"Work has to be fun" - Tadahiko Nakayama (Part 1)

Yeah. CAVE, BOTTLE, POUND, QUATER, BEACON VASE...maybe.

I try to make it as precisely as possible, trying to eliminate roughness as much as possible. Quartz, feldspar, mica... The crystals of Aji stone are about 1mm in size, so there is a limit to how much I can make, since it will break if I make it any more, but I still have to be careful. I make it by looking at the blueprint, and then learn it with my eyes and hands.

Flower vase...I've always wanted to make a FLOWER VASE, so I've been trying out different sizes. For example, the BOTTLE started out of my interest in seeing vintage pottery and wondering, "What would it look like if I made it out of stone?" I went to an antique shop, looked for something that looked good, and bought it...I think the BOTTLE was from the Netherlands, but I made it by modifying it little by little. It's different from pottery, so I thought it would be interesting if I could bring out the various expressions of stone in a craft. In the past, I made pottery because I couldn't make it out of stone. There must be some things that are possible with today's stone processing technology. That's why I think there are hints in old things.

I think making crafts like this is a good fit for the current era. In our case, we didn't do much work on gravestones to begin with, but we gradually specialized in this genre, and that's how we've been able to make a living so far, so I guess it was a good thing (laughs). I'm happy if customers are happy with the gravestones and lanterns, but as a crafter, it's more fun to make what I want, and even more fun when it goes on the market and people are happy to buy it.

Personally, if I had a grave, it would be heavy because it would be related to the "life and death" of humans, but if it was a craft, it would be fun, yeah. So, there is a possibility that people from all over the world will turn their attention to it. In fact, the customer base has expanded dramatically. So I'm doing Instagram and Facebook as an individual and spreading it more and more.

After graduating from university, I got a job at a mid-sized general contractor in Tokyo, where I worked as a site supervisor for road improvement work on the Joban Expressway and tunnel construction work.

When I was 27 years old...I think I was living in Utsunomiya, I suddenly started to think that it might be time to go back home, so I came back here.
I didn't have any intention of becoming a stonemason from the beginning, I just thought it would be nice to find some work in Takamatsu. It was just when the Tobu Water Purification Plant was being constructed, and I was working at the Waterworks Bureau for about half a year preparing cost estimates for the bidding process when I was introduced to a construction company... so I did a similar job in Takamatsu for about three years. Then, when I turned 30 and got married, I started working at the stonemason's shop that my father was doing.

I started helping out at the stonemason's shop when I was in elementary school. I don't do that anymore, but back then I used to start at 4am with my dad, lighting a fire with a bellows and baking chisels... I learned all the different jobs, like polishing and carving, by the time I was in high school.

Back then, there weren't as many machines as there are now, so making round things had to be done by hand. They were three times more expensive than making square things. My father used to work on gravestones (a gravestone manufacturer), so he specialized in making round things. Then machines started to appear, and I started to think, "Maybe I can be a stonemason without going to all the trouble my father did" (laughs).

However, the economy was good at the time so there was plenty of work, and I was properly trained in how to pound stone during that first year, so I think I was able to carve Buddha statues.

It's curves after all. When I was in my 30s and busy, I had to make 10 or 20 pieces of the same shape all by hand. That was difficult. Because it was handmade, even if I decided on the shape, if I tried to use a chisel to make a lantern or anything, it would change little by little. There were differences depending on the person, so even though we had about 10 craftsmen at our company at the time, each one made a different shape (laughs).

So we brought in machines and started to decide on our "shape," but the era of mass production was gradually giving way to an era where unique products were required. We started to get more jobs where retailers would come up with their own shapes for things like lanterns and incense holders, draw up plans for each one, and ask us to make them... so there was a difference of a minute or two (a unit of length) for each one. Doing that one by one was still difficult, even with machines. It was time-consuming. CAD was still in its infancy, and retailers were not yet used to CAD drawings, so there were strange drawings that were drawn as if it was okay to use either a minute or 3mm... that was the era.

Especially with small curves, the difference of 1mm or 2mm makes a huge difference and the appearance changes instantly. You can't tell if something as big as a 30cm square like a gravestone becomes 1mm or 2mm bigger or smaller. Curved surfaces are difficult in that way.

When I was 50, the local supermarket and soba restaurant owners invited me to try the erhu for the first time, saying that it costs a lot of money to hire a Chinese instructor, so it's better to have more people learning (less burden on each person). When I said I'd do it, they said, "Well, there's an erhu for sale at a music store in Takamatsu for 100,000 yen, so go buy one" (laughs). But I thought I couldn't afford 100,000 yen just because I was invited, but then my sister's husband happened to have a chance to go to China and said, "If you find an erhu, please buy one for me," and he really did buy one for me. Then I had no choice but to do it. So it wasn't something I started because I wanted to do it.

So we all started playing together, but everyone else quit after about three years... As for me, I had bought a fairly expensive erhu myself, and when I said I was quitting, my wife told me, "You bought something that expensive, and you're quitting so soon. You're kidding me! Give it back!" So I couldn't quit (laughs). It's been 16 years since then.

It's also a nice change of pace. Sometimes I get hurt by stones when I'm working. It's only when I'm busy that a stone comes flying at me and I end up writhing around here. So when I'm busy, I always play the erhu in the morning, then go to Stonemason's Village during my lunch break to play, then go back to work, and when I'm done with work, I play in the evening... I switch to the erhu. Then I feel calm. I think it's a good instrument for switching pace. When I'm bored, I just laze around and play by myself (laughs).

After 16 years of doing this, I've been invited to play at various places, such as nursing homes, community centers, elementary schools, junior high schools, kindergartens, etc. Now I play about seven to eight times a year... I think. So I have to practice even if I don't like it (laughs). Before a concert, I wonder why I was asked to play, but I do my best because they invited me. This year, I'm going to play at a Baptist church on Christmas Eve. Not only playing, but these opportunities are also a good way to change my mood. I get some fresh air and talk to various people... It's also fun to get to know various people through these opportunities.