Fukugi 福木

Fukugi is a strong tree, very common in Okinawa. The name means "tree of good fortune". An Okinawan elder explained to me that in old times these trees meant a very good protection agains the strong winds of the typhoon. Whose house was surrounded by fukugi trees was lucky, because his home was spared from the devastation of the typhoons. Hence the name: tree of good fortune.

福木は沖縄でよく見える強い木です。昔は、お家の周りに福木をたくさん植えた人はラッキでした：台風が来たら、この強い木で家が守られました。それで、福木と言う名前がつけられたらしいです。

Today there are very few areas on the main island with old villages hidden among fukugi trees. One such area is Bise, just north from the famous Churaumi Aquarium. For anyone who would like to get a glimpse into old Okinawa or who likes to listen to the music of the wind among trees, I recommend a visit to the area.

今日は福木の中で隠れたお家の村が沖縄で少なくなっています。本部半島の備瀬は一番有名なところかもしれません。昔の沖縄の雰囲気を覗きたい人、

あるいは木漏れ日を眺めたり、風邪の音色を聞いたりするのが好きな人には絶対

おすすめします。

Fukugi has been very important in old times for textile dying too. However surprising it might be, beautiful bright yellow color can be obtained from the bark of the fukugi tree. We used fukugi to dye the bingata costumes for Under the Same Sun too.


福木は昔から紅型の染め物でも大切でした。びっくりするかもしれませんが、福木の皮は明るい黄色になります。「同じ大陽のもとに」の衣装も、福木の黄色で染めました。

Bingata's beauty lies in its vivid colours, so in order to learn where these colours come from I wanted to challenge myself and do it the old way: dye with fukugi bark. With the help of an adventurous bingata artist, Ishida Rei and with the support of Ishigaki Akiko and the Shiroma Bingata Studio it all became possible.

The process is long and difficult, but it is worth the hassle. Plus, as Hundertwasser says: "With ready made colours you cannot work well. They are manufactured by somebody else, they lose creativity."

紅型の魅力は明るい色の中でありますので、この色の由来を分かるために、昔のやり方で、福木の皮を使って染めることにしました。紅型の作家さんの友達、石田麗、そして、織物のアーティスト石垣明子と城間紅型工房のサポートがあったからこの複雑な作業を成功しました。

プロセスは長くて難しいですが、やって良かったです。その上、フンデルトヴァッサーの言葉によると：「既製品を使うときれいな仕事はできない。生産されたもので、創造力をなくしてしまいます。」

First, we met Ishigaki Akiko, who is a weaver in the remote island of Iriomote. She and her high quality works are well known and highly estimated all around Japan. She uses natural dyes. 

I will never forget what she said about weaving: "Weaving starts with planting a mulberry tree for the silkworms. Good work takes a lot of time and you have to be in harmony with the land". 

She gave us two boxfuls of fukugi tree bark to experiment with. She said they cut the bark of the tree while the tree is still alive - you have to be gentle and know how much and from where you can take the bark, and then the tree can recover and grow on. This way you don't need to cut out a tree in order to have materials for dyeing.

まず、石垣明子さんと出会いました。彼女は西表島で工房を持っている日本で有名な織物アーティストです。彼女によりますと：「織物は、カイコのため桑の木を植えることから始まります。いい仕事は時間がかかります。そして、土を理解して、尊敬しながら作らないと、いい作品にはなりません。」

明子さんから二箱の福木の皮をもらいました。彼女のやり方では、福木が生きたまま皮を向きます。全部ではなく、少しだけ向きます、そうすると、木は治って、生き続けます。木を殺さなくても染の材料が手に入れます。

The next step is to boil the tree bark for one whole day. Then the yellowish, rather ugly liquid should be filtered two or three times. The next day we applied it on the textile. We put on three layers of colour, but it was still no more than a dull ocre. Then we applied alum on the textile and it was a miracle: as the textile dried and the two materials mixed, the colour changed to a strong and bright yellow. 

Finally, we washed the textile in the sea (it was needed for other reasons, not for the yellow) and the colour got even brighter in the salty water. The picture above was taken right after the costume bathed in the sea.

Even now, every time I wear or I wash the costume, I notice some change in the colour. It looks like the natural dye is alive and (like us humans) changes according to its environment.

次のステップは、木の皮を一日湧かします。そして、この結果で出た怪しい色の液体を三回こします。次の日、布に三回色を塗ります。その段階でも、鈍い黄土にしかなりませんでした。その後、布にミョウバンを塗ると、きれいに発色します。

最後、衣装を海で水もとしました。そこでも海の塩水で色がまた強くて明るくなりました。

今でも、衣装を洗ったり着けたりすると、色が毎回違います。植物で作った色は生きている気がします。

Last but not least, let me post a video of the fukugi trees from Bise. 

thanks for the special smoke effects to "The Oba" (Granny) below↓

最後に、備瀬の福木のビデオをアップします。この雰囲気を出せたのは、下の写真のスペシャルエッフェクト担当のおばのおかげです（笑）ありがとう～）

備瀬の福木

Himene ヒメネ

Himene means song in Tahitian. There are several traditional styles, like the Himene Tarava or the Himene Ruau.
We have heard some interesting details about their history from Heremoana Maamaatuaiahutapu, the director of the House of Culture (Te Fare Tahiti Nui) in Papeete.

