Inoue Yui is a native of the city of Toyohashi in Aichi Prefecture. She led the project members to conduct fieldwork throughout Honokuni, taking human activities such as migration and trade as the starting point for re-thinking how our world works. This project began in November 2021.

Honokuni is an old name for the Higashi Mikawa region in the eastern part of Aichi Prefecture, signifying a country of abundant harvests. Honokuni refers to the area on both sides of the Toyokawa River as it flows down from the mountainous area of Oku Mikawa, including the Toyohashi Plain and extending to the Atsumi Peninsula.

Inoue and the researchers gathered flotsam from the coast open to the Pacific Ocean and from the sea area protected by the Atsumi Peninsula, collected clay soils from around some of the many ancient kiln sites in the area, and observed stones on riversides in the Toyokawa river basin to study their provenance. These activities gave them a feel for the roots of the land. They also learned how to make some of the decorations used in local festivals and rituals, and listened to folk stories as they toured some of the actual locations that appear in the tales. Throughout their activities, they elicited the cooperation of experts and local people to help them discover more about Honokuni.

This exhibit is based on the idea of Honokuni being a node for active exchange of people, things, and information since ancient times, with sea, river, and land routes linking East and West passing through the area. Inoue formed an image of the region as a naturally occurring marketplace, emerging in an area where people tended to converge. The venue is set up as a space incorporating trading goods created based on materials and techniques that Inoue and the project members acquired, or on local stories that they discovered. It also incorporates artifacts and other exhibits that bring to mind landscapes derived from the climate and natural features that gave the region its characteristics, or that hint at the many and diverse links between the region and the outside world.

On a number of days during Aichi Triennale 2022, the researchers are turning the exhibition space into a marketplace,* a workshop where people can exchange things (or knowledge, skills) for trading goods.

* The marketplace is scheduled for the weekends of August 20/21 and September 24/25.

Selected Works & Awards

Her major exhibitions include: Soft Territory, Shiga Prefectural Museum of Art (2021; Japan); Yokohama Paratriennale 2017 (Kanagawa, Japan); and SOKO LABO, Setouchi International Art Festival 2016 (Kagawa, Japan).

Exhibition

• Installation view at Aichi Triennale 2022
• Project for Exploring Honokuni, 2021–2022
• Photo: ToLoLo studio