山本 雄次
■略歴
1983年京都市生まれ。京都精華大学芸術学部立体造形学科卒業。
大学時代より木の家具を独学で制作。2007年朝日現代クラフト展、2009年日本クラフト展入選。卒業後、本格的に飛騨高山森林たくみ塾で木工修行に努める。スタッフの時派遣されたHay Stack Mountain school(USA)のワークショップで出会った自由な木工に刺激を受け帰国。京都精華大学建築学科の助手を3年勤め、勤務の傍ら、アメリカで見たスキンカヌーを独学で制作後、滋賀県高島市マキノ町にて木工家具屋として独立。独立後、箸などの小物カトラリーから椅子・箱物などの家具・木の表情を生かした大型挽物まで幅広く制作。
■一言
木工と生活の場、滋賀県高島市マキノ町海津西浜。
日本の水瓶「琵琶湖」の北西に位置するこの集落は、琵琶湖に沿って家が建ち並び、人は昔から湖と共に暮らしと町の歴史を歩んできました。
移ろう空を穏やかに映す湖面とは裏腹に、澄んだ水中では多彩で有機的な命の躍動が繰り広げられ、ここから臨む琵琶湖は豊かさに満ちています。そして、その水の一滴一滴を支えるのが、自然の絶妙なバランスを保ちながらそこにそびえ立つ山々です。湖の健やかさは山の具合にあり、山の木々はその中で最も大きな役割を果たしています。
木とは。
あらゆる自然事象に逆らうことなく姿形に刻み込み、完全な造形美をもって沈黙のままそこにたたずむ生き物。山中で出会う、葉擦れの音、柔らかな土壌、湿りを含んだ木々の匂いに、張り詰めたような生命感を感じる事があります。朽ちた木ですら、そこに生きたという凄みを湛えて物語ってくるものがあります。
こういった朽ち木やコブ（成長過程でなんらかのストレスを受けてできた塊）を質感として生かすものを作る時、木を削る匂いや手触りといった五感を研ぎ澄ます集中の尖端に、一心に用の美を探ろうとする手と、山の記憶を辿る心の対峙があり、飛んでくる木片に眼を瞬かせている内に、自分の技巧を超えた思いもよらない着地点に到達できる事がしばしばあります。
私には、この共に生きる大地で育った木と日々向き合うことが、
自分の中にも在る野生の一滴を絶やさず見失わないために見つけた
カンナ屑にまみれた道しるべなのかもしれません。
■Web
souboucraft.com
■インスタグラム
@yujiyamamoto_souboucraft
Yuji Yamamoto
Biography
Born in 1983 in Kyoto, Japan
Graduated from the Department of Sculpture, Faculty of Art, Kyoto Seika University
Began making wooden furniture independently during his university years.
Selected for the Asahi Contemporary Craft Exhibition in 2007 and the Japan Craft Exhibition in 2009.
After graduation, he pursued formal training in woodworking at the Hida Takayama Forest Takumi Juku.
While working there, he participated in a workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (USA),
where he encountered a freer approach to woodworking that deeply influenced his practice.
He later worked for three years as an assistant in the Department of Architecture at Kyoto Seika University. During this time, he independently built a skin canoe inspired by his experiences in the United States. He then established his studio in Makino, Takashima City, Shiga.
Since becoming independent, he has created a wide range of works—from small items such as chopsticks and cutlery to furniture including chairs and cabinetry, as well as large turned pieces that highlight the natural character of wood.
Artist Statement
Yamamoto lives and works in Makino, Takashima City, Shiga, on the northwestern shore of Lake Biwa—Japan’s largest freshwater lake. In this lakeside community, people have long lived in close relationship with the water, shaping both daily life and local history.
While the lake’s surface gently reflects the changing sky, beneath it unfolds a vibrant and organic world of life. The richness of this landscape is sustained by the surrounding mountains, whose forests play a vital role in maintaining the balance of nature and the health of the water.
To Yamamoto, wood is a living presence—one that quietly embodies the forces of nature,
shaped without resistance into forms of complete and inherent beauty. In the mountains, the sound of leaves, the softness of the soil, and the scent of moisture-laden trees can evoke an intense sense of life. Even decaying wood carries a powerful narrative of having once lived.
When working with such materials—weathered wood or burls formed through stress in the tree’s growth—he sharpens his senses to their fullest. In the act of carving, guided by scent and touch, there emerges a dialogue between the hand seeking functional beauty and the mind tracing the memory of the forest. At times, this process leads beyond technique, arriving unexpectedly at forms that surpass intention.
For Yamamoto, engaging daily with wood grown from this shared land may be a way of preserving a trace of the wild within himself—a path marked by wood shavings, guiding him not to lose sight of that essential instinct.
■Web
souboucraft.com
■インスタグラム
@yujiyamamoto_souboucraft