Chi siamo

The current population of Nanao City in Ishikawa Prefecture is approximately 44,000. In less than a decade, the city has lost around 10,000 residents. Across Japan, regional cities are declining and continue to struggle through endless cycles of trial and error in search of solutions. Nanao is no exception. I want to change Nanao. It may be a small regional city, but it remains my beloved hometown. I want it to regain the vitality it once enjoyed when it flourished as a castle town. To achieve this, the city needs a symbol—something that the people of Nanao can take pride in, something irreplaceable that exists nowhere else. That symbol is the Dekayama. Nanao is home to the largest festival float in Japan, known as the Dekayama. The festival is said to have originated in 982, while the float itself first appeared in 1473. Throughout its long history, the festival has faced numerous threats to its survival. Even when devastating fires destroyed the town, when strong winds toppled the floats, and when the installation of telephone lines during Japan’s modernization threatened to block their routes, the people of Nanao protected these enormous Dekayama floats for more than 500 years. The spirit of the community is resilient and strong, and the centripetal force that unites its people has remained unchanged through every era. During my university graduation project, I made a personal commitment to expand the presence of the Dekayama throughout the city as a form of region-specific “moving architecture,” and I immersed myself in the local community to pursue that vision.