ヒメネはタヒチ語で歌の意味です。ヒメネタラワ、ヒメネルアウなど、様々な伝統的なスタイルがあります。
これについてタヒチの文化センター長から興味深い話を聞きました。（ビデオは英語）

We had the chance to participate in the celebration of Matari'i Ni'a in Papenoo. Matari'i Ni'a is the name of a constellation (Pleiades) and its appearance marks the beginning of the abundant season in Tahiti. The festivities start in Papenoo, with singing, dancing and a ceremony where the villagers bring their first harvest as an offering. Then they sit in a circle and drink kava, a Samoan intoxicant drink (similar to the Mate in South America), widely used in ceremonies in Polynesia.

Since the weather was rainy and the ceremony was held under the stars, he quality of the footage is not the best - where the pictures are not clear, please enjoy the music.

パペノオでマタリイニアという大事な行事に参加することができました。マタリイニアはプレイアデス星座のタヒチ語の名前です。この星座がタヒチの空で現れると、豊富の季節が来ます。これを祝う祭りは毎年パペノオで始まります。歌、踊りと初収穫を備える儀式が行います。村の人は皆で座ってカワというサモアのお茶を一緒に飲みます。

夜、雨の中ビデオを取りましたので、映像は時々あまりよくなくてごめんなさい。音楽を楽しんでください。

AVA ITI

We were lucky enough to go to the beautiful island of Moorea. It is only about 30 minutes by boat from Papeete, the Tahitian capital, but it is like a different world. Beautiful sea, white beaches, lush green mountains. A laid back island with unbelievable scenery.

タヒチの旅の時、美しいモーレア島に行くことができました。タヒチ島の首都、パペエテから船で30分だけですが、違う世界です。真青の海、白砂のビーチ、そして緑
であふれる山々。ゆっくりのペースの信じられないぐらい美しい景色の島です。

The first people we met in the port were drummers, practicing which of course was exciting for us! After listening to them for some time they asked if we want to play together, which we took as a great honour. Obviously our speed and skills was not much compared to theirs, but they were nice, welcoming and accomodating. We had lots of fun playing together with them, and it seemed they enjoyed the funny foreigners too.

着いたら、港ですぐドラムの練習にぶっつかりました。しばらく練習を聞いたりしたら、「一緒に叩かない？」と誘われました。やっぱり、私たちのスピドと技は彼達に比べるものではなかったですが。すごく優しくベルカムされました。一緒に叩くのはとても楽しかった。そして、ドラマー達も面白い外人と会うのは楽しんでたみたいです。

This is how we play together　一緒に叩いた時

and this is how they can play without us :)　私たちが邪魔しなかった本気の練習：）

The Mamas

It all started with two lovely old Tahitian ladies, our hosts. Mama Erena, who was a dancer and Tanti Coucou, a singer. They had a hard time remembering our Hungarian names, so they decided to give us Tahitian names. One morning at the breakfast they told us they gave us the names and they sounded serious about it. I received the name Maire, meaning green fern, a plant they use very often to make costumes. Hunor's Tahitian name is Hirinaki. It means "someone you can lean on". It might be just a coincidence, but I was surprised that after such a short time they could give him such a fitting name. 

I was very touched by this simple gesture and I took our new names seriously. Why was it so important for me? First of all because I felt we got involved into an old, oral tradition. Second, because I love and respect the ladies. I love that every night they talk, sing, tell each other stories and laugh together in bed. They are lighthearted, happy and when I hear them talk and laugh they sound so young. 

On the last day before we left, Coucou, the singer brought her ukulele and sang us a few songs. With her flower behind her ear she looked lovely and you would never guess she just turned 82.

I am very happy i got to meet the Mamas and I take my name and her songs with me as presents from them...

Back from Tahiti ただいま

We are back from Tahiti for a week now, it has been a busy week because i had to start editing the many hours of footage we have to finish up our movie!

We had a very special time in Polynesia, we met wonderful people, great dancers and saw amazing places. We walked, swam, hitchhiked and sat on a boat a lot. We ate lots and lots of coconuts and we asked many questions :)

We have a lot of videos, and i suppose not everything that is worth publishing can fit into our 15 minute   video so i am planning to post some of our interesting, informative or funny short films on youtube and here, so stay with us for more ;)

You can see a selection of photos here.

Lots of love and many many thanks to all those who help us make this dream come true.

ただ今〜タヒチ、行って来ました。一週間前沖縄に着きましたが、この一週間は編集で熱心になって、すごく急がしかった。山ほど映像を取りましたので、今月中はずっと編集です。

ポリネシアの滞在、すごく特別な経験でした。すばらしい人々と会ったり、刺激的な踊りを見たり、素敵な景色を見たりしました。歩き、泳ぎ、ヒッチハイク、船旅もたくさんしました。そして、ココナツを一杯食べました。

とてもたくさんのビデオを取りましたので、１５分のドキュメンタリーはいい映像を全部入れるのは無理です。それで、面白い、興味深いとおかしい映像をYouTubeとここにすこしづつアップするつもりです。楽しみにしててください。

そして、フノルの旅写真集はこちらで見れます。

この夢を実現するために助けてくれた皆様、どうも、どうもありがと