芸術家と温泉。

温泉と芸術家。

つながりはあるかな？つながりを作れるかな?

まだまだ計画中ですが、戸倉上山田温泉と地元の芸術家と連携する案があります。その関係で、今朝は上山田温泉に住んでいる芸術家ご夫婦の若林文夫さん（版画家）とハンガリー人のＡｇｎｅｓさん（陶芸家）の家にお邪魔して、お茶をしました。

お二人、特に文夫さんはこの戸倉上山田温泉との付き合いが長いです。芸術家から見る「温泉」とは、色々と聞かせて頂きました。文夫さんの発言が特に耳に残っています：

「旅館」と「ビジネスホテル」の違いは何?
ホテルはただの箱。
旅館は床の間にオブジェが置いてあって、掛け軸が掛けてある；つまり、「文化」がある。

亀清旅館もそうですが、宿の所々に絵が掛けてあり、芸術的な置物が飾ってある。様々なものがあります。刀師の人間国宝宮入さん書画から私の母親が作ったキルトまで。しかし、良くある事はお客様に「これは何?」と聞かれたら、「分からない；女将社長に聞いてみなきゃ」となった。

それと比較したら、私がものすごく憧れている北信湯田中温泉の「よろづや」。一度、館内ツアーに参加させて頂きました。「これは何?」と聞いたら、「それは明治時代の誰々が作った。ここと京都の何処々の一流美術館にしかない」と。

「えっ、ここに何の説明も無し、ただ普通に置いてある物が、美術館にあっても良い物？！」と聞いたら、「まあ、分かる人は分かって頂いて、分からない人は分からなくても良い」との答え。

まあ、亀清旅館はこのごろ、それなりにストーリのある文化を少しずつ取り入れています。その中で、せっかく地元で立派な芸術家がいらっしゃるから、どんどんと連携を取って行きたいと思っています。

Artists and Onsen.

Onsen and Artists.

Is there a connection? Is it possible to make a connection?

Things are still very much in the planning stages, but I am hoping to put Togura Kamiyamada Onsen together with our local artists. We are fortunate to have a small group of talented artists here in our town. This morning, I had coffee with a husband and wife team of artists: wood block print artist Fumio Wakabayashi and Hungarian-born ceramicist Agnes Husz-san. Both of them, especially Fumio-san, have had many years of ties with Togura Kamiyamada Onsen. I was fortunate to get their perspective on our onsen town and its relation with art.

One of Fumio-san's comments especially struck me:

What is the difference between a business hotel and a ryokan? A hotel is simply a box. A ryokan uses the tokonoma alcove in the rooms to display a piece of art as well as a 'kakejiku' hanging scroll. In other words, the difference is culture.

It made me think about Kamesei. We have an assortment of artwork displayed throughout our inn. Everything from a piece of calligraphy from living national treasure katana-smith Miyairi-san (since deceased) to hand-made quilts from my mom. But a common occurance is for a guest to ask what a particular object is, and for us to say, "I don't know; We'll have to ask the proprietress."

On the other hand is the case of one of the ryokans I most look up to: Yorozuya in Yudanaka Onsen by the snow monkeys. Once I had the privelege of participating in a tour of the inn. When asking about some object, we were told, "Oh, that's from Meiji era. There are only two of them in the world. One is here and the other is in some top class museum in Kyoto."

"Huh, and you have just have it sitting here out in the open with no explanation?"

"Well, if someone knowledgeable sees it and appreciates it, that's great. But if people don't and just walk by, that's fine, too."

We here at Kamesei will never be able to duplicate the level of culture at Yorozuya, but bit by bit we are starting to expand our collection with pieces that have meaningful stories. And connecting with our local artists will be a major part of that.