麻風 mafu
Biography
10歳からよさこいソーランを踊り始める。
14歳で旗振りの力強さに憧れ、踊り子から旗振りに転身。
その稀なる身体能力を生かし高校時には他チームの旗の指導者となる。
よさこいの旗振りに注力する中高校6年間の登下校路に美しい川があった。
川沿いの柳の風に揺れる。サギが川に降ち、飛び立つ様。
川の水面、羽の曲線。川には鯉が泳ぐ。またその曲線。
日々、目にする森羅の美しさを旗で表現できないかと意識が変わり始める。
力強く男らしい旗振りから、楽曲や踊り子との同調した緩急の表現へ。
そして、自然事象を手本にし、旗の表現へと移り変わっていく。
そこへ、葛藤が生まれる。生きた布を表現したい反面、旗にはチームのデザインが入っている。
いくら表現を深めても理解されない。むしろ、デザインが見辛くなる等不評も出た。
「デザインされた旗」は、同時に「看板」でもある、と気付く。
「デザインされた旗」から「無垢な旗」へ
その気付きを経て、18歳で同チームを脱退、千葉県へ移住。
純粋な布の動きを表現するため、無地の白い旗を自作しソロでの表現活動を始める。
語り、シンガー、各種ダンス、書道家などコラボレーションする。
様々なジャンルとのコレボレーション経験により、
「相手を活かして自分も活きる」の精神が湧き上がってくる。
相手の想像を旗で具体化したい。
それは、表現者との相対だけでなく、自然との相対表現へと繋がっていく。
「森羅万象との相対」
山に入り、沢を見つけて、そこに吹く風を全身で確かめる。
流れと同じ速さで逆方向に泳ぐ鯉から、流れを捉えることを教わる。
光、影、風、曲線、時空。
白旗とは、光と影を映し、風の形を表し、そこにある森羅万象を写すものと感じ始める。
「掲げる意味へ」
表現のスタイルが精査されていくにつれ、旗の意味を再認識するようになる。
白は降伏の証。無用な戦いを避けている、負けることは守ることでもある。
白の誇り。政治的意味も持っている。では、ほかの色は?
旗揚げ。始まりを表す縁起の良い言葉。掲げることにも意味があった。
Dip the Flag.
そして、今、旗の持つ意味、表現する意味も、日々探求を続けている。
Starts dancing in a Yosakoi-Soran dance team at the age of 10.
At 14, becomes enthralled by the dynamic vigor of the flag-wavers, and switches from dancer to flag-waver. Utilizing his gifted physical abilities, he became a coach to the flag-wavers of other teams during high school.
During the 6 years of junior high and high school when he was focusing his efforts as a Yosakoi flag-waver, there was a beautiful river next to the road commuting to school.
The willow trees by the river bank sways in the wind. The snowy heron lands and flies away: the surface of the river, the lines of the wings. The carps that swim in the river and its physical lines.
How can I express the beauty of nature I behold every day with the flag?
The mind starts to ponder and change.
From the powerful, masculine flag-waving, to the expression of tempo in synchrony with the music and the dancers. Gradually transitioning into his art form of flag manipulation.
Hence, a conflict emerged. As much as he wanted to express a living fabric through his performance, he was waving a flag with a team design. No matter how much one crafts his art, it couldn’t be understood. His new way of expression received criticism; such as that the design on the flag can’t be clearly seen. It was a point he realized that a “designed flag” is also a “signboard”.
From a “designed flag” to a “blank flag”.
With that realization, he leaves the team at the age of 18 and moves to Chiba prefecture.
In order to express the sheer movements of fabric, he creates a large, self-made plain, white flag, and begins his solo artistic activities; collaborating with storytellers, singers, various kinds of dancers, calligraphers, etc.
Through the experience of collaborating with various genres, the spirit of “Leveraging others and leveraging oneself” wells up inside of him. The desire to incarnate the imagination of others though his flag. This did not stop within the range of engagement with other artists, but transcended to his engagement with nature and its incarnation through his art.
“Engaging with the universe and all of its natural phenomena”.
Going into the mountains, finding a stream, verifying the wind there with the whole body. Learning to capture the flow; from the carps that swims against the river flow at the same speed.
Light, shadow, wind, contour, time and space.
Starts to understand that the blank flag can project light and shadow, show the shape of wind and potray the universe and nature around it.
“Towards the meaning of raising a flag”.
As he scrutinizes and refines his style of expression, he begins to reaffirm the significance of a (blank) flag. White is a symbol of surrender. Avoiding unnecessary conflict. Loosing is also protecting; the honor within white. Encompassing political meanings as well. Then what of the other colors? “Hata-a-ghe (raising the flag)”. An auspicious word in Japanese that means the beginning. Symbolic meanings for raising a (blank) flag was there.
Dip the Flag.
What the flag encompasses, what and why I am expressing through it; day by day, I continue this quest.