Kyoto, a vessel of memories. A space for the future.

Kyoto, a vessel of memories. A space for the future.

The spring breeze caresses the surface of the Kamo River.
A summer shower crashes down on the cobblestones.
The autumn light casts long shadows on the lattice door,
The silence of winter makes the outline of the town stand out clearly.

The city of Kyoto has been around for a thousand years, accumulating many layers of seasonal memories.
The path is never a straight one.
Burned, destroyed, rebuilt, sometimes forgotten, sometimes remembered,
This town has chosen its future again and again.

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The town remembers

The color of soot remaining on the beams of a townhouse.
An old camellia tree blooming under the eaves of the temple.
The sound of someone's footsteps echoed on the corner of the cobblestones.
All of these are traces of the "human activities" that Kyoto has remembered.

Not a record, but a memory.
Something with a warmth and presence that cannot be captured by numbers or drawings.
It could be the steam from your miso soup in the morning,
It might be the collar of a kimono undershirt sewn by my grandmother.
Or perhaps it was the sound of a flute heard on a festival night.

Kyoto is a place where such "nameless memories" are preserved.
It has quietly resided in buildings, landscapes, words, and customs.

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"Preserving" is not just about preserving

But memories fade.
The town houses age, the cobblestones peel away, and the language is forgotten.
Leaving it behind is never an easy thing to do.

The question here is, "What will be left behind, how, and for whom?"
Rather than simply preserving the form, we want to preserve the meaning and atmosphere contained within.
How can we pass this on to the future?

For example, when leaving a certain townhouse.
Not only do we protect the design and structure of the building,
The time that once flowed there,
Even people's gazes and the rhythm of their lives
How can we pass this on to the next generation?

It is not about protecting cultural properties,
This is an activity that could be called "editing memories."

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Cultivating the future

The future doesn't suit Kyoto.
I sometimes hear words like that.
But is that really true?

The millennium capital has always chosen the future.
The elegance of the Heian period, the beauty of the Muromachi period, and the modernity of the Meiji period.
Everything was cutting edge at the time.

Now, at this very moment we stand,
It will become a "memory" for someone in the future.
That is why we are being asked how we live in the present.

Preserving tradition does not mean remaining unchanged,
Change, but don't lose sight of your roots.
Rather than rejecting newness,
Finding the "uniqueness" in it.

For example, renovating a townhouse into a cafe,
Serving new dishes in old dishes,
You can also shine digital light through Japanese paper.
I believe that everything is an act of "cultivating the future."

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The blank space called Kyoto

The charm of Kyoto lies in what goes unspoken.
Don't explain too much, don't embellish too much,
Leaving some space invites the viewer's imagination.

It is similar to the "kakekotoba" of waka poetry,
Just as one word can have many meanings,
Many memories overlap in one landscape.

WABISUKE is also learning from the margins of Kyoto,
We weave together words, products, and spaces.
Don't tell everything, don't show everything,
But there certainly seems to be "something" there.

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Between memory and future

Kyoto is not a museum of the past.
It is a living culture that is still breathing and changing.

What attracts us to this town is
There is a sense of nostalgia and newness.
This may be because they coexist without contradiction.

Embracing the memories, I walk towards the future without fear.
This attitude is the very beauty of Kyoto,
It’s also what we aim for.

The countless memories that reside in this town
I hope that it will continue to be a light that illuminates someone's future.
And our own work, too,
May it quietly and surely become one of those memories.