KASHI NO HEKI

2018

Miyamori was invited by architecture team designing Hotel Karen on Qiandao Lake in China to create an installation for their lobby space. Qiandao Lake is a man-made lake and reservoir, also known as Thousand Island Lake, on the Eastern coast of China. Over 50 years ago, the lake once consisted of small villages on mountains, which had become “islands” due to the dams of the lake. Miyamori was inspired by the juxtaposition of a luxury modern hotel with a more classic village.

The remains of the village’s history were still scattered on the “islands” around Qiandao Lake, even after the people had long left them. Miyamori thought about the old and new lives of people at this site. She used old objects she had gathered around these “islands” and covered them in Washi with tree rubbings from around the lake, embracing the history of the people.

In Chinese, 和氏之璧, translates to “Mr. He’s Jade,” a story known in Japanese as kashi-no-heki. Though “和氏” is known as kashi in the tale, the word is ordinarily pronounced in Japanese as “washi,” the same pronunciation as the paper that covers these objects. The origin comes from an old Chinese tale of an ordinary rock found by a villager and offered to the King. After being polished, this ordinary rock was in fact a jade. It had actually been one of the largest and brilliant jades, proving invaluable to even Emperors. Miyamori uses this concept to find these objects considered ordinary, and uncover their inner beauty and value. 

Interestingly enough, the character in Chinese, “璧”, meaning “jade” is only a few strokes away from the Japanese character “壁,” kabe, meaning “wall.” While these humble objects represent the inner beauty, they are installed upon a “wall.”