“Like an untamed wind the city crashes into me and I retreat, hiding behind screen doors you built for me”
A scale reproduction of the Empress Shōken’s teahouse in the Meiji Jingu forest for my final project short film. The teahouse and gardens were designed by her husband, Emperor Meiji as a place only for her. The film explores loneliness and longing for a time now passed and is inspired by Empress Shōken’s waka poetry. The model is made with a mixture of different wood, PVC and clay to maintain durability, and can be taken apart for filming different perspectives.
In the depths of the Meiji Jingu eternal forest, the doors of a teahouse open once more. After 100 years of absence, Empress Shōken returns to gaze upon the remnants of her past.