From the Judges:
“A discourse on the likely passing of a traditional art. So much of what makes Kyoto special is fading away, with every machiya demolished and every craftsman who retires without passing on his skills. This piece highlights that sad fact by describing the ubiquitous lacquerware for sale at the city’s flea markets, all of it genuine, because “Why replicate what they believe to be worthless?” Yet, these remnants continue to inspire deities and mortals alike.”

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While the Lacquer Dries

Autumn arrived a day before the city
As it tends to this side of the mountains
The Andon replaced the glow of the sunset
And so, banquet over,
Came the time to address the stack of used bowls.
He passed me a small bowl, frail and cracked
‘Be careful drying that, that’s Meiji lacquer’
So often did our conversations begin this way.

‘Can you still find lacquer like that?’
‘Truckloads, in those two big flea markets in the city’
He was, of course, referring to the vendors.
Those that picked gold stacked against the skeletons
Of shuttered houses up in the hills
With only the moonlight to turn a blind eye
Returning down unkept mountain roads buckling with loot
A disorganised underbelly of haggling and crumpled newspaper
Items exposed as if unsightly weeds
In the most sacred of grounds
As if the gods wouldn’t notice.
I knew them well.

And because I did, one final question:
‘How can I know when I am holding a counterfeit?’
His response disrupted the rhythm of my drying.
‘It’s all real. Why replicate what they believe to be worthless?’
Said not bitterly, but in disbelief.
And in sensing mine, he added,
With the sadness of a millennium,
‘You’re only witnessing the collapse of an entire art industry.’
Those final words now bled out,
We dried the last of the lacquer, to avoid it cracking further.
Sliding the front door behind him
To keep the chill and the truth out, or maybe in
He looked solemn as we bade farewell.
I passed underneath the light of the gate, alive with moths
The fields already crossed into red Spider Lillies
The wind pushing the silence around on the edge of the Kyoto night.

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Adam Clague was born and raised on the Isle of Man, moving to Japan at 18 to complete his bachelor’s degree in the School of Human Sciences at Osaka University. He was also a Nissan scholar in Japanese Studies at Oxford University. With a keen interest in Japanese craft revitalisation, his winning piece contains excerpts from a conversation with his long-time mentor, Alex Kerr, about the state of the lacquer industry in contemporary Japan.

For the full list of this year’s competition winners, click here. For this year’s original competition notice (with prize details), click here.