NENDO-MICHI of JIN KATAGIRI ~NIPPON local the soul of clay~ Special Edition

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NENDO-MICHI of JIN KATAGIRI ~NIPPON local the soul of clay~ Special Edition

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2022.10.28

TOYTOYTOY presents “I made something boring again in Busshozan”

Here are some of Katagiri’s new works presented at the “I Made Boring Stuff Again in Busshozan” event held on Sunday, May 15, as well as some scenes from the event.

Tsuten no Tora-san
*This is the name of a work of wordplay that is a play on the characters of the popular Japanese film series “Tora-san, His Tender Love”.

Direction: H280 W180 D170
Material: Aluminum wire, epoxy putty, Sculpey cardboard.

This is a work I made for “I made something boring again (or “Matatsuma” in short) in Busshozan.
Since the local monster “Udonkenstein (Frankenstein made of udon)” that I made in 2018, “I’ll keep making the next local monster!” but I have not been able to make it.
The theme of this event was “Local Monsters,” so I started making them at the end of 2021 so that I could present them there.

First, what to make of the monster?　After Franken, I was wondering if it would be Dracula, a werewolf, or a half-fisherman…? Among many things, I decided to go with “Werewolf Man” for no particular reason. A werewolf who, when he sees a full moon, his clothes turn to shreds and he becomes a wolf. If he is shot in the heart with a silver bullet, he dies. It is not certain how he turns back from wolf to human. That’s about all I know. Also, a “Kaibutsu-kun (The Monster Kid)”.

So, I wanted to make the werewolf a “local monster,” so I wondered, “Where can I find wolves?” But then I began to think, “I don’t have to be concerned about wolves…” Or rather, when I saw a werewolf figure, the color was surprisingly subdued, so I figured, “Well, this doesn’t have to be a wolf, any strong mammal will do, right?” Then Werewolf Man → Tiger Man → Hanshin Tigers. Tiger Man → “Tora-san of Futen” → “Tsuten no Tora-san”. The image picture was completed in this way.

　Therefore, I started with the head that I wanted to make the most. However, Udonkenstein also started from the head, and as a result it became so large, so to avoid making the same mistake, and to get a good size when lined up with Udonkenstein, I made a core of aluminum wire for the arms and legs in advance and applied putty to it, and then made a head that would fit there. Then, I made the head of the same size as the arms and legs.

However, it was difficult to make that single picture into a three-dimensional object. I repeatedly heaped and scraped clay, but it didn’t look very similar… I tried drawing a tiger pattern on it with a magic marker… Looks just like that! I wasn’t wrong!　…These things happen. A figure prototype artist I know once told me, “I was struggling to make a figure look like the original no matter how I tried, but sometimes it looks just like the original when I paint it.” That’s exactly what happened! I’m so relieved.
　Next to the head, the body. In order to follow the wolf man, I made the shirt and the hem of the trousers chirpy. The difficult part was to find the right balance between the arms and legs. Since the tiger man looks stronger than the werewolf man, I wondered if I should make his arms thick and hunched over. But if I did that, the “Tora-san” look would be weakened… If I stand up that way, I won’t be able to stand up this way…
I also wanted to make Tora-san’s large jacket detachable, so I made a silhouette out of aluminum foil, put a thin layer of putty on it, and peeled it off. I managed to do this.

　The rest are small items such as hats and travel bags. I was able to make the hat by making holes so that the ears would stick out and adjusting the size of the brim, but the problem was the travel bag. I made a box out of cardboard, poured instant glue to harden it, poured Sculpey on it, and stamped silicon rubber with a leather mold to make it look tired. I started building it in December and it took me 5 months to complete all the parts, 5 months! Seriously?

So, I could have painted it as is, but this time I wanted to change the face and paint, so I asked Mr. Izawa, a sculptor whom I always ask to duplicate my work, however, the paper bag collapsed during the process of applying pressure to release air. In the end, I asked him to make a perfect travel bag with a 3D printer. Holy crap, that’s good. So the bag isn’t my creation, but I made it originally, so that’s okay!
I asked him to duplicate three of them in total. I thought of making “Tiger-san of Tongten” and “White Tiger-san of Tobu Zoo”, but I wanted to make another pattern, so I made “Leo-san of Saitama” with different faces and tails. The volume of Leo’s mane became too large, and it was difficult to make it smaller. Anyway, unlike Tiger, Leo’s mane resembled the picture rather quickly, so I am happy about that.

