Memories of Abiko: The intersection of literature and folk art

by kataokatetsuya October 11, 2025

Abiko is a quiet town located on the banks of Lake Teganuma, at the eastern edge of the Kanto Plain.
This place was once a "crossroads of ideas" where writers from the Shirakaba school and thinkers from the Mingei movement gathered, talked, and created.

The Shirakaba School's Perspective: Harmony between the Individual and Nature

In the 1910s, Shiga Naoya, Mushanokoji Saneatsu and other members of the Shirakaba group left the turmoil of Tokyo and settled in Abiko.
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"Living in nature is the root of literature"
— Naoya Shiga (words spoken during his stay in Abiko)

Their literature is deeply troubled by the landscape of Abiko.
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The Breath of Folk Crafts: Yanagi Muneyoshi and the "Discovery of Beauty"

In the 1920s, Yanagi Muneyoshi also lived in Abiko.
What he focused on was the "simple beauty" that resides in the pottery of an anonymous craftsman.
The Shirakaba-ha's "respect for the individual" and the Mingei's "beauty of innocence" may seem at first glance to be contrasting, but they resonated with each other in the town of Abiko.

"Beauty appears in the stillness of the heart"
— Soetsu Yanagi

Yanagi had a deep relationship with Shiga Naoya and exchanged ideas with him.
Literature and crafts, words and vessels.
They quietly blended together in the soil and water of Abiko.

A way of thinking nurtured by the land: Abago's magnetic field

This is because it was the perfect combination of distance from the city and proximity to nature.
Here you can find the ``tranquility'' and ``stimulation'' you need.

• The waterside of Lake Teganuma is a mirror that cultivates poetic sensibilities
• Rural life embodies the "beauty of life" of Mingei
• With writers and thinkers coming here, Abiko became a "laboratory for ideas."

Abiko is not just a place name.
It is a "landscape of ideas" in which literature and crafts join hands.