The House Dreams of the House - vol.2 - in München
2023 Spring / Summer
Collaboration with Hahn Wensch Architekten
Photo by Maiko Hahn (Exhibition), and wyes architects (Furniture)
This is the record of a very small exhibition that took place in a Munich apartment without any announcement or invitation.
The furniture that still stands quietly in the house in Meguro today, the furniture that moved with the family from the house in Akasaka to Meguro. Today, it is impossible to determine when and how each piece of furniture became part of the house.
We measured and photographed each of the silent pieces of furniture, not to prove its authenticity, but rather to draw their individual portraits. Then we collected old memories of the furniture through conversations.
The measurement drawings and photographs were sent by airmail from Tokyo to Munich. The portraits were framed there and displayed in a Munich apartment; they are shown here with the Munich apartment in the background. In a parallel universe, perhaps the furniture would now actually be in Munich. An exhibition like a fragment mingling with the dreams of the house in Meguro.
This was called a 'Katana-Dansu (sword chest)'. In the past, this may have been what used to contain a sword. We threw unnecessary things in here that we couldn't be bothered to put away. I don't have any memories, I don't know anything about it. The fact that this is at the entrance means that when it was in Akasaka, it was on the right side as you walked in the door...
It's folk art-style furniture. Isn't this for sitting?
I think not. Because Japanese people didn't sit in chairs.
If it were in Europe, it would look like a chair if it had a backrest.
There's that kind of furniture. It can also be used for storage, like.
Furniture no.01 | Katana-Dansu
Size : W995×D324×H475
Material : wood, steel
Place : entrance
I heard this is a good one. My brother wanted one. I think it was after my father passed away. He wanted to take this chest. But Sacchan said, "Not now. It just fits in the entrance and I don't want it to go away". After that, the matter was mooted.
At Akasaka, this chest was just inside the entrance. It was in front of the entrance, or maybe at the entrance to the parlor. We called it a 'Chosen-Dansu (Korean chest)'.
It has a nice atmosphere. What did you put in it?
I do remember that in the drawer was a pack of cigarettes my dad used to smoke called 'Hope'. They were short, only 10 cigarettes in a little box. I also remember there were golf pins, coins, things like that.
When I was little, my mother's brother, my uncle, was short of money. So I used to take cigarettes out of the drawer and give them to him. So often I would take cigarettes out of the drawer and give them to him. He was happy because he was so broke he couldn't even afford cigarettes.
I have no recollection of what was in the big drawer.
Furniture no.02 | Chosen-Dansu
Size : W738×D396×H1164
Material : wood, brass
Place : entrance
This is old, old, old... and it's from Akasaka. We always called it "cabinet". It was in my mother's room.
Why are the dishes here? Since Akasaka?
I don't know. I don't know what they put in it at Akasaka. See, the tea chest in the kitchen on the second floor? On the left side when you came in. It was located where the cabinet is now. And then... well, I don't know...
Oh, well, I guess they took the tea chest to my grandmother's room. That's why they bought the cabinet, I'm sure. I'm sure. My grandmother was going to move into our house, so they added an extra room, and I'm sure they took the tea chest to grandmother's place, so maybe they put the dishes in the cabinet as a tea chest, I don't know.
So you take the dishes out of the cabinet and drink tea over the kotatsu?
No, I didn't. You didn't do that.
Furniture no.07 | Cabinet
Size : W1497×D421×H1452+220
Material : wood, brass, glass
Place : Japanese-style room
It was on the picture of Akasaka, wasn't it? We used to call it "Shiho-Dana". But now it's getting very worn out.
How do you write "Shiho-Dana" in kanji?
I think it's "yon" for "yon" and "tanana" for "shiho" or "shelf" for "tana"? I think it's "shihoudana.
Because the four sides are open?
I don't know.
Do you put something on the shelves?
No, I don't remember any decorations on the shelves. In Akasaka, it was in a 10-mat room, at the very back. I also remember there was an ashtray or something in there. I remember there was an ashtray or something in there. But I don't know if it was in Meguro or not...
But this shelf seems to break easily even if you put heavy things on it.
It doesn't look like something you can put big things on.
What did you put on it? It was in the Japanese-style room at the far end, wasn't it? Wasn't it a room to show people?
Yes, it was. When guests came, we would have a sake party. But we only had a party once a year, like at New Year's, or something like that. Usually it was the room where my father slept. In the old days, the four of us used to sleep together, but my brother and I had moved out, and in the end, my father was the only one sleeping there.
I used to look up at the ceiling when I was little and think the pattern on the boards was that of a shark. That ceiling is now in my mother's room.
Furniture no.12 | Shiho-Dana
Size : W491×D312×H1392
Material : wood, brass
Place : Japanese-style room
Yes, this was so much dust, this hanging light. It was like the tassel was already frayed. Yes. and there was a great, 30 years' worth of dust on the shade of the hanging light.
At Akasaka, these were in two Japanese-style rooms, one 8-mat and one 10-mat. The tassels are already falling apart, you know. ...It's an antique, really.
Well, you decided to clean this up, didn't you?
Oh, that's because I was bitten by a tick. I don't like cleaning at all, but I was bitten by a tick, when I slept. I had an allergic reaction. So, I knew I would never want to have that kind of experience again, so I searched the Internet and found that ticks increase in dirty places such as dust, dirt, grime, and I don't know, hair...
That's not a surprise. lol
Yeah? ...Then I changed my mind, and I saw that there was a lot of dust in my house.
Up until now, I thought that even if the house was dirty, it was Sacchan's responsibility. I used to think that even though Sacchan didn't do anything, it wasn't my responsibility, but now that she's gone, I can't think that way anymore. lol
So I did a thorough cleaning, which was a lot of work, because there was 30 years worth of dust.
Furniture no.14 | Pendant Light
Size : φ303×H157+L564
Material : frosted glass, silk, brass, light bulb, code
Place : Japanese-style room
There was really chairs where the bicycle is now. There were probably two chairs in the parlor upstairs. I wonder if they put the bicycles there after my father left. I wonder what happened to it.
There's only one in here, right?
Eh, we have two, right?
Oh, we have two? Where?
In the parlor?
Well, I think the other one is in the storage...
A storage room? Oh, I see. There can't be just one.
Two?
Yeah, I think there were two. Because I think they were placed side by side at the entrance.
Why were they on the front porch?
Sit down and...I don't know. lol
I never really thought about it. Everything was just so natural...
I don't even know when they bought these chairs or when they came to our house.
Furniture no.29 | Stool
Size : W483×D465×H921, SH415
Material : wood
Place : entrance → parlor, storage room
