この秋、福助祭りが開催されますので、取り急ぎ日時のお知らせです。
こてんこてん展の前はいつだって、てんてこ舞いではありますが、
今年は特に忙しくって、目が回りそうです。

ただいま案内状を鋭意制作中ですが、
目標の1ヶ月前までに皆様のポストへが少し遅れそうなため、
日時だけでも早くお知らせしておくこととしました。

中川岳二寄木作品展
こてんこ てん展 〜福よ、こいこい！福助祭り〜
2015年10月10日（土）初日のみ13時〜17時
10月11日（日） から 18日（日）10時〜17時
会場：蔵のギャラリ「のらりくらり」（入場無料）
　　　長野県中野市大字吉田970–1（工房となり）

交通：上信越自動車道 信州中野ICより10分
　　　　　お車は日野神社へ（臨時駐車場）／
　　　JR長野駅より長野電鉄に乗り換え→
　　　信州中野駅下車→信州中野駅南口より徒歩15分

福助は長らく売り切れが続いておりました。
「待ってるよ」との声の一番多い作品でもありましたので、
今回思いっきり気合を入れて製作しております！
自分で言っちゃいますが、いいです、よい出来です！
撮影用が出来上がった際には、思わず小躍りしてしまったくらいです。
福助もゆれておりました。
お待ちいただいた方には、「待った甲斐があった」と言っていただけると確信しています。
残り一ヶ月、死なない程度に死ぬきで製作に励みますんで、ぜひ見に来てください！

● Exhibition information

■take-g Exhibition information.&Takeji Nakagawa Kotenko-Tenten

Time: 2015 October 10 (Sat) open 13:00~17:00
October 11 (Sun)~18 (Sun) open 10:00~17:00

Free admission and free parking available

Place: Gallery “Norari-Kurari” (next to Nakagawa Takeji workshop)
Address: 970-1 Yoshida, Nakano-shi, Nagano-ken, JAPAN
Tel: 0269-23-2121

Transport: (Train) Nagano-shinkansen – JR Nagano Station
Nagano-dentetsu (line) – Nagano Station
30 min by Express; 45 min by Normal
Shinshyu-Nakano Station
15 min by food
(Car) Leave Jyoetsu-Do Shinshyu-Nakano I.C.
10 min

● Exhibition summary
There will be many Takji Nakagawa original robots,toys,furniture.

● Turist information of the surrounding areas

Snow Monkey Park at JigokuDani: 15 min by car plus 30 min walk
The world famous spot where monkeys take bath

Yudanaka Hotspring: 15 min by car
The town of nine hot springs

Obuse Town: 15 min by car
Famous for its flowers, chestnuts and Katsushika Hokusai

Zenkoji Temple: 40 min by car
The most famous temple in Nagano if not in Japan – a must see

Ippon-Gi Park (aka Rose Park): 5 min by car

中川岳二作品展
「こてんこてん展～ここは信州中野だよ～」
「take-g Exhibition 2014」の、お知らせです。

●会期
2014.5/31(土)open13:00～17:00
6/1(日)~6/8(日) open10:00～17:00

●個展会場
ギャラリ「のらりくらり」（テイクジートイズ工房のとなりです）
入場無料
住所 長野県中野市吉田 970-1（地図はこちら）
問合せ tel 0269-23-2121

●交通
（電車）長野新幹線ー「JR長野駅」 善光寺口から長野電鉄線
長野電鉄「長野駅」ー「信州中野駅」・・・特急30分・普通45分
信州中野駅南口より徒歩15分

（車） 上信越道 信州中野 I.C. から10分
駐車場あります。（日野神社、会場より徒歩１分）

● Exhibition information

■take-g Exhibition information.&Takeji Nakagawa Kotenko-Tenten

Time: 2014 May 31 (Sat) open 13:00~17:00
June 01 (Sun)~June 08 (Sun) open 10:00~17:00

Free admission and free parking available

Place: Gallery “Norari-Kurari” (next to Nakagawa Takeji workshop)
Address: 970-1 Yoshida, Nakano-shi, Nagano-ken, JAPAN
Tel: 0269-23-2121

Transport: (Train) Nagano-shinkansen – JR Nagano Station
Nagano-dentetsu (line) – Nagano Station
30 min by Express; 45 min by Normal
Shinshyu-Nakano Station
15 min by food
(Car) Leave Jyoetsu-Do Shinshyu-Nakano I.C.
10 min

● Exhibition summary
There will be many Takji Nakagawa original robots,toys,furniture.

● Turist information of the surrounding areas

Snow Monkey Park at JigokuDani: 15 min by car plus 30 min walk
The world famous spot where monkeys take bath

Yudanaka Hotspring: 15 min by car
The town of nine hot springs

Obuse Town: 15 min by car
Famous for its flowers, chestnuts and Katsushika Hokusai

Zenkoji Temple: 40 min by car
The most famous temple in Nagano if not in Japan – a must see

Ippon-Gi Park (aka Rose Park): 5 min by car
Rose festival between June 01~22

Takeji Nakagawa&take-g

今年の冬は大雪があったなんてこと、
大昔のことのように感じるけれど、まだ２ヶ月しかたってないんですね。
四季の変化の中で、雪国の中野市ではこの２ヶ月ぐらいが最も劇的で心踊ります。
全てが隠されたまっ白な世界から、にじむように色やかたちが溶け出して、
木の芽や草花が、その力を解放していきます。

