SAMURAI WALL - NHK WORLD PRIME

[Music] [Music] [Music] samurai ruled japan for centuries the armor-clad warriors fought fiercely over power their castles were fortified by majestic walls of rocks stacked one by one with skilled hands this craftsmanship survives in a handful of stone masons who build without blueprints but the samurai days are no more and so too the need for castle walls so who would have imagined in the 21st century in america's lone star state that a giant castle wall would rise [Music] once upon a time a castle stood here restoration work on its 400 year old stone wall is underway what an identity 15th generation stone mason suminori awata is leading the project using just a pry bar he deftly adjusts the boulders through 40 years of experience he has cultivated an innate awareness of space [Music] when awata receives a commission he heads first to a quarry he intensely observes the stones for him this is the most critical part of the entire process after some time he starts his selection he memorizes the characteristics of each rock then simulates their stacking he's drawing up a blueprint in his head then i'll think of which to put next to it when i've selected all the stones about 60 or 70 percent of my work is done then i only need to stack them awata is building a retaining wall for a private residence he places each one exactly as he had envisioned chopped in three days the wall is finished [Music] this town near kyoto was once the base of castle wall craftsmen called anoshu [Music] awata was raised here feel at home with these walls around i grew up with them well a typical example of our stone layout is a composition with big stones like this one and medium small ones we arrange them in an even balanced way this is the signature of anushu style the young awata loved following his grandfather makizo around his work sites [Music] when he was 15 he became an apprentice wherever they want to go he said that very often he also said there are different types of people big people small people all kinds of people make up the world building a stone wall is exactly the same you see a harmony there big rocks small rocks every rock has a role not one of them is useless or worthless i think it's exactly the same in the world [Applause] in the war-torn 16th century the most powerful samurai was oda nobunaga he commissioned local masons to use rocks to construct an elaborate fortress on a mountain and this became the archetype of castle design the major mason guild the anoshu of sakamoto traveled across japan to build castle walls the distinctive curvature was for defense as well as an elegant design element [Music] with modernization some 150 years ago most castles were destroyed and wall craftsmen lost their trade the awata family business has barely managed to survive by restoring old walls but the future looks bleak this situation is very difficult if we had many projects where we would be selecting stones and stacking them we would be constantly polishing our skills and they would be passed on to future generations and then an unexpected commission from the united states to build a castle wall in dallas texas this will be the first time for me to collaborate with contemporary architecture in america awata cautiously considers the offer the proposal came from art patrons [Music] gabriel barbier-mueller and his wife ann [Music] the barbier mueller family are renowned art collectors they're attending the paris biennale one of france's largest art and antique fairs the fair's centerpiece this samurai figure clad in antique armor [Music] a piece from gabrielle's collection the gold really stands out yeah and tonight it's gonna even be more i can imagine sashimi originally from switzerland gabrielle is a major collector of japanese armor and his collection is causing a stir in europe gabrielle owns an international real estate development firm welcome to where it all began please come in he shows us his treasures here are some of my favorites that the family has grown to love and lived with for years his collection built over 30 years now counts nearly 1 000 items this one is one of my favorite and uh with it's oni my dietary that you see here warrior to serve his needs as a warrior but also to represent himself in battle and in life by displaying it so it's the art form behind it that interests me the most gabrielle was influenced by his art-loving grandfather joseph who trained him to nurture an eye for beauty at 14 he first encountered japanese armor in paris in an antique shop he felt the presence of a samurai gazing at him obsessed by this he bought his first armor when he turned 30. armor continues to inspire him you start thinking about what that was like and the fog and the the smoke of the muskets and the people charging out of the fog and the smoke and the confusion you cannot fail to to have a certain depth of field thinking about the centuries and of of life that the armors have had every spring a festival takes place in sakamoto the old mason hub awanta has been participating in this ancient rite since he was a boy [Applause] [Music] shotoku awata has a dilemma whether he should pass down the centuries-old family tradition to his son or not of course i would like him to succeed me but at the same time i don't want to see him my son struggled i don't know what the future holds but the reality is our business is going downhill every year with fewer and fewer projects i don't want him to suffer awata isn't fully convinced about the u.s castle wall project i don't think a castle wall would fit in here doubt gabrielle's private museum well this is the x-ray you see how each is made and like here for example you see the steel this here is armor one this is the first one and i bought it in paris and it must have been brought to france in the late 19th century [Laughter] what i'm very interested in and that's why i'm interested in meeting you is the craftsmanship how things are made and the different techniques used awata senses gabrielle's passion i'm surprised and this is just part of his collection gabriel has such a strong interest in samurai culture i hope my wall will be as impressive gabrielle's firm is revitalizing a 19 block section of dallas [Music] and it's constructing a tower designed by renowned japanese architect ken gokuma for a global watchmaker the plan is for awata to build a castle-style wall around its planet from day one awata faces challenges the american side shows him around the site and they inform him that the depth of the wall is only 80 centimeters but this is not deep enough to accommodate the castle style curvature yeah we we're limited with how far out on the site we can go we swept at the bottom so basically it will just be a slanted wall that's it without suitable depth the wall would not look authentic and awata is not prepared to compromise an even bigger challenge surfaces pre-selected boulders have already been transported to the site the most crucial process drawing up a blueprint in his mind during selection is now impossible i really wish i could have chosen all the