[2025.06.23] SPUR August Issue -A Great Step

[Wintek]

SPUR Magazine

Publisher: Shueisha
August Issue, released on June 23, 2025
Paper magazine:  950 Jp yen

Digital magazine: 730 Jp yen (available on Amazon Japan)
Yuzuru's feature is from page 34 to 41. 
9 photos of Yuzuru's wearing Gucci and 1-page interview by Fumofumo (writer and long-time Hanyu supporter through his blog)
 

SPUR is the best-selling fashion magazine from Japan. The magazine is aimed at fashion-conscious women with a strong intellectual curiosity. It mainly features fashionable and realistic fashion stories and high-quality reading material. It is popular among women with a keen sense of fashion, including information on fashion, models, brands, beauty, lifestyle, and stylish weddings.

 

More information about the August Issue: https://spur.hpplus.jp/magazine/202508/Zy9S1w/?utm_campaign=ift.spur_magazine.twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

 

 

 

 

[Wintek]

*Please do not reply in this thread. Machine translation, inaccuracies exist.*

Yuzuru Hanyu and GUCCI: Tracing the origins of creativity

A Great Step

 

The wardrobe worn by professional figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu in this collaboration is a distillation of GUCCI’s refinement, dignity, and artisanal craftsmanship. In the sense that both Hanyu and the brand have left behind “great footprints” in the past, yet continue to move forward without pause, they share a common spirit.

After the great success of his third solo ice story, Echoes of Life, which he has worked on since turning professional, Hanyu is now exploring ideas for what comes next. In this interview, he reflects on his daily life devoted to creation.

 

Spoiler

photography: Osamu Yokonami styling: Tetsuro Nagase prop

styling: Mamoru Hinata (FORDIMENSIONS)

hair: Tomihiro Kono make-up: Tomomi Shibusawa (beauty direction)

interview & text: Fumofumo Henshu-cho (p.41)

edit: Michino Ogura

Editor-in-Chief Fumofumo asks: Hanyu’s approach to creative activity
What lies beyond “expression" : Yuzuru Hanyu speaks on the evolution of his creations

— In your most recent ice story, Echoes of Life, you wrote an original novel, crafting the world and its characters yourself. How do you perceive the evolution of your creative work?

It's really just a continuation from the very first ice show... I guess I’ve gotten a little more used to it over time. The core themes I want to write about or the emotions I want to express haven’t changed. But the outer layer, the form of the expression around it, that’s what keeps changing. Since I’m constantly studying, I’ve gradually come to be able to use other forms of expression. I feel like I now have more tools to convey the essence of what I want to say, depending on the moment. What I strongly felt while writing Echoes of Life was that, whether it’s through words or through skating, expression at its root is about conveying something. Whether that’s done through shifts in tone, or through narrative structure, that’s no different from how I’ve been building my skating programs and stories. I started to realize that what I’ve learned for figure skating can actually be used when writing too.

 

—Is there a difference or distinction between "communicating" with words and "communicating" through acting?

Yes, I do make that distinction. One thing about us figure skaters is that because we express ourselves physically, there’s no language barrier, it’s easier to reach people from many different cultures. On the other hand, expressing something through words can be harder to convey for people who speak different languages, but for those whose native language is Japanese, the message can come across more directly. So there are merits and demerits^[1].

When it's a message that I really want to be conveyed properly through the medium of verbal language, then using words is the best. But on the other hand, when I feel like I don’t really want to put this into words, or that I want to deliver it in a broader framework, I’ve started to think that maybe figure skating or physical expression is more appropriate. Also, when it’s not a message like “I want you to understand only this one thing,” that’s where I turn to expression. I often say in interviews that I want to be a catalyst. Like when you watch a movie or listen to music, those experiences turn into “your own story.” If you hear a song about heartbreak, it might make you think “My own heartbreak”. If it’s a song about encouragement, it might make you think “the path I’ve walked so far", or "what I want to achieve from now on." I think skating should work the same way. And skating, since it uses no words, offers even more freedom. Even if I’m performing something sad, some people may be moved by the way I rise from that sadness, while others may focus on the sorrow itself and grieve along with me. That kind of emotional movement, I think physical expression is the best medium to "trigger emotions." For me, expression doesn’t exist for myself. What matters most is how it reaches the people I want to reach, and how they receive it. And once it reaches them, I don’t think that’s the end of it. I believe it keeps spreading, maybe it influences their lives in some way. I really care about those ripples and the movement that comes after.

 

— That is the very concept of Echoes of Life.

Exactly. It’s like the resonance of life, the ripples in the air that spread out from a performance. I’m always thinking about how those ripples might pass through someone else, and how they might continue to spread from there.

 

— You’ve also performed programs where you skate to poetry you’ve written yourself. A line like “Records document the past / What we must face is the future / [if this is ] The privilege of the living / Then, shall we make good use of it?” was particularly striking.

Before arriving at this place, I was fortunate to have achieved many records. And it’s because those records exist that people are watching me now. But no one can see the future. Even though we can’t see it, our bodies keep stepping into it, and the present keeps slipping into the past. I wrote that while imagining what it means to move forward while constantly parting ways with the present. Humans have always have long been carving time in units called seconds, but with every one of those “frames (1枚),”^[2] we live while saying farewell to it.^[3]That farewell is in itself “the privilege of the living.” It’s also a symbol of those who continue to move toward the future… that’s the kind of image I had in mind.

 

— You yourself are now living through that moment, parting from the past, facing the future. Do you have a vision for how you might continue to evolve?

Honestly… I don’t. (laughs) If I had to say something broadly, I guess “I just want to keep getting better” has always been there. The more specific you make an image, the easier it is to reach it, but maybe that also becomes a kind of restriction.

 

When I turned pro, I couldn’t see what lay ahead and it was terrifying. I had to skate alone. I had to build the entire structure of an ice show on my own. I was afraid of how it would be received. I didn’t know whether the people who had supported me as a competitive skater would continue to support me now that I was a professional. Everything felt pitch black. And during that time, I had conversations with many people. One person told me, “That darkness, it’s possibility;” that the reason it looks pitch black is because infinite possibilities lie ahead. That it’s because no one has ever walked this path that it seems so dark. Back then, I used to always think things like: “In X years, I’ll win the Olympics,” or “Someday I’ll land the Axel.” I lived in that mindset. But now, I try not to hold on to that kind of image too tightly. I want to keep holding on to infinite possibilities.  And within that, I just want to get better, to deepen^[4] (豊か) both as a person, and as a expressive artist.

Translation and Interpretation Notes:

[1] Yuzuru, interestingly, uses the words “メリット” (merit) and  “デメリット” (demerit), which are written in Katakana, the phonetic alphabet used to write words from foreign languages (usually English). He’s literally talking about language, and how expression travels across language boundaries, using  loanwords like メリット” and  “デメリット mirrors this theme. These words are also well balanced in the sense of not saying that doing one thing or the other is necessarily better or worse.

[2] “1枚” (ichimai) literally refers to a single sheet (of paper) or a single frame, Yuzuru uses this as a metaphor for each singl moment in time.

[3] 決別する” (ketsubetsu suru) is not just “letting go” but a more conscious and sometimes painful farewell.

[4] 豊か (yutaka), carries several layers of meaning, depending on context: rich (in a non-financial sense, like rich in experience or feeling), abundant, full / fulfilling / deep, enriched (intellectually, emotionally, artistically).