HARAKARA- an ancient Japanese word that means friends and brothers- is the artist name of Kazuhiko  Yakushiji.

 

Kaz goes out in the fields, swimming with dolphins and whales, encountering wild animals in Alaska or traveling to sacred water places, in Japan. Such direct contacts with the nature have always been the fundamental source of inspiration for his art works. HARAKARA is the name dedicated to his inspirational sources that he cherishes as his close friends.

 

2011

Launched an art project, Memories of Blue. Photo sessions featuring a new fin in Ogasawara Island took place with the participation of a top professional free diver, Mr. Ryuzo Shinomiya.

 

2010

Further improved the artificial fin for Fuji to make it even closer to real dolphin’s fin. 

The Yomiuri Newspaper（DAILY YOMIURI , Aug. 16, 2010） featured the pictures of Kaz swimming in the fin in Ogasawara Islands

 

 

2006

●　Featured by the Yomiuri Shimbun, a major national newspaper (Mar. 17, 2006), upon

      the completion of the artificial fins which Kaz had been working on for the past three years. 

 

●　Started the creation of jewelries inspired by a native-American jewelry artist who

      is young  indigenous elder of the Hopi water clan. As Kaz describes as “wearable artworks”, the new

      jewelries are featuring “Spirits of the water” with a touch of Japanese inspiration. 

 

2005

Inspired by a travel to Alaska, a series of artworks was created under the theme of “Spirits in the forest”.

 

2003

Engaged in a joint project with Bridgestone Corporation during which he was engaged in developing the world's first artificial fin. The fin was specially tailored for Fuji, a popular dolphin at Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium suffering from a rare infection that had destroyed most of her caudal fin.

→SFGate 2006.09.12　Thanks to the fin, Fiji has recovered enough to be able to jump.

 

1996

●     Developed an original technique for his acrylic sculptures, “Mist technique”, which effectively shows

       objects enclosed in acrylic material misty. 

 

●      Mastered basic glass engraving techniques in Wildberg, Germany. 

 

●     Studied the ecology and behavioral characteristics of marine mammals at the Dolphin Research

       Center in Florida, USA. 

 

●     Started to create transparent sculptures of marine mammals using glass and acrylic materials 

 

1968

Born in Osaka, Japan.