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Report of visit to a expert in kyoto
Kyoto lacquer work. (Mr. Yukio Tominaga, he awarded the prize
of a Kyoto tradition industry excellent engineer in 1976), Thus there was the
opportunity that thought about a formation condition of tradition industry of
Kyoto. It is existence of the craftsman group which should say lacquer work
community.
One lacquer work craftsman supported with many workers. There are, woodworker,
polishing powder man, a japanner and a craftsman supplying a many tools and
a Japanese paper of the materials, a brush, a writing brush, camellia charcoal,
seed oil, a powdered antler (the polishing powder which burned a corner of a
deer, gold and silver powder, color powder, mother-of-pearl work become necessary
to support for one lacquer work.
I visited Mr. K. TonogaiI, he was a Gold dust maker for Gold lacquer work ,
who was a man inheriting tradition of gold dust, he was a man who indispensable
to Kyoto lacquer work. While at first, according to him, with rasp takes down
the metal, and scatter this on a board with small , and rubbing it with a hammer
on rugged metal plate calmly powdered it. Then scatter it on the polished steel
plate, next arrange three or four steel wire, and powder grows evenly when roll
wire with an iron. And the last, carefully stretch it by a finger-tip.
It was unbelievable, but I met oneself and checked it and knew that it is really
so. I checked the parcels under electron microscope. The all the particles was
thin equally and had stretch, brightness, beautiful. Till that time, some industrial
product can be replaced it. I looked at this powder and surprised and was able
to learn a sanctuary of the lacquer work that cannot invade it by any machine
technology. By the way, lacquer work draws a pattern in
a lacquer and sows gold, silver, tin, color powder while it does not dry.
There is "a powder pipe" , which is a unique tool to use for the scatter
of this powder. If it says with an engineering word , flow rate controlled type
vibration very small amount dispersion supply container.
The tool is hand made which cuts bamboo without a knot of a diameter of 1 cm
or an holder of an big shuttlecock of a crane diagonally , and sets cloth of
silk gauze on the end. For the cloth, in Kyoto, waste piece of clothes of clerical
robe of priest. They prepared several kinds from a coarse thing to a small thing.
These is a special small sieve, I think. He put powder in this device and let
slant it and have it toward one hand and let his finger vibrate moderately and
scatter the gold powder. He change a finger letting you vibrate with the middle
finger, the third finger, a little finger and change a direction running away
and modify quantity he change a direction of a respect of cloth of silk gauze.
A hand of the worker in gold Lacquer who writes a close view, haze as a background
of the hills and rivers in vivid is certainly the acme of the human being skill.
The gold dust which he sowed hangs to clouded gold lacquer after he paint, and
hardening it in a transparent lacquer (pear-skin lacquer). Beautiful gold color
appear by grinding by camellia charcoal and a powdered horn. It is a principle
that do clouded gold lacquer in a maximum area to half of thickness of a gold
dust particle. If too much polishing , it broken the particle when he continue
it more than it. This is going to need long experience too. In labor saving,
large quantities production type industrialized society, labor-intensive enterprises
are coexist, symbiosis of Worker in gold Lacquer. This is a topic to show for
other society.
Recently, we can gets possible to watch a fresh photograph of an industrial
art object of each place in HP directly .
Following, I would like to guide you to the beautiful show windows of some shops
in Japan on the web site.
Yamanaka, FUKUI-pref.(http://www.nusiya.com/
) knows a lot about the lacquered refinement . It is the feeling that it observes
at the actual place.
Without the worry that it is made to buy in the shop
in ( http://www.syogando.net/makie/urushi.htm) if it is Kyoto lacquer work,
it is a feeling looking in a show window. The shop where is touched in the skill
of a craftsman of Kaga tradition industrial arts standing still at of a Yamanaka
hot spring, a banana plant temple entrance.