One Cut One Bow interviews:
Miya HiroLeft: Miya Hiro, Bad mood Bach (2016), acrylic on paper, 170 x 70 cm
Right: Miya Hiro, Bad mood Leibniz (2016), acrylic on paper, 170 x 70 cm

Building a restaurant in Hokkaido

One Cut One Bow (Magdalen Chua and Ryotaro
Hoshino) interviewed Miya Hiro on 4 May 2016. He iscurrently an artist-in-residence at Das JapanischHaus, Leipzig. When we got to know Miya, heseemed to be involved in everything possible, fromshowing his manga at the Leipzig Book Fair 2016 to
drawing on the glass windows of a kebab shop in theneighbourhood. At the time of publication, he had justcompleted art workshops with children in Japan andGermany, with upcoming ones in Lithuania andSpain. Originally from Chiba, Japan, Miya has been
living in Leipzig since 2015. He spoke to us about his
forays in carpentry, performance, art education, andpainting, and his approach towards his practice,embracing social connections as he experiments withnew techniques and collaborations.
One Cut One Bow (OCOB): If you don't mind, could
you tell us a bit of your background?
Miya Hiro (MH): I was born in 1986 in Chiba, a fishing
town in Japan. I started painting when I was inkindergarten. My grandmother likes art and she said
that I could be an artist. I didn’t believe it though. I
also played taiko (Japanese drums) in large festivals.
In 1997, I entered a business-oriented high school
and did commerce.
Eventually, I had to think about my future plans. I
could have chosen a field related to finance andbusiness but I had enough by then. I told my teacher
that if I were to do business at university, my soul
would die. I wanted to do art.
I was in the judo club in junior high school, but quit
after three months. I didn’t like the violence andhierarchy. After that, I joined the art club. However,
we only played around and drew manga. My art

teacher in high school invited me to apply to theuniversity he went to.
When I entered university, I wanted to learn painting.
When drawing a still life, my university professor said
that when I look at the apple, I would have to beaware of the apple being on the table, the table beingon earth, and to feel the universe. It was crazy. I
couldn’t think in that way. I thought that since I
couldn’t have that kind of sensibility, I couldn’t be an
artist.
I was involved in the university festival together withthe community. In the university neighbourhood, I
played taiko for a community group and weorganised a festival. We made floats with bamboo,
including a roof and lanterns on a truck, and had aparade around the neighbourhood. My friends inuniversity were in contemporary theatre and dance,and I helped them with the stage design,
photography, and did some performance.
I also went to Okinawa for a project about nature andenergy. I was helping there for two weeks and madefriends with someone who built a restaurant in
Hokkaido. I went to Hokkaido twice, for two weeks
each time. I made their website and did somecarpentry. The construction of the straw bale housetook a total of two years though they couldn’t workover the winter months as it snows a lot in Hokkaido.
I then went to India and it was a big surprise for me.
OCOB: Which part of India were you in?
MH: I was mainly in the west, in Mumbai, Jaisalmer,
Agra, then went to the south, to Kanyakumari,Kerala, Goa, then back to Mumbai. I was very
surprised by what I saw and it made me realise that Iwas not interested in ninety percent of things in mylife back in Japan. Many things are commercialized
and going to India made me feel that Japan is filledwith unnecessary things.
OCOB: What did you experience in India to makeyou feel that way?
MH: One morning, I saw two people sawing a metal
pipe on a street. I walked around the city andreturned to my hotel later. They were still sawing it! In
Japan, that would be done in an instant. On the train,a child cleaning the floor gestured for some money toeat. I agreed and gave some money. Soon, morechildren came. I couldn’t any more money! I saw
people by the riverside covered with a white cloth. My
friend told me that a few days before, someone had
killed them. These were all new to me; situations that
I would never see in Japan. When I returned toJapan, I started to do photography and mygraduation work was actually with photographs.

started to paint together with them and I don’t know
why but I had a lot of energy that I wanted to pursue.
I went back to Chiba and started painting a lot. My
friend in Shikano would sometimes ask me to help
out at his restaurant and invited me to do an
exhibition. At the exhibition, someone bought myworks and the neighbours were very kind to me.
After a year, in 2014, an empty school had a room foran artist without rent. My friend’s restaurant had abackyard with a small shed. I had a studio, lived in
the shed, and I could eat for free as I helped myfriend’s restaurant by washing dishes and doing theaccounts. I would walk 10 minutes to a public bathand my friend would give me a ticket for it.
I had a big exhibition at the theatre festival with a live
painting performance. Eventually, I went back to myhometown and left for Europe. It was too comfortable
at Tottori and back home, such that I couldn’t grow. I
decided to travel to have a change of perspective.

