KIKAbooks
The publication introduces the Katsura tree as a point of departure to map a rich ecology of relations and experiences with materials (recipes, exercises, and images) that accompany stories—fictional and “factual”—of a multi-sensorial experience of the fall season.
The writing questions modern/colonial binaries like east and west, nature and culture, fact and fiction, higher and lower senses, and the human and non-human. It calls readers to exercise awareness of their environments and imagine along with them.
The Katsura tree is an elemental spirit of the Japanese landscape in the fall season. As the transformation of the Katsura’s colored leaves and their enchanting sweet scent changes the sensorial experience of their environment, they remind us of our connection to the seasons. The tree’s embeddedness in Japanese folklore and traditional storytelling leads us to a yokai supernatural spirit, legend, and gardener: Katsura-Otoko, or, in Chinese, Wu Gang. His efforts in pruning the Katsura tree on the moon to cause lunar cycles connects cosmology to ecology as a natural part of our earthly existence. The story’s premise serves as an inspiration and starting point for this book.
Book by Marjolein van der Loo
Design by Yannick Nuss
Published by Hand Saw Press, Tokyo
《 KATSURA HITO 》 Marjolein van der Loo / ノーマル製本
通常価格
¥2,500
著者 : マリョライン・ファン・デル・ロー / Marjolein van der Loo
発行 : Hand Saw Press, Tokyo
ページ数 : 112p
サイズ : 180mm×130mm
発行年 : 2022年
言語 : 日 / 英
本書は桂の木を出発点として、物語に寄り添う素材（レシピ、エクササイズ、イメージ）を使って、関係や体験の豊かな生態系をマッピングすることを紹介している。これは秋の季節を多感に体験するフィクションであり、「事実」でもあるのだ。
東洋と西洋、自然と文化、事実と虚構、高次と低次の感覚、人間と非人間など、現代と植民地の二項対立を問う文章。読者には、環境に対する意識を高め、環境とともに想像することが求められている。
桂は、日本の秋の心象風景に宿る木だ。桂の紅葉とその魅惑的な甘い香りが、景観の知覚に変化をもたらすことで、季節とのつながりを思い出させてくれる。日本の民話や昔話によく登場するこの本は、妖怪、伝説上の人物、庭師とされている「桂男」（中国語では「呉剛」）へとつながっていく、桂男がツキにある桂の木を剪定し、月の周期を生み出そうとする話は、地球の住人である私たちの自然な一部分として、宇宙論を生態系に結びつける。この物語は、本プロジェクトの発想の源であり、出発点なのだ。
The publication introduces the Katsura tree as a point of departure to map a rich ecology of relations and experiences with materials (recipes, exercises, and images) that accompany stories—fictional and “factual”—of a multi-sensorial experience of the fall season.
The writing questions modern/colonial binaries like east and west, nature and culture, fact and fiction, higher and lower senses, and the human and non-human. It calls readers to exercise awareness of their environments and imagine along with them.
The Katsura tree is an elemental spirit of the Japanese landscape in the fall season. As the transformation of the Katsura’s colored leaves and their enchanting sweet scent changes the sensorial experience of their environment, they remind us of our connection to the seasons. The tree’s embeddedness in Japanese folklore and traditional storytelling leads us to a yokai supernatural spirit, legend, and gardener: Katsura-Otoko, or, in Chinese, Wu Gang. His efforts in pruning the Katsura tree on the moon to cause lunar cycles connects cosmology to ecology as a natural part of our earthly existence. The story’s premise serves as an inspiration and starting point for this book.
Book by Marjolein van der Loo
Design by Yannick Nuss
Published by Hand Saw Press, Tokyo