Hayashi Genya

**Hayashi Genya** is a Japanese architect and writer.

## Biography & Character

Hayashi Genya was born in 1995 in Teshikaga, Hokkaido, Japan. He is an only child. His father is a carpenter who has family in Sendai on Honshu. His mother is a librarian who is also an involved member of the Liberal Democratic Party, a Conservative party in Japan. He was never too close to his mother, and even though she did introduce him to some books, his love of literature was mostly his own findings. They also often conflicted ideologically. His father was a quiet man who had been hardened by a youth of poverty in the easternmost and coastal town of Nemuro, situated on a cape with picturesque lighthouses, docks, and wooden signs. His father misses his home and wants to return, but his roots have already been established in Teshikaga.

His surname of Hayashi means woods and is very common in Japan. His father chose his first name, which means “expanse, plain, wasteland” because of the surrounding terrain of Teshikaga. The lands around the town are nestled between dark and light forests alike, rolling hills, mighty volcanoes, stunning lakes, healthy marshes, and wide fields. Nature has always beckoned Genya, and his father as well, although his father rarely went anywhere honestly. Many of his childhood memories include train rides to the coast, walks through snowy woods, and special hikes up to Lake Mashu, which he referred to as his own Walden Pond. Genya lived a remarkably rural life for someone in the modern age, although his location helped such a lifestyle. He would often forgo shoes, and he didn’t own a cell phone until senior year of secondary school. He never liked to be around many people though, instead preferring nature and books. When he does interact with people, he is very polite and an amazing listener, always providing keen insights.

His love for literature encompasses great variety. He loves Medieval Japanese poet Basho, for his writings on personal experiences and nature. His favorite genre is zuihitsu, and his favorite work is Tsurezuregusa, or Essays in Idleness. His other favorites include Henry David Thoreau and Swedish authors August Strindberg, taking an interest in his political thought, and Selma Lagerlöf, for her entertaining stories also involving nature.

His passion for architecture originated in a trip to the woods one day. He noticed the tree branches were fractals, which could be perfectly proportioned in mathematics. He then thought, combined with all his readings of Thoreau and other nature works, that the structure of nature is perfect. He then realized that humans attempt to build perfect structures, and that since only nature is perfect, the desired effect of man-made structures fails. Only once something is made with the intention of aesthetic imperfection (not imperfection of structural integrity) can something be truly perfect. The goal is met; beauty has ensued. Two quotes from Tsurezuregusa best exemplify this idea: “Irregularity and incompleteness of collections and works show the potential for growth and improvement, and the impermanence of its state provides a moving framework towards appreciation towards life.” And “It is typical of the unintelligent man to insist on assembling complete sets of everything. Imperfect sets are better.”