After graduating from university, I joined a theatre
project in university, and was able to stay in schoolaccommodation for another month. After that, I went
back home. We have a family business with aconvenience store and business hotel. At that time,
my grandfather said that the business hotel would
have to close. I then started a business, changed thehotel name, and its image. With my little bit ofcarpentry experience, I worked on the design andconstruction, and did accounting.
I started in 2010 but after half a year, there was a big
earthquake with a tsunami near my hotel. Although
my family and people around me were safe, it mademe realize that if something happened to my building,
I would have no business. I then thought of picking
up a skill.
Life in Tottori
I joined a carpentry school for a year and was taught
traditional skills, for example, fixing wood together
without nails. I liked it and wanted to learn more. I
found a miyadaiku (a carpenter who handles
traditional Japanese structures) in Tottori and asked
to join them. I had to get up early at 6 am, cook foreveryone, and after work ended, cook for people
again. It was hierarchical with the boss as king and I
found it hard to fit in. The work was also tough and I
had backaches.
One Sunday, I went to a restaurant and began talking
to the owner there about my situation. She told me to
go to Shikano, a town about 30 minutes away by car.
I decided to go there and chatted to people I met
along the way. Bit by bit, I began to make friends.
The town has an NPO that connects people to eachother. There was this guy who lived near Shikano.
One day, several elderly people from Shikano cameand asked him to open a pizza restaurant as Shikano
had many empty houses. The NPO also persuadedsome of the house owners to use their empty houses
for a theatre festival. I helped out at the festival aswell as my friend’s restaurant. They made tacos but
since they were amateurs, the tacos didn’t taste
good. But they kept trying and it got better little bylittle.
Many children came to the festival in Shikano, andone or two children were painting with crayons. I

Art workshops in Shikano, Tottori

Miya Hiro with Ana Magallanes and Coral Castillo Mar (2016), acrylic on canvas, 200 x 350 cm

Departure to Europe and Leipzig
I went to Portugal and Paris. There were not many
artists in Portugal and Paris was just too expensive.
While in Paris, I checked out Berlin on the internet.
But it was also expensive with too many people. I
then decided to do a search for “Germany” and“empty house” in Japanese….and found Das
Japanisch Haus in Leipzig.

do so here in Leipzig, as the living costs are low. I’m
thinking of using a Japanese hand plane next.
OCOB: How does it work?
MH: It’s a traditional Japanese tool used for shaving
wood. When you use it well, you get very long, thin,and transparent shavings. I’m hoping to use thewood shavings for paper.

I came to Leipzig, did an exhibition, made friends andgot to learn about the culture here. I recently went
back to Tottori with the organiser of Das JapanischHaus and an artist who had lived in Leipzig andMunich. We did a Küche für Alle (communal cooking
event) and a presentation, and I held an exhibition,
Eisenbahnstrasse (named after the street Das
Japanisch Haus is on).
My recent project is Together Painting, a series ofcollaborative paintings. It was held here in Das
Japanisch Haus during a film festival about “nonukes”. I collaborated with two artists from Spain. We
couldn’t speak, but we could paint together. This was
my first time painting with them. It was very
interesting working with Ana. When I started withyellow, she started with blue. There were then many
colours used, and after a while, I wanted to use blackand realized that she had the black paint. When I
wanted to use white, she had the white paint.
OCOB: The works seem very cohesive. Did thecollaborative process feel natural?
MH: I was surprised. It turned out to be very good. At
our first collaboration, we painted a 2 m by 3.5 m
piece in a day, working in a studio at the Spinnerei(an old cotton mill converted into art spaces).
OCOB: It's surprising to see 24 K gold in a painting.
MH: If I live in Paris, I wouldn’t be able to use it. I can

Miya Hiro, Ana Magallanges and Coral Castillo Mar(2016), acrylic and 24k gold on Japanese paper,
90 x 60 cm

