These events led us to set up a kiln within the Naruto factory and begin tile production. We began with small tiles and gradually increased the size until we were capable of making 1m-square tiles without warping or cracking, creating finished products where 20 tiles out of 20 were fine, a 100% success rate.

Manufacturing large-scale ceramic products is difficult in itself, to say nothing of producing 1m-square ceramic plates without any warping. It was a great challenge. At that time, even in America production of such tiles had a success rate of merely one in twenty, with the rest being of inferior quality. This showed that our technology was far superior, an outstanding achievement. And yet, we sought to acquire even more advanced production technologies by establishing a new company in a joint venture with Ohmi Chemicals & Ceramics Corporation (at the time, President: Takashi Okuda, Plant Manager: Minoru Okuda (current President of Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics)) in Shigaraki, Shiga. This new company was Otsuka Ohmi Ceramics Co., Ltd., with myself appointed as President.

The company was established in Showa 48 which, as many of you know, was also the year of a crisis that brought a sudden twelve-fold increase in oil prices. Amid these extraordinary conditions, building construction came to a complete halt. For us, this meant that the company we had established was unable to operate as intended.

 

After deliberating on the situation, the Board of Directors raised the suggestion of transitioning towards artworks painted on ceramic plates. The first piece we produced was Ogata Kōrin’s Kakitsubata, a process that involved making several flawless ceramic plates, measuring one meter by three meters, to be arranged side-by-side.

Day after day, we continue our research efforts, creating, and often breaking, pieces in the pursuit of perfecting our artworks. Before long, we were able to produce even larger ceramic art plates. Next, we put our efforts into tackling the challenge of color,

developing nearly 2０,０００ different hues. This enabled Otsuka to successfully create our large-scale ceramic art plates.

In Showa 50, I was in Moscow on a business trip related to an anticancer drug contract with Taiho Pharmaceutical. While visiting a cemetery on the city’s outskirts, I noticed business card-sized photographs affixed to the graves of nurses and Soviet soldiers who had perished in the war,

as well as a photograph on the tomb of Nikita Khrushchev about the size of a Japanese magazine. Naturally, it was printed not on tile but paper. While being protected from the rain by a plastic cover, the surface was exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays; despite being relatively recent, the photographed face was already sunburnt and faded to a dull color.

This made me realize that, if we could manage to print photographs on our ceramic plates, the result would be a splendid image that could be preserved for eternity without fading.

While it is said that “A tiger dies and leaves his skin; a man dies and leaves his name”, the names actually immortalized by posterity are extremely few. On the other hand, preserving one’s image for eternity on a ceramic plate is something that anyone can do.

In the past, Dutch merchant ships carrying Chinese Jingdezhen porcelain and Japanese Arita ceramics to Europe sometimes encountered storms en route and sank in the Indian Ocean. When the cargo of such ships was brought to the surface centuries later, those ceramics still retained their original color and form. While ceramics made during that period were fired to 1,000˚C, our ceramic art plates are now produced using specialized technology that raises the temperature to 1,300˚C. This ensures that they maintain their appearance for as long as one or two thousand years.   

Our success in producing large-scale ceramic art and photograph plates coincided with the 50th anniversary of Otsuka’s founding. We began to discuss creating something for future generations, not only for ourselves but to be shared by all. Unfortunately, this wish was not yet fulfilled when my father passed away at the age of eighty.

 

25 years have passed since that time. Otsuka has grown from a company of 17 employees at the end of the war to its current staff of 23,000, with 7,000 in Tokushima Prefecture. As a symbol of our gratitude to the people of the prefecture over all these years, in accordance with my father’s dying wish and my own convictions we set out to construct a project in Tokushima to commemorate our 75th anniversary. This led us to establish the Otsuka Museum of Art at its current location near the Naruto Strait, with the concept of showcasing only masterpieces of Western art.

With construction proceeding smoothly and the number of works exceeding one thousand, we were able to complete the exhibits and open the museum to the public as planned. Under the leadership of Professor Masanori Aoyagi, Vice-Dean of Tokyo University, the museum showcases a selection of past and present Western masterpieces, with the basic aim of educating various students about art.

 

We hope that a student viewing these images might, in the future, seek out the original works while honeymooning overseas.

After all, this painting is made of ceramics, so it won't change at all. Real paintings change over time, so 50 or 100 years from now, the colors and appearance of the actual painting will naturally differ from the colors of the ceramic masterpiece. However, we wanted to convey the truth forever and preserve it as a legacy for future generations, which is why we established the Sue Board Masterpiece Museum. 

On your visit, please let us know if you find any imperfections so that we may correct them, as we work to make a contribution that will last for millennia. This museum is also our contribution to the people of Tokushima Prefecture.

In writing this, I hope to convey how ‘a handful of sand’ became the foundation for establishing the Otsuka Museum of Art. Thank you for your continued guidance and support.