I would first like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the ward heads of the Abeta, Haneda, Kisaki, Maehara, Nakane, Takaku, and Washijuku districts, the landowners, and all the volunteers whose cooperation made AMABIKI 2025 a resounding success.

AMABIKI 2025 commenced on September 21, the summer heat still lingering in the air. It drew to a close on November 23, following the solar term known as Minor Snow in the traditional lunisolar calendar. Amid all the clamor about climate change, looking back, I recall two months of abrupt transition from summer to early winter: eagerly awaiting cool, sunny autumn days, only to find myself shivering in the morning frost before I knew it. Even with such extreme weather conditions, the days brought a tangible sense of nature’s resilient transformation: the once-lush green leaves turned crimson and gold, and the short buckwheat shoots grew tall, bloomed, and offered up their seeds, ready for harvest.

I believe the artists themselves were able to fully appreciate the dialogue between their works and nature, the shifting atmosphere, and the relationships between their creations and the landscapes in which they were installed. We also warmly welcomed a large number of visitors and heard many words of praise from them. We take pride in the conviction that the exhibition allowed every single attendee to thoroughly enjoy themselves.

The bus tours, which were canceled last time due to lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and transformed into an artist talk, made its comeback this year. It proved highly successful, and reservations filled up quickly.

We also held workshops for the frst time since 2015, which were enjoyed by children and their parents both within and outside the city. Seeing so many children gathered together, absorbed in their woodworking projects, was truly heartwarming. It’s rare to see something like this happening outside of the environs of a school or daycare.

Sakuragawa was designated as a depopulated area in 2022. This is happening in regional cities all across Japan; as the national birthrate continues to decline, elementary and junior high schools are being consolidated and closed. I keenly sense how the increase in vacant houses is inversely proportional to our decreasing opportunities to see children’s faces in wonder and play.

For a more intimate experience of my work, I was given the opportunity to display my piece in the garden of a vacant house. The main building, long uninhabited, has deteriorated to the point where it would be difficult to restore it, yet the trees in the garden continue to live on, blooming each year and scattering their fallen leaves. Standing in the garden, you feel as though the daily lives of those who once lived here are resurrected.

I recall reading this in a local publication some time ago, but these words of a local junior high student have stayed with me: “Sakuragawa City is a waste.” When you think more about these words, the underlying message is that it’s too good to waste—in other words, something we value. The rich natural beauty and stunning views of the Tsukuba mountain range, an environment where children can grow up freely and safely, and the deep-rooted culture of this land… there is surely still much we can do to transform these feelings of “waste” into “a source of pride.”

For 30 years through these sculpture exhibitions, we have been involved with this special place where people have built their lives and a history has been formed. It is my sincere hope that, within this history, AMABIKI will be engraved more deeply in the hearts of the children who are growing up here and the adults who were born and raised in this region, as one of our important cultural elements.
What can AMABIKI achieve now, through the medium of a sculpture exhibition, as a source of pride for the people of this land, and ultimately as a hub driving artistic and cultural expression? I hope we’ll approach this question with sincerity and dedication, with the aim of bringing future activities to life.

AMABIKI Exhibition Executive Committee
KOBINATA Chiaki, Participating Artist