Chapter 2: A Symbol of Pride
1
After a long summer break, it was back to university life for me. My part-time job returned to its usual schedule: after school and on weekends when I didn’t have anything else planned.
Kura’s display window currently featured a flower vase by Yasuyuki Namikawa. It was an autumn-themed piece of cloisonné ware decorated with fall foliage. Born in Kyoto, Yasuyuki Namikawa was a leading cloisonné artist of the Meiji period. His works exhibited amazing technique. The beautiful, delicate design on this vase—which was smaller than a five-hundred-milliliter bottle of water—seemed to depict a vast, endless world. The details were so elaborate that you had to come quite close in order to truly notice them. Because of that, I tried something new for the display.
As I inspected the window, a