Nakanojo
Masao Iyoku

In 2019, in Switzerland where he visited in connection with kirie (paper cutout), he visited four of “the most beautiful villages in Switzerland” to inspect the town development of each village. Hot springs, flowers, and art. He challenges a characteristic town building by taking advantage of diversity.

A characteristic town planning such as flowers and art, for the next generation

A visit to “The most beautiful villages in Switzerland” was realized by his hobby of “kirie” because of being a member of “The most beautiful villages in Japan”. Since the 17th century, kirie works with narrative and individual expressiveness have been created in Switzerland, where kirie have been flourishing. The technique has been handed down as a traditional craft, and it is said that there are about 1,000 kirie artists in Switzerland.
“There are people who make a living properly in fields such as kirie and design of commemorative coins and it was impressive that they were creating small but distinctive towns such as cat-themed town. And, after all, it's flowers. The beauty of flowers is conspicuous anywhere in Switzerland. In Nakanojo-machi, which has been called “Hana to Yu no machi (a town of flowers and hot springs)”, one of efforts which they are focusing in recent years is the flower plants production of Kuni. 200 kinds of flowers such as hellebore and alchemilla are despatched to Tokyo and Osaka as “Kuni flowers” and their quality is highly evaluated. “Kuni flowers are branded and traded for a certain price. Flowers like wild grasses and flowers, used to be an appendage in the past are now in increasing demand as the leading role and are used for bouquets and flower arrangements.
The strength of Kuni flowers, which is supplied not only to the market but also to florist shops, is that onsite information like “now, these flowers are required” is provided directly to producers' side. “Thanks to the business model that if making good quality products, it will certainly sell, there is a good synergy effect, such that advanced farmers who moved from other place and start producing flower plants continue to increase.
A strong ally for such advanced farmers is “the presence of pioneering leader”. It seems that the personality and warmth of the local people have contributed greatly, such as lending machinery necessary for production and sharing seedlings free of charge.

Interviewed in January, 2020
Writer : Hideko Takahashi / Photographer : Hiroyuki Tamura