Have you ever looked at Kurashiki’s streetscape and thought, “This place still retains the atmosphere of the past”?
The area around the Bikan Historical Area in particular has many historic buildings, and more and more facilities are renovating only their interiors while leaving the buildings as they are.
That said, you can probably imagine that the scenery from decades ago has not remained exactly as it was.
If you are a local who has lived in Kurashiki for a long time, you may feel, “It’s changed so much compared with when I was a student.”
One person who has witnessed these changes in Kurashiki’s streetscape is bird’s-eye-view map artist Okamoto Naoki.
Okamoto has depicted Kurashiki as seen from above in a 2005 edition and a 1963 edition, preserving what the city looked like at the time.
These days, Okamoto’s bird’s-eye-view maps can be seen in various places around Kurashiki.
The writer wondered what had inspired him to draw them in the first place, and what his production process was like.
I visited Okamoto’s studio and had the chance to speak with him.
The information presented here was current when this article was published in November 2021. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Who is Naoki Okamoto? A painter from Kurashiki City
Okamoto is a painter and illustrator from Kurashiki City.
He grew up in Kurashiki and stayed there through high school, then studied oil painting and other forms of art in the United States and France.
After returning to Japan, he lived in Yokohama City and expanded his activities, based in the Kanto region.
He began working in earnest as a bird’s-eye-view map artist in 2002, when he returned to Kurashiki.
To preserve the streetscape of his hometown, Kurashiki, he spent four and a half years creating the “2005 edition” bird’s-eye-view map of the central city area and its surroundings.
He then spent a further four years creating a “1963 edition” bird’s-eye-view map of the same area.
Today, alongside teaching at four art classes, he continues his own creative work.
Bird’s-eye-view maps seen around town come in various sizes, but what is considered the original is the full-size work shown in the photo.
The “full-size bird’s-eye-view map,” an impressive two meters square, is in Okamoto’s studio.
In the past, it was apparently exhibited at events at Kurashiki City Kurashiki Monogatari-kan and at the 50th-anniversary party for Kurashiki Kokusai Hotel.
Although there are few opportunities to see the full-size work, reduced-size bird’s-eye-view maps can be purchased at Hayashi Genjuro Shoten and Kurashiki City Kurashiki Monogatari-kan, among other places.
Comparing the 1963 and 2005 editions reveals how the changing town has transformed.
They can spark lively conversations across generations as people reflect on Kurashiki’s streetscape.
It is also recommended to compare the bird’s-eye-view maps with the streetscape today, as this lets you feel Kurashiki’s history more deeply.
Okamoto has also created bird’s-eye-view maps of the area around his alma mater, Konko Gakuen Junior and Senior High School, as well as of Okayama City.
What made Okamoto start drawing bird’s-eye-view maps in the first place?
And does he have a distinctive way of drawing them?
We interviewed Okamoto about his commitment to bird’s-eye-view maps, as he has created many of them.
Kurashiki is changing. “Bird’s-eye-view maps” as a way to preserve the cityscape of “today”
He first thought, “I want to preserve Kurashiki’s streetscape,” in 2002, when he returned to Kurashiki from Yokohama.
As he walked around Kurashiki, he apparently thought, “Wow, Kurashiki has changed more than I expected...”
“I used to take photos and sketch while looking at how much the streetscape had changed since I lived there. I wondered, ‘Isn’t there a way to see the changes in the town at a glance?’ And then it hit me: ‘I’ll make a bird’s-eye-view map!’”
The idea of a “bird’s-eye-view map” suddenly came to him because he had worked on one once before.
When Okamoto lived in Yokohama, he had drawn a bird’s-eye-view map at the request of a Tokyo real estate company.
Looking back on that time, Okamoto said, “What stayed with me was how I observed every last detail in order to draw the bird’s-eye-view map.”
“When you walk around, you get to know the town really well. You walk around taking photos, then draw while looking at them, and you learn the streetscape. It was really interesting how you grow attached to the town.”
Okamoto’s bird’s-eye-view maps are drawn using a technique called “axonometric projection.”
The maps can only be drawn with accurate measurements of real buildings, and one of their features is that you can determine the size of a building from the drawing.
Although the technique takes a long time to complete, Okamoto says that he “enjoyed the production process” when he worked on one in Tokyo.
