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THE WORLD OF YABUUCHI SatoshiEsculptor
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| Ancient Chinese civilization had a very powerful influence over the whole of East Asia and many countries adopted the Chinese Calendar. According to Chinese Astrology, each year is represented by one of twelve animals, thus creating a cycle of twelve years, and the symbol for the year 2000 is that of the Dragon. Various kinds of imaginary animals appear in ancient Asian art or writings and the majority were invented in China. I think that nobody has ever equaled the ancient Chinese for the way in which they were able to imbue these animals, that nobody had ever seen, with a wealth of characteristics and symbolism, yet of them all, the Dragon was probably the greatest. In the monsoon regions of Asia where rice is the main staple, the dragon is symbolic of the water that brings both riches and disaster, in other words, it is worshipped as the god of water. Essential to all forms of life, water cycles endlessly between earth and heaven and in ancient times it was thought that the water that fell as rain had a conscious desire to return to the skies. The god of water was generally happy to live in lakes or ponds in the guise of the carp, the whiskers on the fish symbolic of its dragon origins. Eventually, there came a time when the carp would swim up rivers, climb waterfalls then, reaching a sacred mountain, revert to dragon form and fly up to heaven with a clap of thunder. It is due to this belief that it became popular to make ponds with waterfalls in gardens and stock them with carp. In Japan, there is a festival known as boys' day that is held on May 5, during which the parents of young boys fly carp streamers from poles in their gardens to symbolize their desire for their children to rise up in the world like a dragon. The Chinese legalist philosopher, Han-fei-Tzu (Hanfeizi) who lived during the Warring States Period (5 - 3 century B.C.) wrote that the scales grew upside down on a dragon's throat making that their weak-point, and if somebody touches them there, they will fly into a fury and eat the offender. He wrote this as if it were actual fact and it can be seen from this that people believed that dragons would sometimes go into a rage and destroy things. Later, the expression, "To touch the upside-down scales" came to mean, "to incur the wrath of the Emperor". Recently, the vegetation at a famous beauty spot in Japan has begun to die, creating a lot of concern. The cause is a tunnel, nine-meters in diameter, that was dug to divert flood waters from a local river but which inadvertently cut across an underground river. As a result all the water flows into the tunnel and seven years after it was built its effect can be seen in a general drying out of the area due to the lack of ground water. This shows us that the power of nature is something that surpasses time and mankind's ability to control it. In our modern rationalism we forget to revere not only water, but all the other forces of nature that used to be thought of as gods, we have lost our humility and no longer give thanks for their blessings. The results of this are now beginning to make themselves known through a series of natural disasters and ultimately it is mankind who will have to pay the price. The priority placed on the economy in China, as shown in the recent creation of dams and the development of farmland, resulted in the terrain becoming incapable of absorbing the rain that fell and led to terrible floods, that shook the state to its foundations. Recently we see a lot of cheap imported crockery from China that is decorated with a design of the five-fingered dragon which only the Chinese Imperial family used to be able to use. Now their arrogance has reached the point where they have lost their reverence of water, the dragons who originate from China have probably run out of patience with them. The dragon is a theme I have adopted in several of my works, but I have often thought it curious that the ancient Chinese should have created a mythical creature like this and used it so often as a subject in art. However, recently I feel that it is not simply an imaginary beast for which they created a shape and attributed powers to for their amusement, rather, it represents the knowledge and demeanor that mankind needs in order to live with nature. The first special project for the year 2000 is an exhibition of the dragons that I have created. I hope you will enjoy them.Translated Translated by Gavin Frew |
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