Afterword
Katsu Umebayashi is, I would say, the odd one out among the new generation of young Japanese architects. You just need to meet him once to be overwhelmed by his unbridled energy. He’s what we call yancha. That’s an expression from the dialect of the Kansa
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Katsu Umebayashi is, I would say, the odd one out among the new generation of young Japanese architects. You just need to meet him once to be overwhelmed by his unbridled energy. He’s what we call yancha. That’s an expression from the dialect of the Kansai area, where both Katsu and I were born. Yancha means “lovable rogue,” which pretty much sums up his character. I sometimes feel that I’m everywhere at once, but Katsu seems truly omnipresent. In 2003, a project of mine called Space Blocks was completed in Hanoi, Vietnam. I half jokingly sent out invitations to the opening ceremony, although I never believed that any of my busy colleagues would travel all that distance to attend. But Katsu actually showed up! In Hanoi, he talked like a machine-gun and drank like a fish, and,
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on top of that, he was able to fit in a few business meetings before he went home. He’s always full of great stories—like the time he went to procure materials from some old workshop he had discovered deep in Eastern Europe or his many expeditions throughout Asia. You can hardly respond to these tales. You can only admire his vitality. Members of the younger generation of Japanese architects are generally known for their proficiency and confidence in the design of small houses. His yancha personality aside, Katsu has also been producing sensitive and high-quality work. But don’t be fooled. Rather than focusing his creative energy on individual projects, his priority is to create prototypical spaces with the power to be expanded, adapted, and replicated. In his attitude towards the design of architecture, Katsu has a certain affinity with his peer Yoshiharu Tsukamoto of Atelier Bow-Wow. Yet while Tsukamoto continues developing a theoretical approach that he presents in books such as Made in Tokyo, Katsu is far more interested in actual, physical objects.
It is not insignificant that Katsu is based in Kyoto, the area of Japan where the weight of history is heaviest. I am not sure if I should mention this, but he hails from a family of long-established Japanese tea manufacturers. From a Western point of view, this may seem like a typical Japanese heritage. In fact, Japanese people with such a background are quite rare (we are not all sumo wrestlers or samurai). Does this background affect the space and architecture he creates? Yes, I believe it does. His yancha character—bold enough to be intimidated by nothing, yet somehow winsome—is reinforced by his unique background. Katsu has a natural comprehension of Japanese history. With culture behind him, Katsu is able to confront and engage it all: modernism, the traditional townhouses of Kyoto, sometimes even postmodernism. I hope he continues to attempt the unprecedented. Even though I know him very well, I can never predict what he’ll do next. I’ve always had great expectations, and still do. I’ll have to keep my eye on him—both as a rival and as a friend.
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