Biohistory journal, Winter, 2006

The Annunciation by El Greco, circa 1590-1603
This painting is a symbol of the Ohara Museum of Art. (Nakamura)
The personal taste of Kojima is seen in every work. The starting point is clearly in focus.(Ohara)

     Kurashiki is a nice town-a blend of the old and the new. It seems to be a place well lived-in. It is different from other towns, with just a lot of people milling about. Mr. Ohara calls that the culture of the small town people. He speaks of the joy of creating fun as the town changes yet continues steadily on its way. The Ohara Museum of Art is at the core of that process. The Meiji period left that legacy to us, and I sincerely hope we leave that same legacy for people of the future to enjoy.
(Keiko Nakamura)

Nakamura --
    The Ohara Museum of Art has dealt first with the things that should be done in the 21st century. The basis is the relationship of trust between Magosaburo Ohara and painter Torajiro Kojima, though he did not exclude the outside world and learned about Europe as a painting. It has the view of the community, culture, and history.

Ohara --
    Magosaburo later supported the folk art movement, and his son Soichiro commissioned some woodblock prints from Shiko Munakata and displayed them at the Toyama materials factory. His intent was to reward a powerful factory behind the scenes and contribute to vinylon development.

Nakamura --
    The ideas and history of each person involved with the individual works are apparent. One can also see their own involvement in this. I want to have the Biohistory Journal continue to cover this.

Ohara --
    Japan has a samurai culture and a townspeople culture, and the latter is stronger in the western part of Japan. Townspeople are the starting point for the culture, and their starting point is the community. That's why I make a point of emphasizing this town.

Nakamura --
    If culture is valuing the quotidian and thinking about its relationship to the community, while incorporating the greater world in your perspective, then Mr. Ohara was the pioneer, and we have a lot of work to do to catch up.

After the dialogue

Kenichiro Ohara

    Keiko Nakamura is always studying something, and from that she gets ideas that never occur to other people, and expresses them in excellent Japanese. There are different delights and discoveries every time I talk to her, and my heart dances at the pleasant surprises. At the same time, I think she is very good at being surprised. She will emit several exclamations of surprise while chatting casually. And when I think again about those points, I find that I said something good that even I wasn't aware of. At those times, it was as if I rediscovered myself in the mirror that she became. In this dialog, I was encouraged by her visit to Kurashiki, and her pleasant sense of surprise at different points, as I was surprised in several ways. It was a conversation with a great deal of density, as we had an enjoyable talk about many different things.

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