Sachi ADACHI (Yuzen-ga Artist)

A Unique Style of Art After Mental Anguish

Yuzen-ga is a style of painting unique to Ms. Adachi in which dyes are layered on high quality silk, with white coloring made from shells added to create light and shadows. If one were to classify it, yuzen-ga would be “Japanese painting based on Kyoyuzen dyeing techniques.” Yuzen-ga consists of over 20 processes completed by a number of experts and professionals, but besides processes like steaming and washing with water, Ms. Adachi performs everything from design to drawing fine contours, called gomu-itome , coloring, and finishing the pieces.

Ms. Adachi, who studied at the Osaka University of Foreign Studies, began her career as a yuzen-ga artist at the age of 42. On her path to discovering yuzen-ga , there were times when she struggled with finding a certain something that she could feel comfortable with.

A year after graduating, she married Masaru ADACHI, a Russian major 3 years her senior who she met on campus. Life with Mr. Adachi, a trading company employee who sometimes had to take trips overseas, saw an importance given to personal time. As opposed to her husband, she had no job or hobbies to devote herself to, and she became disappointed with her “nobody” self. As she spent her days going back and forth between her home in Kyoto and her hometown of Bisei, Ibara in Okayama Prefecture, she learned Japanese painting from her father’s friend, an exhibition artist, and dabbled in India-ink paintings, but she couldn’t get used to painting pictures with still life and set structures, so she didn’t continue for long. But, she says, “There was an undying urge in me to express something.”

Her Pursuit Leads to a Devotion to Buddhist Texts

Ms. Adachi eventually moved to Tokyo when her husband Masaru was transferred. Wanting to be something and make her own money, she continued her search, which lead her to a translation school where she intended to utilize the skills in English that she acquired while at university. She was eventually given rough translations to complete, but her work and life in Tokyo were starting to weigh her down. To Ms. Adachi, who was raised in the country surrounded by the green of nature, the stars at night, and tiny creatures and plants all around, everyday life in the city was unbearable. It was at that time when she turned to Buddhist texts and books on philosophy for help, which planted in her an aspiration for Buddha. This would later lead her to her paintings of the Buddha’s likeness.

After Masaru requested a transfer, the two moved back to Kyoto, and Ms. Adachi was finally soothed after once again feeling the warmth of her hometown. A turning point came when around that time, Ms. Adachi took a yuzen-zome course in her community. Creating small artwork was so enjoyable that she became engrossed in it. The first step to becoming a yuzen-ga artist came when she suddenly had the urge to paint the image of the Buddha. Her husband’s parents worked as kimono merchants in Kyoto and introduced her to a kyoyuzen artist, under whom she began her study. Ms. Adachi’s unique painting techniques began to gather attention, and she held her first solo exhibit, “ Hotoketachi ,” at the Kyoto Craft Center in 1987, after which she held various exhibits in Kanto, Kansai, and even in her hometown of Okayama.

Dedicating Wall and Fusuma (Sliding Door) Paintings to Mibu-dera

In 1989, Ms. Adachi dedicated a panting of Kannon to Mibu-dera in Kyoto, which led to her work on wall and fusuma (sliding door) paintings in the main hall, a project that took 4 years to complete. This piece expressed the hope for eternity, equality, and peace for the lives crossing from this realm to paradise, and was painted on 8 fusuma and 6 walls (height 2.7 m x length 30 m) that enclose the altar for the main deity of the temple.

“I’m bewildered in my powerlessness before a reality that sees tyranny over the weak and pollution of nature and the human soul through human-centric logic. Even so, if I can light even one dark corner, touch even one soul, and move even one person to do good through my art, I couldn’t be happier.” Ms. Adachi continued, “If one considers that without the countless masters of language study, we would not have seen a rise in civilization, the possibilities and duties of studying language are endless. There are some things that we cannot express in words; however, expressing these things in an ink drawing is called mandala .”

Osaka University: Overflowing with Talent

More than capable in her English classes in high school, Ms. Adachi says, “After entering OUFS, there were so many talented people around me, which made me lose my motivation and skip classes all the time (laughs).” But even so, when she looks back on her notebooks from when she was a student, “Now that I think about it, classes like Prof. Toyoharu TOGO’s classes on psychology and Prof. Takeo KAI’s (English Literature Theory) classes on the differences between eastern and western civilizations taught me important things that made me who I am today.” Ms. Adachi has great expectations for OUFS, which became the School of Foreign Studies at OU after the merger in 2007, saying, “I hope the schools take advantage of being a comprehensive university and deliver rich education to the students in all fields, not just language study.”

“Now more than ever, it’s time to aim for the co-existence and co-prosperity of all life and a recycling society and decide our course of action. I’m thrilled at the thought that if OU, which is overflowing with ability and talent in every field, gathered its strength, it could no doubt change the world for the better. I think OU could do even better than just being a ‘Top 10 Comprehensive University’; it could aim to be number one in the world, if not the only one of its kind.”