Kentaro's Determination
HigoZogan Series-3
His first artwork
I thought that Mitsuhide’s encounter with martial arts through Karate in high school led him to Higo Zogan, but in fact it was the environment in which he grew up.
In Kumamoto city, there is a shop called “Yoneno Bijutsuten” that sells Japanese swords and their fittings. This Yoneno family was Mitsuhide’s relative and his uncle of the Yoneno family appenticed Taihei Yonemitsu who became a Living National Treasure of Higo Zogan. It seems to be natural for Mitsuhide to pursue the path of Higo Zogan craftsmanship under this familiar environment in which Mistuhide grew up. By the time he was 14 years old, he had already begun to feel that he wanted to become a Higo Zogan craftsman. At the age of 17, he made up his mind to become a disciple of Taihei Yonemitsu. He started his training under Tomoaki Kawaguchi who was his uncle’s classmate for three months during summer vacation of high school when he was 17.
This Mr. Kawaguchi also had a deep connection with Hitsuhide. Mr.Kawaguchi was the landlord of the rented house Mitsuhide lived in with his family when he was two years old. One day Mitsuhide climbed up a place as usual and he fell off, and he suffered a severe skull fracture. It was none other than Mr. Kawaguchi who drove his car ignoring traffic lights and carried him to the hospital. Without his help at that time, Mitsuhide might not be in the health he is today and became a craftsman.
Mitsuhide's first work is a ginkgo design pendant which he presented to his mother. In the recession in the mid-1990s after the collapse of the bubble economy, Yoneno Bijutsuten, where he had been working for four years, closed its factory, so he studied under Mr. Kawaguchi. He became independent in 1994, and 15 years have already passed since he started working with Zogan.
#HigoZogan #Zogan #inlay #Inada #Mitsuhide #Kentaro #artisan #craftsman #craftsmanship #japaneseculture #japanesecraft