Yukihiro Kaneuchi’s Vases Draw Together Japanese Mythology And Seaside Games

“Bou-Taoshi is a game”, Kaneuchi explains. “The rules are simple. Players make a heap of sand and place a branch in the center, then each player takes turns removing sand, the one who causes the branch to fall loses.” The conical shapes formed in the game of Bou-Taoshi—both the type conducted by the sea, and the more dangerous version played by 300 men on a field—are also present in Japanese temples, where Kaneuchi explains they represent “where God first came in the mythological age.” In ‘Sand’ Kaneuchi draws upon both the spiritual and the playful side of this form, reflecting its disparate connections in his creation of a functional object. The three vessels are composed of resin and sand structured around a glass tube; “a primitive form for a Japanese flower”, Kaneuchi explains.