Bamboo Artist Chikara Kojima
Performer and bamboo craftsman. Based in Beppu City, Oita Prefecture, as an artist and craftsman of Beppu bamboo craft, the only traditional craft in Oita Prefecture. Born in Tsukumi City, Oita Prefecture. Graduated from Oita Prefectural Junior College of Arts and Culture, and completed the Oita Prefectural Bamboo Crafts Training Center.
Although he is the direct grandson of “Hitohachiro Kojima,” the baseball team manager of Oita Prefectural Tsukumi High School, he has avoided the athletic world and has been involved in cultural activities since his school days. Today, he is active in many fields as a hybrid artist, performing and working with bamboo crafts.
He has been performing since his student days, and after rediscovering Japanese craftsmanship during a tour of the UK over the past 20 years, he became interested in local crafts and entered the world of bamboo crafts.
He belongs to the Beppu Bamboo Products Cooperative Association. Studied under bamboo artist jiro yonezawa from the time he was a student at the Bamboo Crafts Training Center.
Participated in Oita University’s accredited research team BURST (cellulose nanofiber made from bamboo), and continues to collaborate with Oita Seleena Co.
He teaches classes at the Tsukumi City Community Center, the bamboo crafts class at the Western Oita City Community Center, and the Tsukumi Bamboo Circle.
He is the Oita representative of the “Chiku-Rin Resonance Project,” a creative bamboo musical instrument from Kitakyushu City, where he creates bamboo stringed instruments and performs them himself.
He is a founding member and vice-chairman of the Oita Future Bamboo Project. He is a member of the Oita Prefecture Design Association.
In 2020, he renovated his atelier near Beppu Station and is currently hosting and operating a manufacturing co-working space called synergiez.
He is creating a place where traditional crafts and contemporary creators meet, and where daily DIY is supported, created, and stimulated.
In 2021, he became the president of Synergiez, Inc.
He is good at creating works that are not limited to bamboo materials alone, such as designs that utilize the traditional techniques of Beppu bamboo craft, the only traditional craft in Oita Prefecture, as well as the unique shapes and motifs that are unique to bamboo.
He also combines different materials to create a wide range of works, from sundries to spaces.
He also actively uses modern machine tools such as laser cutting machines and 3D printers, and actively challenges the fusion of traditional techniques of Oita Prefecture. He is active in large-scale events and productions in and outside of Oita Prefecture that push the bamboo craft techniques and designs of “Beppu Bamboo Crafts” in Oita Prefecture.
He is also active in outreach activities such as lectures and demonstrations at educational and cultural institutions, and actively organizes workshops and participatory large works of art for children and students to interact with bamboo.
He also gives lectures to current students as an external lecturer at his own school, the Oita Prefectural Bamboo Crafts Training Center, the only educational institution in Japan specializing in bamboo crafts.
He is also active in raising the awareness and value of Japanese bamboo crafts by speaking about bamboo overseas and participating in conferences at professional organizations.
As a performer, he specializes in bass and double bass, and also works as a recording and PA operator.
In addition to his regular performance activities, he has recently been performing with bamboo instruments, such as in a performance project related to the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cups, in the finale and ceremony of an environment-related event in Oita Prefecture, and in a lighting-up event at Kokura Castle in Kitakyushu City.
2024
February: Performance at the Oita Prefectural Art Museum Wales MOU Ceremony
February Bamboo dyeing instructor at Katsuraya Fine Goods Miyako Dyeing “somenova
March Participated in Myanmar Bamboo and Rattan Association as an expert advisor
April Performance at JR Oita Station for Oita-Fukuoka Destination Campaign
May Stage performance by a bamboo string quartet at JR Oita Station
May “Argerich Music Festival” at Iichiko Grand Theater
In charge of spatial design at the lobby and entrance.
June Technical instructor at the Bamboo Industry Training Center in Myanmar.
July: Workshop instructor at the Bamboo Labo in Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
September Bamboo dyeing instructor at Katsuraya Fine Goods Miyako Dyeing “somenova
October General supervision, planning and production of “Takekai 2024” at OPAM, Oita Prefectural Museum of Art
October: Exhibited at the artist introduction booth in JR Oita Station
October: Exhibited at “Beppu Onsen Suginoi Hotel and Resort
Direction and production of “Beppu Bamboo Crafts x Halloween
November: Exhibited at the Hakata Traditional Crafts Museum, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture.
November: Exhibited at “Bamboo Festa”, Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture
November: Talk and joint performance with shakuhachi player Masaaki Aoyama at “Bamboo Festa” in Ube City, Yamaguchi Prefecture
December: “Beppu Christmas Fantasia” in Beppu City, Oita Prefecture
2023
April: Exhibited at Milan Design Week 2023 in collaboration with Samy Rio of France
April: Produced a wall artwork for the newly built ferry “Murasaki” in Sunflower.
July: Produced QR for the lobby of Suginoi Hotel in Beppu Onsen.
July: Produced “Yunomachi no Jikan”, a hand-held hot spring dome in front of Beppu Station, JR Kyushu.
September: Exhibited “Oita Bamboo Amabie Units 2 and 3” at Beppu Station, JR Kyushu.
September: Dedication of bamboo basket production at Tsumagaki Shrine in Ajimuin, Usa City, Oita Prefecture
October: Performed at the public viewing of the Rugby World Cup at JR Oita Station
October General supervision and production of “Take-kai” at OPAM, Oita Prefectural Museum of Art
November: Stage appearance at Harmonyland Festival in Hijimachi, Oita Prefecture
Participated in and facilitated the “Bamboo Action Meeting” at the Harmonyland Festival Stage in Hinode-cho, Oita Prefecture, November.
November: Produced bamboo lights for the National Treasure Fukiji Temple, Bungotakada City, Oita Prefecture.
2022
January Demonstration at gucci Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
February Participated as an expert in the bamboo tourism creation tour in Beppu City, Oita Prefecture
July: Produced “Yarari Chaya”, a stage tool for Mansai Nomura at Mansaku no Kai.
August Live appearance on NHK’s “Asa Ichi”.
September: Participated in “monoJAPAN” in Amsterdam, Holland.
November: Collaborated with a Chinese sculptor, Mr. chen zhuoyi
December: Wall artwork on the new ferry “Kurenai” in Sunflower, Japan
2021
February: General direction of “Oita’s Space Colored by Bamboo” at Amu Plaza Oita Station Square
April: 68th Great Shikaiha Dedication basket production for Asami Shrine, Beppu City, Japan.
November: “Beppu Bamboo Crafts Exhibition by Three Artisans” at the Japan Cultural Institute in Paris, France
2020
Oita Bamboo Amabie Project “Oita Bamboo Amabie” involved in the production of three “Oita Bamboo Amabie
Tour host of the Oita Online Tour “Bamboo Tour
2019
Oita Asahi Broadcasting Corporation Studio Set Production
Gotenyama Trust City Park, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan Bamboo and Light Space Direction
2018
Galleria Takemachi, Oita City Giant Bamboo Tree