stones myself but they're here already can't do anything about it before laying the first stones a simple japanese blessing ritual will take place this is to pray to the local gods that work goes smoothly and all workers are safe with sake salt and rice he and gabrielle purify the site gabrielle arranged this he wants owata to have peace of mind before starting is everyone working with me till completion or will they change halfway all the way through the project they are introduced as veteran mexican [Music] masons that's good their chisel work looks amateurish i don't think they've ever used one in the u.s masons use machines to process stones awata has to demonstrate carving techniques using a japanese chisel don't chisel here and there do it from one side in one direction chisel like this vertically the first boulder the pivotal cornerstone okay chip communication even with an interpreter does not come easy but this is not going to stop him from building a great wall it's challenging creating a good piece under any circumstances i will do my best to make it as good as a castle wall in japan i want to show what i've got bye american mason kyle schlagenhof has volunteered to work with hawata okay the two met when awata and his father junji were invited to a workshop in california their techniques captivated him the most surprising thing to me was um suminori-san and junji-san's um ability to understand this the space the stone filled and how they could pick a stone from out in the yard and bring it over the end it would fit wow that's amazing because me i pull out the measuring tape and then like when there's a little funny piece i just cut that off [Laughter] [Music] kyle came on board to act as a mediator for owata [Music] and owata is hoping to pass something on to him the castle wall mission in texas begins with this unlikely team awata is eating the rice balls he made alone hot summer days drag on [Music] awata is increasingly frustrated the construction is way behind the three-month schedule i'm improvising here the rocks aren't matching with each other so every time i lay one i need time to reshape the next one awata is constantly going up and down the scaffolding he's having a hard time finding a stone he likes from what's left after laying one it takes him a long time to choose the next even when he finds one he has to have it cut to lock into the space [Music] what i like it will need further cutting to fit the stones around it he doesn't want to lower his standards he doesn't want to betray gabrielle's trust either but the work is taking much longer than anticipated and that means added costs these thoughts are bearing down on him our family survived for 400 years because of the trust we gain for our quality if i do poor work that betrays that trust our business will be finished sooner or later of course my work here is costing more money than in japan but i wouldn't want to quickly build something of bad quality either gabrielle closely observes the work all day long it's i see every stone being laid on the side by a water sun and i can see the progress as you can see here he's on the side right now with the yellow hat selecting the next stones it's um closes the circle between my work working with modern architects and modern buildings and collecting ancient samurai art and armor and gabrielle shares his passion for samurai culture with his wife i went to kyoto and saw the tokugawa residence there i had so much fun looking at that these these walls are curved because it helps the weight of the stone helps to avoid the stability of the wall that's why they resist the earthquake but also it makes it almost impossible to scale because they're so it's occurring smooth too smooth this is almost like a modern sculpture or not an art object you use your your your passion for japanese samurai that segued into this beautiful wall castle castle wall of stone in the middle of dallas texas and you didn't have to do that you just can't help yourself but that's what i like about the samurai [Music] [Music] is [Music] the men are now chiseling better [Music] and often body language is enough [Music] awata has his eye on his american apprentice okay okay all right awanta is pushing kyle to improve his techniques of hand chiseling stone surfaces dangerous kyle is working all hours to create this beautiful surface i've been asking kyle to pursue work like this now he can do it without me telling him anything [Music] awanta and kyle are sharing an apartment while in dallas [Music] cirque my son that's my best my boy [Music] my home that's your home home that's beautiful does he miss you [Laughter] [Music] owata now starts on the curvature which he had insisted upon [Music] originally the wall was designed to end here a straight vertical but i managed to extend up to here and the gradient will be steep looks really good just seeing all the questions that we've been able to ask him every item that we've looked at the different different issues like the corner and how well that would meet it's very easy to be able to trust the work that he's going to put into it because of how he works with teaching everybody the amount of care that he takes with all the stones that we picked awata lets kyle take charge of the most important task processing the stone for the curvature [Music] kyle now has an understanding of how stones define awata's life he chisels away the stone in the way castle masons have done for centuries with great care awata and his team place the stones kyle has finished okay stop [Music] and the curvature the symbol of samurai castle walls is now complete [Music] [Music] is stone masons who supported their japanese maestro are already putting the final touches on the wall after 122 days together the last boulder oh it locks perfectly in place go home guys me what i learned the most is what what the memories of my muscles you know how i'm a better stone cutter than i was when i started awata delegates the final work to kyle he's heading home [Music] [Music] thank you [Laughter] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] dallas's latest landmark with the samurai wall the imposing foundation links the ground with the contemporary tower making it look like a 21st century [Music] castle [Music] [Music] the stone has the marks of the hand chisel just like in japanese castles [Music] [Applause] well i really like the way this is turned out idea worked can go and i thought that this would be a nice space for the modern building and it worked out perfect japanese castle wall curves and can delivered curve and that they have in uh that you see in osaka or tokyo and uh you know even also the details like the the stone cord by hand and it's really perfect joinery it's a well done and collaboration between japan and texas and mexico and switzerland [Music] mm-hmm [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] you

Channel: NHK WORLD-JAPAN

Views: 414,346

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Id: f9wGOXXoCuY

Length: 49min 20sec (2960 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 11 2020