``Manazuru Machinare'' where you can experience the charm of a town with ``standards of beauty'' through art and interaction

"Standards of beauty" that live in the lives of townspeople

--Please tell us about the origin of "Manazuru Machinare".

Hirai : Manazuru has unique rules for town development called ``standards of beauty.'' For example, there are color standards for buildings in places like Kyoto, but in Manazuru there is only one word: ``appropriate colors.'' There are also community standards, such as the mix of households, as well as the color and shape of buildings. If it's an apartment complex, we want it to be able to meet a variety of needs, so that not only people with children can live there, but also the elderly and single people.

Director Hironori Hirai and executive committee chair Mihoko Urabe

Urabe : However, it was not something that the town planned and created from the beginning, but rather an ordinance to protect Manazuru's original history and people's lives forever. There are quite a few people who immigrate because they fell in love with beauty standards, but from the perspective of those who have lived here for a long time, they are just verbalizing things that were commonplace in their lives. The scenery, the lives of the people in the town, and the people themselves are wonderful.

Hirai : In 2014, this ordinance, which is the foundation of our company, celebrated its 20th anniversary, and people who love this town got together to form an executive committee and held the first meeting. The original members include current university students and an architect couple who moved to Manazuru when the event was held last year, and now the group includes a wide range of people from their 20s to their 50s.

Community Manazuru is also a model house for "beauty standards". Komatsuishi from Manazuru and rope used in fishing are used throughout.

--It seems like the town and art are a good match.

Hirai : Manazuru is a port town, but there is a lot of greenery, and while there are people living in vacation homes, there are also people who live their lives firmly rooted in the land, and there is also a very distinctive local industry called the stone industry. And there are standards of beauty, and there are so many different ones, so for me, it's not only about conveying the beauty of Manazuru, but I also think it's meaningful as a thought experiment. When people in Tokyo walk around these places, they may feel something that they don't feel in Tokyo, and conversely, when people who are fed up with the countryside see the city from a new perspective through art, There may be some good things about it that you haven't noticed before.

Even if you come by a regular sightseeing bus, eat delicious fish, go to the peninsula, see Mitsuishi and return home, or simply come to Manazuru knowing the beauty standards and walk around the city, you will be able to see the true beauty of Manazuru. I don't think I can convey how good it is. Together with your guide, you will walk through narrow alleys that are not on tourist maps, go around the backside of the town, open shutters and secret doors, look at artworks, and wonder what you will take home with you. I wonder if there is a meaning in doing this as a community development/art project.

Yasuto Suzuki's work illuminates items once used in a fish store.