Miya Hiro, King eats dragon (2014), oil on canvas, 80 × 65 cm

Planting art seeds
MH: Shikano has a small mascot called
Umamonado, created by someone with a handicap,
called Umada. Monado refers to a theory from
Leibniz and coincidentally, there is a bronze statue of
him in Leipzig University. We would paintUmamonado during the art workshops. After I left
Tottori, a boy came up with his own story of
Umamonado When the city of Shikano asked me tomake a children’s book about Umamonado, the boy’s
story became the inspiration for the children’s book.
The story goes through Umamonado’s life, from thetime he plants a seed, till the moment he falls in love,
has a baby, and is finally alone. He doesn’t have any
facial expressions and so readers are not able to see
how he feels. The story ends with Umamonado, now
alone, planting another seed.

and Bad mood Leibniz (2016). There are also a
number of dragons in your works, such as King eats
dragon (2014).
MH: When I was a child, I liked Dragonball a lot andpainted many Dragonball characters but founddragons too decorative when I got older. I once saw
a painting of a dragon in a gallery and thought thatthe artist was trying too hard to make it cool.
However, I one day found myself painting dragons
back in 2014! Maybe something within me changed. I
liked gold when I was a child, but soon found it too
showy. I didn’t like how it is a symbol of money. But
now, I’m able to think that gold is equal to othermaterials.

Recently, I got know about the artist Joseph Beuys.
He said that all people are artists. That is also what I
think. My friend who runs the restaurant said to me
that a plant on the street is just a plant. However,when we take it, we make it precious, and when weput it on a dish, it becomes food. I think that theseideas are connected to art. I might find a stone in thestreet, but when I put it in the gallery, it becomes art.
I am looking for such art seeds in my life, forexample, the Umamonado project and coming to Das
Japanisch Haus in Leipzig.
OCOB: Your paintings are very energetic and I
couldn’t help smiling when I looked at your works andread the titles. For example, Bad mood Bach (2016)

Miya Hiro and Maiko Date, Sawer Umamonado PictureBook (2015), 16 pages

Taiko performance in Australia

OCOB: It sounds like you have more freedom now.
MH: Yes, bit by bit, I have gained more freedom. Last
year, an artist who painted portraits came here for amonth. It made me want to try it and I could! I wasn’t
able to before and being here opened my mind.
Many people come to Das Japanisch Haus and playmusic. The combination of live performances and art
is something that is very interesting for me.
OCOB: Do you play music now?
MH: I sometimes play taiko. I begged my mum tosend them here. They’re cheap, and I just play themfor fun.
One of my friends, a professional taiko drummer, wasthinking for a long time about his future and about
whether to continue taiko or switch to a moreconventional career. He then decided to do a working
holiday in Australia in 2013. When I saw his drum
performance on Facebook, I went to Australia andperformed on the street with him. We played the coreof Japanese songs from Tokyo, Saitama, the north,and east, which are very energetic. Traditional songs
have changed over the years but the core of thesetunes is still perceptible. I think this experience isconnected to my paintings.
OCOB: Do you feel that there is a core in yourpaintings?
MH: My paintings are not usually the same and arealways changing. But, there is a core that I am
finding a little bit of.
OCOB: How would you describe what you havefound so far?
MH: Maybe it’s this thing about everyone being an
artist.

OCOB: Is it something like the appearance of yourworks or is it something more spiritual?
MH: Spiritual. I also learn "qi". It’s about believingthat I can do something. If I cannot believe it, I cannot
do it. I wonder a lot about things around me. I know
only a little bit. There are many, many things that I do
not know. When I’m in a different place, I have a
different way of making. However, I don’t change. It’s
like an onion. I don't know what the core eventuallyis. But I enjoy peeling off the layers. My feelings
change all the time and I experience ups and downs.
Till now, I have been doing painting, business, taiko,carpentry, etc. and I feel that I haven’t pursued eachfield well enough. But I believe that many things
connect to each other.
OCOB: And you also make the connections. You doa lot of different things but you often come back topainting. I’m curious about that.
MH: Painting doesn’t need skill. If I lose one arm, I
can use the other. I tell the participants of my art
workshop, “You have enough skills. When you want
to be more skilful, you just have to practice. But
skilfulness and being good are two different things.”
When I was a university student, my favourite
painting was of the dream restaurant by my friend
who runs a restaurant in Hokkaido. I could feel his
energy, dream, and focus.
When I make a sculpture, I have to consider manythings. The process and time spent changes how I
feel. Painting allows you to be instinctive and to
express how you feel immediately. Sometimes, when
I paint, the painting says, “No!” and when I want to dosomething, it says, “Do this, do that.” I want to makeworks that are original and come from my heart, andthe process of painting offers me that.