What are the thoughts of designer Yoshikuni Inoue, hidden in "Samurai Typography"? The interview article published in a pamphlet distributed in the past will also be posted on the website.
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Fascinated by the human drama of warlords in elementary school
Fascinated by the human drama of warlords in elementary school
──Samurai typography has a unique appeal. Why did you start creating this work?
I wanted to convey the way of life of the "samurai," which I was passionate about since childhood and which saved me from setbacks, to many people. That's what I thought.
──How did you encounter the "samurai"?
It started when I found a manga about Sengoku warlords in the library when I was in elementary school. When I read it casually, I found that each one had a dense human drama. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Ieyasu, Kenshin... The more I learned, the more interesting it became to see how the stories of the warlords born in the same era connected, and I became engrossed in it. My own school grades weren't very good, but I was at the top of my class in social studies and history. I never forgot about history.
──Who is your favorite samurai?
Sanada Yukimura. He came to be revered as "Japan's best warrior" for cornering Ieyasu to the very end at the final Summer Siege of Osaka, but my admiration for Yukimura is not just for that episode. Despite being the second son of a small daimyo in Shinshu, he fought against great powers with wisdom and spirit even with a small force, valued justice, and never succumbed to the strong. I felt that his spirit was very cool. For young Yoshikuni, he was truly a hero.
Rising again with the support of samurai "failures"
──What happened that the samurai saved you?
Actually, in my late 20s, I almost quit being a designer. I had a career plan to step up as a designer and was designing books and mooks at an editing production company, but I worked too hard and got sick. I felt like I was a powerless person and thought, "I should quit."
What stopped me was the story of samurai "failures."
──What do you mean?
Even warlords who achieved brilliant success all experienced some kind of failure throughout their lives. However, because they didn't give up then, they were able to recover later. I suddenly remembered that.
"Like the samurai, no matter how many times I'm cornered, I can still start over." "There must be something I can still do." -- The way of life of the samurai became my support, and I found the will to rise again.
I took advantage of the free time after quitting my job and enrolled in a design vocational school. There, I met my design mentor and regained my confidence. After that, I trained at a publishing company and became independent at the age of 31, achieving a step up as a designer.
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