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 boards without any warping. It was a great challenge. At that time, even in America production of such tiles had a failure rate within 20 boards of 19, with just 1 being sufficient. 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.

However, as you all know, in 1973 when the company was founded, the oil crisis hit, and oil prices soared 12-fold, causing an extraordinary situation in which all building construction came to a halt. Although we had established the company, we were unable to operate.

 

After deliberating on the situation, the Board of Directors raised the suggestion of transitioning towards artworks painted on ceramic boards. The first piece we produced was Ogata Kōrin’s Kakitsubata, a process that involved making several flawless ceramic boards, 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 boards. Next, we put our efforts into tackling the challenge of color,

They developed nearly 20,000 colors. Originally, these works of art, especially famous paintings by internationally renowned artists such as Picasso and Miro, were reproduced on ceramics at full size, something that had never been seen before in Japan or anywhere else in the world. Otsuka succeeded in developing this large-scale ceramic art board.

Also, in 1975, when I went to Moscow on a contract for an anti-cancer drug for Taiho Pharmaceutical, I visited a cemetery on the outskirts of the city and saw a photograph of Khrushchev on his grave, and on another grave there were business-card-sized photographs of Soviet soldiers and nurses who had died in the war.

This photograph of Nikita Khrushchev was 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 boards, 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 board 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 boards 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 1,000 or 2,000 years.   

Our success in producing large-scale ceramic art and photograph boards 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 80.

 

25 years have passed since then, and from just 17 employees at the end of the war we have grown to 23,000 employees today, with 7,000 employees in Tokushima Prefecture in particular. As a way of expressing gratitude to Tokushima Prefecture for all the support Otsuka has received over the years, and as this was my father's final wish and something I felt as well, I decided that we absolutely had to build a museum in Tokushima as part of our 75th anniversary project, so we founded the Otsuka Museum of Art at our current location, on the Naruto Strait, with the idea of ​​building a museum displaying only famous Western paintings that everyone could view.

With construction proceeding smoothly and the number of works exceeding 1,000, 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 pottery, so it will not change at all. Genuine paintings change over time, so I think that the colors and appearances of the actual paintings and the ceramic masterpieces will naturally differ over the next 50 or 100 years. However, we wanted to convey the true form forever, and preserve it as a legacy for future generations, so we decided to establish the Ceramic 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.