I have few clear memories of my childhood. 

But I remember being taken around the temples in Kyoto a lot. That’s where I first encountered Buddhist statues. 

I knew nothing about these statues, but I could sense the mysterious atmosphere they exuded and the dense aura that oozed from them. I remember having been terrified. 

My young mind must have sensed the universe within them, but at the time, I didn’t understand what that was. That feeling, however, etched itself deep in my mind. 

Around the same time, I became fascinated with the space suits in Sci-Fi movies and Japanese-style robots. I sensed in these a similar feeling, as if they gave off the same kind of “smell.” 

Soon I had forgotten my fear and started thinking that these things looked pretty cool. 

When production became a major part of my life, I rediscovered this feeling, which I had partially forgotten. I began delving into it and expressing it in my works. 

My mode of expression is model figures, and I call works that I have imbued with this mentality, “Guardians.” This method allows me to directly express what I sensed in the Buddhist statues and robots as a child. They seem to serve the role of a holy ark in a synagogue or a precious chest that contains important things. 

I want to incorporate into these chests that I call Guardians that certain “something” which I define as all the special feelings we accumulate in our lives. 

—— Takuma KAMINE