　I was satisfied with the painting once I had painted the tiger’s face, but the hardest part was the checkered pattern on the jacket and trousers. Masking would have been too much work, so I decided to paint by hand, but I really couldn’t connect the lines… I almost lost heart many times, but I got inspired by watching “Otoko wa Tsuraiyo” on Netflix. Somehow I managed to finish it!　Tora-san is great even when I watch it now! I cry over and over again.
　And it was fun to paint Leo-san in the old Seibu uniform colors, which gave him a totally different impression from Tora-san.

　Okay! Now I won’t have to stay up all night in Takamatsu the night before the event this year!　But then I realized that I had decided to make Tsutenkaku Tower as the amulet that I wear around my neck, but I hadn’t made it at all!　I rushed to cut out a piece of cardboard in the shape of Tsutenkaku, made a string out of thin solder wire, and this time it was done.

　The next day, I went to Kagawa Prefecture to visit the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, and my wife and son joined me for the event! It was great. We stayed one more night and went to Teshima and Inujima for the Setouchi Art Festival, so it was a great two-night stay.

About Matatsuma

After a two-year absence, “I Made Something Boring Again,” a.k.a. “MATSUMA”!
Originally started as a NOTTV craft variety show, the project featured Jin Katagiri and delusional creator Keiko Otsuhata teaming up to create and present a comedy piece on a theme solicited from viewers. Although the show has ended, it is still held as an irregular event.
Since 2018, the event has been hosted by the wonderful general store “TOYTOYTOY” and is held in Busshozan, Kagawa Prefecture. In addition to them, figure illustrator Yukinori Dehara and after-school one-sided love fantasy inventor Taiga-Ri participate in the event, and the four present the works they have created according to the theme. Also, the general public was invited to bring their own creations and present them. The bonus is that they can get comments from the four speakers! This is an event where you can enjoy unique works of art and talks by the four.

Theme “Local Monsters”

In 2018, Hiroshi Sagae, a sculptor of monsters and figures, participated in “MATSUMA” with the theme of “Kagawa Prefecture” and presented “Wild Udon”. He was working on a project called “Local Monsters,” in which he creates a monster for each of the 47 prefectures of Japan.
Unfortunately, Mr. Sagae passed away three years ago, but he had requested that the event be held under the theme of “local monsters,” and the four members of Matatsuma decided to carry on the theme of “local monsters”.

Keiko Otsuhata, delusional creator

Keiko Otsuhata, a delusional creator, was the first to present her work, as she felt that her work would be lost in the crowd if she presented it after the three mad artists who created crazy works.

Her hometown, Gunma’s specialty, “yakimanju,” a fluffy-textured bun with nothing inside but sweetness, has become a monster.
When it is baked, this bastard and its arms and legs follow it and wake it up. Its name is “Yakikimanju”.

He doesn’t want to be eaten, but his hand is a toothpick and he’s ready to be eaten!

But then she thought, “Isn’t it nice to have a grilled manjuu?” Three days ago, there was that one in Gunma! And that’s when the second monster appeared!

She presses a button – familiar music is playing in the hall.
There must be no one, young or old, male or female, who has not heard this music before!
The monster “Yobikomirror” was created based on the motif of Gunma Denki’s popular product, “Yobikomiri-kun.
It is said that a small caller is hiding behind the main body and controls “Yobikomiror.

They have many eyes around their faces. Are they using these eyes to detect many customers and call out to them to mislead people?

Yukinori Dehara, Figure illustrator

Figure illustrator Yukinori Dehara began by introducing Kochi Prefecture on the projector.
“They are not good. People in Kochi are really bad. Whenever something happens, they immediately turn to alcohol. Drinking is not a reward for work. They finish work at 7:00 p.m. because they want to go out drinking. They don’t go out for a drink and then go back to work like they do in the city.”
He then introduced a photo of the opening party for his solo exhibition in Kochi Prefecture.
Everyone brought food and drinks, and there were entertainments, but it was just a party. No one was there to see the work. If you talk about art in a superior way, it makes people feel a bit uncomfortable.
If you don’t mix it with alcohol, they won’t look at it. He says with a lot of local love, “It’s just the nature of the area. The god of alcohol, “Bello Bello God,” designed by him, is worshipped in Kochi Prefecture.

Every year there is a festival called “Tosa-no-okyaku,” during which drunken people gather around the tongue-tied god. Men and women, young and old, love to drink and party.
“So I decided to create a work of art featuring cute drunks from my beloved Kochi Prefecture.” Here he is, the drinking monster of Kochi Prefecture, “Nomu-san.

The audience laughed at Katagiri-san’s first words when it appeared from the bag, “Ewww!”

