Miguel Sánchez
Japan was, for centuries, a hermetic country for foreigners. Remote and mysterious, the archipelago of the Rising Sun developed a completely different aesthetic from the western one. And it is that, While in Europe geometric volumes were imposed on the natural environment, thus celebrating the dominance of nature by man, in Japan the lines of buildings and utensils followed those of the place itself. Thus, while Westerners have been educated in an aesthetic of dominating lines, the Japanese see as natural the symbiosis of form and function, object and context.
A concept perfectly captured in the 1933 essay In Praise of Shadows, where Junichiro Tanizaki analyzes how in Europe beauty has always been born from light, while in Japan the opaque and dark have found an elegant function within architecture. Always organic, full of secluded dim spaces. A tradition that has also imbued his literature, within which we can find the serene environments described by Kawabata or Soseki. In fact, the influence of these aesthetic postulates has been of such magnitude that, with total naturalness, they were incorporated into motor racing after the Second World War.
A design philosophy in which Mazda has excelled, whose bodies are often marked by fluidity inspired by the changing shape of water. Concept that the brand has just renewed through the Kodo design, which has marked the company's main lines since 2010. Nevertheless, for decades its engineers have already been working under the motto of Jinba Ittai. An ancient precept of archery on horseback, which states that rider and mount must be one. Just the idea that underlies the exquisite behavior of vehicles like the Miata. Some traits that, despite their strict Japanese character, were influenced by Giorgetto Giugiaro in the sixties.
1969 Mazda Luce Rotary Coupe.
MAZDA LUCE. A NOTHING LIKELY TO THE LANCIA OF THE MOMENT
The reasons why Japan was such a hermetic country for centuries are many. Geography, internal conflicts, religious beliefs ... A host of factors that lulled their islands to the sound of their own rumors, unable to easily assume the influence coming from abroad. A fact well collected in movies like Silence, where Martin Scorsese reflects the difficulties placed on any idea born beyond the national borders. However, after World War II everything changed. Defeated and wounded in their proud nationalism responsible for millions of murders in Asia and the Pacific, Japan has no other way out than to docilely open up to the West.
Alfa Romeo Coupe Bertone. Bertone models, with Giugiaro as the architect, were key in the development of the Mazda Luce.
Thus, the Japanese automobile companies begin a long journey through which they go from the manufacture of micro-cars to the production of incredible sports cars such as the Toyota 2000GT. A way by which an industry with the ability to successfully export to international markets is establishing itself. This achievement is confirmed by the presence -especially in the US- of cars like the Datsun 240Z or the Mazda Cosmo Sport. However, this growth process is based on vehicles manufactured exclusively for the national market. A testing ground where brands like Mazda incorporated Western elements in an experimental way.
An interesting trend, in which the Mazda Luce of the first series stands out. Introduced in 1966, its design had always struck us as the most Italianate, with a grill too similar to that of the 1963 Lancia Fulvia to be a coincidence.
Mazda Luce of the first series. Parrila indebted to that of the Fulvia and sides of the hood taken from the Giulia Sprint Bertone.
An intuition confirmed when, searching among Giorgetto Giugiaro's designs, we found his authorship dated 1965. Second step of the collaboration with Mazda that began two years earlier with the design of the Familia, and fully established with the presentation in 1969 of the Mazda Luce Rotary Coupe . A sports car with a tributary rotary engine in the lines of the Lancia Fulvia and Flaminia GT.
HIDEYUKI MIYAKAWA. THE UNEXPECTED LINK BETWEEN ITALY AND JAPAN
By now the most seasoned readers will be thinking that Giugiaro did not design the Fulvia. A most accurate piece of information, since they were Lancia employees Antonio Fessia and Pietro Castagnero. However, the young Giugiaro was in their orbit, already established as a benchmark after signing the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT for Bertone in 1963. A sports car with which the Mazda Luce clearly shares the longitudinal lines that raise the sides of the front. Lines later used in the Mazda, exactly the same as the Fulvia grille or the clean side of the Flaminia, with the absence of a B-pillar.
Absence of pillar B. Like the Flaminia GT.
But at this point the question is clear. What was the connection between the Italian designers and Mazda? Even more so when we discover in her archives how she acknowledges having taken Bertone's Italian designs as the basis for the Luce. The key point is called Hideyuki Miyawaka. Launched at the age of 22 on a motorcycle trip around the world, this young car designer stops at the Turin Motor Show in 1960.
The young Miyakawa on his trip around the world on a motorcycle.
From there he sends chronicles to the Japanese motoring press, giving news of his meeting with personalities such as Giogetto Giugiaro. However, the most important person that Hideyuko will meet at this event will be Maria Luisa Bassano. Translator in the space that Mazda had prepared in the Turin Motor Show, this Italian ends up married to our intrepid Japanese in 1962.
At this point, Hideyuki Miyawaka finds in his marriage the reason for settling in Italy. Of course, not leaving behind his career as a designer, since he collaborated with Giugiaro in the creation of Italdesign in 1968. A fruitful relationship from the first moment, since Thanks to Hideyuko's intercession, the Italian designer managed to work for Mazda. Of course, recycling -as we have seen- not a few elements of models never marketed in Japan such as the Lancia Fulvia or the Alfa Romeo Giulia Bertone. An original sin that is forgiven after seeing what, for the author of these lines, is the best creation of this unexpected Italy-Japan connection: the 1969 Mazda Luce Rotary Coupe.
A fascinating car designed by Giugiaro for the Bertone house, equipped with a Wankel mechanism that we will analyze in a future article with data confirmed by Mazda's Restore Program, which recovered a unit in 2017.
PS: Maria Luisa Bassano and Hideyuki Miyakawa are still happily married, owning a wine cellar in the Italian town of Bulichella.
Photographs: Mazda's Restore Program, Bertone, Bassano-Miyakawa couple.