He says it was only natural that he would want to preserve Kurashiki’s streetscape in a bird’s-eye-view map.
Okamoto’s attention to detail: “The scale is 1:500”
Bird’s-eye-view maps are often drawn at a scale of around 1:2,500.
Okamoto, on the other hand, draws them at a scale of “1:500.”
According to Okamoto, he is probably the only person drawing bird’s-eye-view maps at a scale of 1:500.
He says he deliberately draws them at a scale of 1:500, and there is actually a good reason for this size.
“The reason I insist on 1:500 is that, as you can see when you look at the full-size work, you can ‘depict everyday life.’ Like, ‘There’s a strange old lady over there!’ or ‘There’s a cat on the roof!’ At 1:500, you can just about depict everyday life.”
He depicts not only the scale of the buildings, but also the way people live.
That is why I felt you can sense the reality of everyday life at the time in Okamoto’s bird’s-eye-view maps.
Okamoto also shared some behind-the-scenes stories about creating bird’s-eye-view maps of places other than Kurashiki.
“In the bird’s-eye-view map of Konko Gakuen, I’m walking there too. With two friends—we’re a group of three. Back then, we really did go to school together.”
Okamoto’s smiling face as he spoke with such a playful air stayed with me.
What makes Okamoto’s bird’s-eye-view map production process unique?
But at a scale of 1:500, the map is more than two meters square.
How does he create it?
“Here’s the trick: I divide the 1:500 map into 100 sheets. I draw the original, one sheet at a time.”
“I number them consecutively from 1 to 100, so once I’ve drawn all 100 original sheets, I have a full-size bird’s-eye-view map.”
Okamoto made it sound simple, but drawing 100 sheets is something you could only do if you truly loved it.
It makes sense that it took him four and a half years to add the colors and complete the full-size work.
It sounds like a mind-numbing task, but Okamoto spoke about it enthusiastically, too.
“Dividing the bird’s-eye-view map into sections like this is my invention. As far as I know, this is probably the first method of its kind in the world for drawing bird’s-eye-view maps.”
Once the draft is complete, he can finally start adding color.
When I asked about the colors, he said that some areas are filled in solid using colors selected on a computer, while others are colored by hand.
What he uses to color them by hand is, surprisingly, Copic markers and colored pencils!
“For the rooftops of new buildings, I have my former students choose the colors and fill them in solidly. For old buildings, on the other hand, colored pencils work well. They make it easy to add gradations.”
Learning that he colors each of the 100 original drawings individually, and does so by hand, made me want to take an even closer look at the bird’s-eye view maps.
Finally, one of Okamoto’s former students scans the colored originals into a computer and joins all 100 sheets together.
And at last, it becomes a full-size bird’s-eye view map.
There’s still so much he wants to do: what he hopes to draw next
Okamoto spends several years working on each bird’s-eye view map.
He told us about the many details he pays close attention to, from the size to the way he draws.
Finally, when we asked if there was anything he wanted to draw in the future, he answered with words that were powerful despite his bashfulness.
“Well… I’d like to draw Bingo. I’ve drawn Bizen and Bitchu, so if I draw Bingo, I’ll have bird’s-eye view maps of this whole region, right?
To be honest, I also wanted to draw Paris. I lived there for five and a half years, and the roads are wide, and I could probably fit all the famous museums, like the Louvre, onto one sheet.
And, realistically, present-day Kurashiki might be another one. Redevelopment around JR Kurashiki Station has progressed, and the area has changed quite a lot again over the past few years. I definitely want to do Kurashiki.”
From the Writer
“They call bird’s-eye view maps ‘the bird’s-eye view,’ but in reality, I draw them from an insect’s-eye view.”
These words from Okamoto during the interview also left a strong impression.
Bird’s-eye view maps are indeed drawn from above, looking down as if from a bird’s perspective, but when actually drawing them, the opposite viewpoint is important.
Spending hours walking around town, looking at the streetscape from end to end and capturing the “now.”
Thinking that Okamoto’s perspective is fully reflected in the bird’s-eye view maps, I wanted to look at them again and again, savoring every detail.
If you walk around Kurashiki after looking at a bird’s-eye view map, you may be able to enjoy the streetscape from a different perspective than usual.
The thought that one day we might get to see a bird’s-eye view map from the 2020s makes me very excited already.
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