He turned on the switch, saying, “When he’s screaming like an idiot and being loud, he’s conscious and cute or whatever, but after a while, you know what happens?”
The face of Mr. Drinking goes round and round and he is throwing up!!
The machine attached to the body was in full view, the legs were wooden sticks, and Katagiri-san’s poking and prodding as he talked was also an attraction that could only come from being a MATATSUMA.

Tiger Lee, After-school type unrequited love delusional inventor

Lastly, Tiger Lee presented three of his works. All of his works are so unique that I would like to introduce all of them, but this time I would like to introduce a work associated with “local monsters”.

When he spoke with Sagae before, he asked him what he thought a monster was. He asked Sagae, “What do you think a monster is?” At that time, he said Sagae’s comment, “Monsters go wild and destroy things,” left a deep impression on him and led to the creation of this monster.

When he realized that “going berserk and breaking things” was similar to the feeling of not knowing how to handle the frustration of puberty, He said, “I’m going to make a monster here.” He began to create a monster on stage.

When you are a junior high school student and you see a girl you like going home while holding hands with someone else, I have uncontrollable feelings. Then, with that feelings, I rode my bicycle to the riverside and dissipated them.
Now, here are some of the girls I liked from my albums.

He then took out a photo of a girl and another of a boy who was holding hands with her.
He said, “I am going to put these two in a Ziploc. In this Ziploc, two lovebirds are trapped. I’m going to throw in a picture of me in junior high school in there.”
And then he put the pictures in the Ziploc and sealed it.

“In this Ziploc, there is a riot of my uncontrollable feelings that has been thrown in with “a girl I like x a boy I like who was holding hands with a girl I like”. If this rampage is to be one of the cells of a monster, then if 7 billion of these rampages come together, they will become a monster!”

and “Rampage NO1,” the source of the monster cells that were born, was born at the venue.
Based on this concept, “Rampage NO2” and “Rampage NO3” and three monster cells were born.

Looking at this photo alone, you may wonder what it is. However, I was drawn into his world so much that he was able to create the source of the monster cells right here in the concept of the birth of a monster.

bonus

In the general category, there are many regulars who present unique works every time, but what a surprise! Haruta, the second son of the Katagiri family, and his wife, Yuki, participated in the competition. Haruta was the first one to present his work in the general category. Although Haruta is from Tokyo, he presented “Peanut Man,” a work associated with his favorite Funashy’s hometown, Chiba Prefecture.

The surface feeling of the peanut skin and the wonderful modeling of the hands surprised Yukinori Dehara

Then Yuki came on stage with her eldest son, Taro.
“It’s chilly, even though it’s May. It is this monster that appears at times like this. She pointed to the scarf around Taro’s neck and said, “This is the Omoiyari Kaiju (caring monster)”.
She removed the scarf from Taro’s neck, and the “Nanafushimaburra, the Caring Monster,” appeared.

Okinawa is a region with many nanafushi, and in fact, the ones with short antennae are said to be nanafushi-modoki. So, the antennae are short. When the antennae are long, it is called Nanafushi mabura.

*Preliminary knowledge*
This is where the picture book “Nanafushi” comes in.
The legs of the stick insect are easy to remove at the base. When it is caught by a target, it takes the leg and runs away. After a while, the leg is said to come back to life. *

Now, since we are talking about Ryukyu, there is Mr. Sagae’s local monster, a crested serpent eagle called “Kammuron,” and when it battles Mr. Sagae’s monster, the compassionate monster “Nanafushimaburra” has a button to take its legs so that it can escape and remove them with a button.

It was a wonderful monster, full of tenderness, hand-knitted.

Afterwords

It was a very intimate event and we laughed the whole time. The talks by the four speakers were very interesting, and I hope that you will go to the next event and enjoy it. Katagiri-san and Taiga-san joking around with each other is a sight that can only be seen at “Matatuma. It is a must-see for fans. Now, I have also created and presented a “local monster” in the course of this interview.

This is “Kanagawa tte Yettie”.
It is a common topic of conversation among residents of Kanagawa Prefecture, but when people who live in Yokohama, Kamakura, Zushi, Hayama, etc. are asked, “Where are you from?” And they often do not say, “I’m from Kanagawa but they often answer “Yokohama”, “Shonan”. It is said that many of them do not say, “I am from Kanagawa.
This is where this monster was born. I decided to make the monster separated Yokohama City, Kawasaki City, etc. from Kanagawa Prefecture. I am inspired by Katagiri-san’s creative activities, and I am working hard to create it.