city to put into practice the life he had long envisioned in nature, and after spending two years at a lodge in the mountains of Nara, he moved to Miyama, Kyoto.
Maeda-san welcomed us at the entrance to the village. We walked briskly up the slope to Ryugu, and with the scenery of the shrines along the way and the surrounding thatched roofs, we felt as if we had traveled back in time to the time of the fairy tales, and decided to visit inside Ryugu.

The space, reminiscent of a tea room and filled with tools and natural fabrics selected by Maeda's discerning eye, had a tense atmosphere that made you feel like you were standing up straight.

After she made me some tea and my tension calmed a bit, I began the interview by asking her, "Why did you decide to live here?"

"I wanted to live close to the mountains, so I searched many places for the ideal location, but I ended up in this village. I wanted to match the work I wanted to express with my living environment. I believe that expression can be achieved not through imagination, but through everyday life itself."

Learning from the mountains, learning from the forests, learning from our ancestors

As the world becomes instantly connected like a web and the consumption cycle accelerates, COSMIC WONDER's clothing is made using materials made from natural fibers.
Maeda-san, who respects the natural environment and seeks out the ancient ways of life, recalls that he noticed something strange when he first began living in this area.

"I have more opportunities to look at the fields and mountains around me, and I feel like my perception of nature has improved. Perhaps because of that, I've started to notice the large number of artificial forests, such as those of cedar trees."

In Japan, the demand for timber surged due to postwar reconstruction and other factors. In order to rapidly plant new trees, the "expansion of forestation policy" was implemented. Miscellaneous forests in the Satoyama area and natural forests in the Okuyama area were cut down and replaced with artificial forests of cedar, cypress, and other coniferous trees that grow relatively quickly and are economically valuable.

The demand for cedar trees has decreased due to changes in lifestyle such as electricity, gas, and oil, the spread of plastic products, and the rise of cheap imported lumber. Due to depopulation, aging, and generational change, Japan's forests are not being properly cared for, and devastation is becoming more noticeable. The trees lose their ability to spread their roots, and heavy rain can cause landslides.
The various problems facing society cannot be solved by only looking at what appears on the surface.

"I believe there is a background to everything. For example, why were so many cedar trees planted? Understanding and understanding the background in depth also leads to thinking about what the future will look like 100 years from now. If we can stop the habit of only looking at the surface, ignoring the historical process that our ancestors have walked through, or even if we can see it, I think we can see the world from a higher-resolution perspective."

With the cooperation of Professor Takeshi Ise of Kyoto University's Field Science Education and Research Center and landscape designer Jun Nishikawa, Maeda is thinking about the future forest landscape of Satoyama together with the villagers.

"We are still in the process of considering the specifics, but first of all, if we can recreate the broadleaf forest that was once the satoyama of this village, it could become an example of environmental regeneration."
Thinking about mountains means thinking not just about the decades it will take for saplings to mature, but also about the future. You have to think about the future after you die. Listening to Maeda's story, I was reminded that improving the environment is about "the imagination to paint a beautiful future."

Thinking back to the origin of life

Maeda's focus is on manufacturing as a universal human activity that has continued since ancient times.

COSMIC WONDER's clothing is produced in response to the rare handicrafts that remain in various regions.

This landscape reminds us of the deep ties that exist between handicrafts, agricultural produce, and arts and crafts, as well as the wisdom and wealth that have been passed down through the generations in coexistence with nature, and in other words, "creation."

"All of my materials are natural, and I value handcraft and crafts. Whenever I visit traditional handcraft sites and experience the process and timeline that goes into making a piece, I feel it is a representation of human life itself. Rather than returning to the values ​​of the past, I choose these things based on new values ​​as people living in the present. I hope to convey these feelings through my work."