The sculptor Sotoo: Sagrada Família, where stone becomes prayer

by Etsurō Sotoo

The Japanese artist who has been working on the great cathedral in Barcelona for more than 40 years following in the footsteps of the master, Antonio Gaudì, has been awarded the 2024 Ratzinger Prize, the first Asian to receive this recognition. "As long as God and destiny allow it, I will stay here, sculpting, dreaming and working so that every corner of this temple reflects the divine light,” he said.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – On Friday, 22 November, the Vatican hosted the award ceremony for the 2024 Ratzinger Prize, which the homonymous Foundation has given out since 2011 to individuals who have distinguished themselves in scientific research of a theological nature.

This year, for the first time, one of the two winners is from Asia, Japanese sculptor Etsurō Sotoo along with the American theologian Cyril O'Regan. Originally from Kyoto, Sotoo has been working in Barcelona for 46 years on the Sagrada Família. Designed by Antonio Gaudì (1852-1926), the great architect whose cause for beatification is underway, the cathedral is as visionary as it is full of meanings.

On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI himself presided over the solemn ceremony of consecration of the church in Barcelona, which is so significant for our time. We publish extensive excerpts from Etsurō Sotoo’s address at the award ceremony.

When I first came to Barcelona from Japan in 1978, I remember feeling like a stranger in a foreign land. Every street, every corner, appeared full of stories and symbols that, at first, were foreign to me. However, when I started working with stone, when I took the chisel and started sculpting, I knew that stone had its own language, a language that needs no translation, so I came looking for stone from Japan to Europe.

Stone is great art or something more. Art, in its purest form, is a universe of stone, to the end of the universe where no one has gone and we cannot go, but I know that the stone is there.

Working at the Sagrada Família made me realise that, although we come from different cultures, we share a common essence that can be expressed not only through art, for I discovered that Gaudí had a somewhat oriental intuition. Over time I began to feel that my Japanese roots and this Catalan land were connected, like two branches of the same tree, which meet in the spirituality of creation. I want to explain the fruits and leaves I have worked on: more than 200 pieces, each more or less a tonne, each finished in five days, that is, on Monday I would bring the stone and by Friday I delivered it. No one then knew what meaning they had.

Gaudí's disciples had ordered me to put fruit with leaves underneath, stone fruits; above the fruits, colourful Venetian mosaic, and below fruits and stone leaves. But why, what does it mean? Understanding this was necessary for me to sculpt, because a sculptor does not limit himself to cutting stone without sense or meaning, and if I did not understand it I could not work. So I investigated, but since no one knew, I had to invent. We grow thanks to words. And we ourselves are fruits, I say it in the words of Pope Ratzinger: "We are fruits of nature."

We must not only respect nature. Gaudí said that nature was his teacher; for example, fruits and leaves. In Japan, fruits are not born or ripen in leafless nature. In Japan we grow and mature thanks to words, because we write words with signs. The ideogram for Kotoba, which means word, is composed of two signs: "to say" and "leaves", and literally means "to make a leaf out of saying". My heart tells me that, with this truth, people feel or learn, and that the secret that moved Gaudí lies here: leaves and fruits as a symbol of the growth of our soul, because this temple is a tool to make us grow. I imagine that Gaudí did not know the Japanese language, but since he learnt from nature, that is, nature was his teacher, and our culture also comes from nature, we arrive at the same answer.

This is how I immersed myself in the spirit of this work, feeling deeply Japanese and at the same time a son of this city, like a seed that was born in Japan and flew to Barcelona, a Mediterranean city, a rich land where it grows, adapting and developing far beyond my expectations. In every sculpture, in every figure that I have sketched, I wanted to convey something of that duality, of that encounter between worlds that enriches, adds and deepens our identity, because the more different the cultures that come together, the newer and stronger the culture that is born.

Perhaps there is no better example than the Nativity Portal, where music-playing angels and the children's choir celebrate the birth of the Child Jesus. For me, these sculptures are not just stone figures. They are a song to life, an attempt to capture those children in stone as if they were my living children, as if each figure was about to move, dance or sing. This is Gaudí's secret: he was always looking for shapes that would make the stone statue look alive, in motion.

When I started working with stone, a very old gentleman came to see me, and told me: "That child is me, when I was nine or ten years old I used to play ball in front of the Sagrada Família and every time Mr. Gaudí passed by we stopped the game, we stopped as a sign of respect. One day this gentleman, Gaudí, approached me and, putting his hand on my head, said: 'I will give you a candy if you will be a model'. I didn't know what a model was, I went to visit his studio with my friends.”

I didn't expect to see a living model of that façade, I thought they were all dead, and I'm also happy to have made something very similar to that man. Isn't that what we all feel inside? That impulse to get closer, to touch the divine. We are not simply making a figure and much less a monument; we have to create something real. The Baby Jesus who is there is not made of stone, everyone wants to see him as he was two thousand years ago, where he really existed; everyone wants to be there, together with the Magi, present at the most important and magnificent event of that time.

People wonder how you can continue to build without Gaudí. Art is not like someone has made a mistake and we follow this wrong path; art, like science, is the search for the right answer, because, even if Gaudí is no longer with us and he did not leave any data, if we look where Gaudí looked, we always find the right answer. This is my way of building the Sagrada Família.

Today, almost a century and a half after Gaudí began to work, we are closer than ever to seeing the Sagrada Família completed. But I wonder: Even when the architectural project is completed, is it really possible that a work like this can be finished? Can we say that something that is growing is completed? The Sagrada Família is not just a construction; It is a symbol of our ability to create something greater than ourselves, something that lasts, that transcends. Gaudí said: "The more we try, the better, because the owner of that house is not in a hurry." I would add that this temple is an eternal instrument that builds us: Pope Benedict said in his homily that, “The Church of herself is nothing; she is called to be the sign and instrument of Christ”.

Personally, I know that my mission in this work is not over. There will always be something more to do, some detail to perfect, some space to fill with meaning, something to restore and improve. Gaudí said that his real client was God and I believe that, in some way, all of us who work here feel this same vocation. My job is not only to sculpt stone, but to give it life, to transmit through it the faith and love that Gaudí dreamt of. Always thinking: how can we give happiness to this great client, God? The answer is: “We simply try to make ourselves happy, as every parent feels happy when they see their children happy, loved.”

Therefore, as long as there is a spark of creativity, as long as there is a stone waiting to be carved, I will stay here, serving this work with humility and devotion. In the meantime, we try to improve the work, learning, building ourselves as human beings.

For me, the Sagrada Família is not just a building under construction: it is a prayer that rises, a song that celebrates the greatness of God and the nobility of the human spirit. And I know that, in this place, I will always find a home, a reason to go on, a purpose that fills my heart. We are simply a note within the score that harmonises God's music.

When I see visitors marvel at the sculptures, stop to observe every detail, I know that my work, our work, acquires meaning. The work of the Sagrada Família is an invitation to engage God in dialogue, to peace, to communion. And it is this, in the end, that gives me strength. I feel that my life, my culture, my history, and each of the days I have dedicated to this basilica have not only been worth it, but I feel built by it, not by me.

The Sagrada Família will continue to be a beacon of hope and love for all who visit it. And, as long as God and destiny allow it, I will remain here, to take care of her, sculpting, dreaming and working so that every corner of this temple reflects the divine light, that light that unites us and reminds us that, in the end, "We are all one in love".

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