半年前から「明日が個展だ！」のかけ声で突っ走っているので、
今年は春を感じている余裕がありません。
時間が止まったような、一瞬で過ぎ去っていくような毎日です。

案内状の入稿が昨日終了し、刷り上がり次第皆さまにお送りします。
同時にホームページリニューアルも進行中で５月初めには公開できるか(な)と思います。

春眠、暁を覚えてなんかはいられない、
暁よりも先に目覚めて、今日もフル回転です。
２年半溜め込んできた力を解放しますよ！
お楽しみに。

● I am so glad that you are interested in Take-G toy’s.
Take-G toy’s is a ‘toy’ maker which mostly deals with wooden crafts hand-made by Takeji (Take-G) Nakagawa (actual toys which are sold online are restricted to Take-G blocks and zoo). My motto is to bring wooden beauty and quality into life in my own style.
I often get asked “Why do you make robots with wood?” I don’t really have an exact answer for it but I often relate my robots with ‘future’.
What do you relate future with? ? Cities full of metals, glasses and plastics in a SF movie???
What we really want is not that kind of future but one full of trees and something more natural. I don’t think humans can live without trees no matter what advances technology makes.
When I think of ‘future’, I cannot help thinking of ‘past’ at the same time. Trees take long time (tens and hundreds years) to grow and show us their beauty (the product of their past). I think that I have responsibilities as a craftsman and an artist of breathing new life into these trees. I have a job to link 100 years in the past and 100 years in the future through my work. This is my values toward my work.
I wish my work, which carries such values, can grab imaginations of children of the past, present and future.
I welcome entries(comments) in English in my blog! I am looking forward to hearing from you.
● About the products of the Take-G toy’s
Yosegi-Mokuzougan, or joined wooden block construction, is craft skills
where combinations of original and unique colors and textures of different
kinds of wood are utilized to express artistic patterns.
In Japan, the Hakone-Odawara region is famous for this traditional handicraft.
Products of the Take-g Toy’s have expanded this traditional craft skill,
which usually employs two-dimensional patterns, by using three-dimentional patterns, instead.
We use four different kinds of wood, a keyaki (a Japanese tree of the genus Zelkova),
a teak, a walnut, and a white ash. A typical production process involves:
1) careful choice of the kinds of wood according to parts of a product,
2) gluing larger parts in a vise,
3) fitting smaller parts such as eyes or numbers into corresponding holes,
4) curving assembled parts into the shape of, say, a human, and 5) applying varnish to a product.
The products of the Take-g Toy’s are produced by a unique mixture of the
traditional craft skill, or Yosegi-Mokuzougan, and modern designs
that optimizes original texture of high-quality material.
● Please read below before contacting me(replys to 3 different types of customers – individuals, companies, and gallaries including magazines):
P.S. As I do not understand English very well, I have deleted some of English-written emails (I thought they are spams). I apologise for people who did not get my replies. Please write to me, but please read below first.
■ For Individual customers:
Dear Customers
I am so glad that you are interested in my work
Unfortunately, the most of crafts shown in the web pages are one-off artworks. I only sell these crafts at exhibitions and art galleries. Therefore, I do not post these products.
I hand-craft these products piece by piece by myself taking a long time and I have been putting everything I have into my work to make wooden materials’ true quality and beauty shine through. So, if someone were to buy these crafts, I insist he/she having had a careful look at my work at first-hand and not just looking at photos. I have been insisting on this to my Japanese customers too. So I do not have a brochure of my work. In Japan, I only sell Take-G blocks and zoo online, which are for children (these are true toys but they carry some quality which I pursuit).
The prices of my crafts are subject to change so I cannot name exact prices but here are some approximates:
Small-sized crafts: US$ 50-80
Medium-sized crafts: US$ 150-800
Large-sized crafts: US$ 1200-6000
The prices of Take-g blocks and zoo are below, although I have not found a way of selling these to overseas yet.
Take-g blocks

Take-g zoo

I am so sorry as this probably comes as a disappointment. However, let me say “thank you” because I was really encouraged by your email all the way from overseas. My company is very small just run by my wife and me and I cannot possibly mass-produce any of my products (apart from Take-G blocks and zoo). Someday, I dream of having exhibitions at galleries near you.
Thank you very much and sincerely yours,
Takeji Nakagawa aka Take-G
■ For Company etc:
Dear Sir/Madam
Thank you for contacting me and I am glad that you are interested in my work. Most of what you have see on the web (e.g., robots and characters) is hand-crafted artworks and not for sale apart from being sold at occasional exhibitions. However, I do sell Take-g blocks and Take-g zoo as you may have seen on the web. I have yet to sell any of my work overseas mostly because Take-g toy’s is a small company run only by my wife and myself. I cannot really mass-produce any of products (maybe the blocks and zoo could be produced for a large-scale market). Sometime in future, if I decide to start selling my toys (Take-g blocks and zoo), I will definitely let you know. It would be great if you help me on that occasion.
I hand-craft all of Take-g products and I have been trying to covey the beauty of wooden products via my work. Please remember most of crafts I make are an art not actually ‘toys’ except a few products. I have been encouraged by your email as it came all the way from overseas. I really appreciate it.
Thank you very much and sincerely yours,
Takeji Nakagawa aka Take-G
■ For Galleries and magazines:
Dear Sir/Madam
I will welcome offers for exhibitions at galleries and coverage in magazines. Please email :
mail@take-g.com (Takeji Nakagawa)
I have some exhibitions planned in Japan so availability may be restricted. For exhibitions at galleries, please outline your conditions in details.
Thank you very much and sincerely yours,
Takeji Nakagawa aka Take-G