Ethno-Remedies: Bedtime Stories ⇄ A Life’s Manual  is an art book, which was created as an outcome of the collaborative artistic research project conducted by the artist Aki Nagasaka, the designer Ryoko Nagaoka, and the CHISOU program members. They carried out the project for three years in Nara, Japan, learning the wisdom and skills from the local specialists working with more-than-human beings, such as beekeepers, farmers, and an ethnobotanist. By collaborating with many local craftsmen and producers, the artist and designer created the art book, using the local materials from Nara and neighboring prefectures and their special skills. The artbook holds short stories and drawings written/drawn by the artist, which function as bedtime stories and a life’s manual depending on the reader’s situation. It hopefully acts as a capsule encasing the wisdom and the material sample for the future generations.   

Materials used in the book   
 
box: fallen cedar tree from Mt. Kasuga Primeval Forest 
coating of the box: bee wax harvested in Nara 
cloth: linen produced in China 
dye of the cloth: amur cork tree bark harvested in Nara 
paper: paper mulberry harvested in Nara 
four inks: sumi ink-cake produced in Nara, persimmon tannin produced in Kyoto, safflower harvested in Yamagata, smoked plum produced in Nara, indigo produced in India 
seeds of heirloom vegetables of Nara: blue soybean of Tsuge, white sesame, Angelica acutiloba of Yamato, napa cabbage of Yamato, chili pepper of Yamato 
seeds of nectar source plants: amur cork tree, cherry tree, longstalk holly tree, alder tree, linden tree, Yuzu citron tree