This year marks the 300th anniversary since the birth of Ito Jakuchu, a master painter born in Kyoto.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC had an exhibition of Ito Jakuchu's "Colorful Realm of Living Beings"–a set of 30 bird-and-flower paintings on display from March 30 through April 29, 2012.
For those of you who don't about Jakuchu, the video below (PBS in 2012) is an excellent introduction to his work.
Over 1,000 years, Gion Matsuri has been supported by people in Kyoto. They have so much pride on their own hokos (floats). In the last 25 years, Catherine Pawasarat has been not only taking photos of different events but have been interviewing the neighborhood leaders of each of the 33 hokos ( floats). Thanks to her effort we now get to learn history of each float.
From June 23 through July 17, I introduced Ms Noriko Kiyota's articles about Japanese silk from the magazine "Japanese Kimono +". I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did. Many thanks to Ms Kiyota for letting me share her articles on my blog. I'm very much looking forward to interviewing Japan's craftspeople together with Ms Kiyota in the future.
I will take a little beak from her magazine for now, and will write about what's happening in Kyoto this month... Gion Matsuri (Festival).
Until the Emperor Meiji moved to Tokyo in 1869, Kyoto had been Japan's royal capital for over 1,000 years. The gold pavilion in Kinkaku-ji Temple, geishas and maikos (apprentice geishas), and hundreds of bright orange shrine gates in Fushimi Inari...... Many things representative of Japan are found in this old city.
July is a special month for people in Kyoto and also for tourists, because that's when the famous Gion Matsuri (Festival) is held.
Gion Matsuri started in 869 as a purification ritual when a plague spread out in Kyoto. This is the festival held by the Yasaka Shrine and by people living the neighborhood. Many events are held throughout the month of July.
The highlight of the Gion Matsuri is called Yamahoko Junko (the procession of floats), held on July 17 and 24. This year 33 Yamahokos are to participate in the procession. Those "Yamahoko" floats are 'moving museums' because of their elaborate decoration with tapestries and wooden and metal ornaments.
Mr. Katsuyama and Mr. Shimura don't use machines for reeling the thread. When degumming the silk they only use straw ash solution. They use natural dye. The weaving is done with hands, not by machines. Beaten with a wood block called Kinuta, the fabric assumes rich texture just like the ancient fabric that Mr. Katsuyama once saw.
The fabrics made through this process are called "Usuhaginu". Only 4 kimonos and 100 obis are made through the process every year. Mr. Katsuyama sells his kimono and obis mainly at his exhibitions.
People who have tried his Usuhaginu kimono and obi are first amazed at its light weight, and impressed with its graceful look. The obi only weighs half as the normal ones, yet it keeps good shape after being tied. It has been 6 years since Mr. Katsuyama started marketing Usuhaginu obis. One of his clients loves them so much that she has over 20 of them!
Understandably, the Usuhaginu kimono and obi are pricey. Mr. Katsuyama hopes that a person who wears them really enjoys the experience.
A silkworm changes to a pupa in the cocoon, and about 10 days later it comes out of the cocoon as a moth, tearing the silk thread into pieces. In order to secure the long silk thread intact, it is necessary to keep the pupa inside cocoon. The most common method to store cocoons is to dry them with hot air. Other methods include steaming, sun drying, and cooling cocoons. People also used to salt cocoons to store them, but this method has long been abandoned.
Takeshi Katsuyama is the 5th generation obi maker in Nishijin, Kyoto. He once had a chance to see a piece of centuries old silk fabric, and was fascinated by its beautiful texture. He tried to replicate the fabric using any and all the silk yarn available in Nishijin, but this was in vain.
While he was pursuing his ultimate silk, he met Akira Shimura, who had been pursuing the same goal. Their collaboration started with opening a sericulture farm together in Nagano Prefecture. They selected a specific kind of mulberry tree, which had ceased to be grown for over 100 years. They also picked old species of silkworms.
Mr. Katsuyama and Mr. Shimura agreed to the method of storing cocoons, too. They chose salting cocoons, because this method gave the silk thread shinier, softer texture.
Mr. Tawara cleared the first hurdle: to secure high quality silk cocoons from farmers. The next hurdle was to find a silk mill that produced high quality silk yarn. Once there were over 50 silk mills in Japan. Now only two major ones remain. After talking to the owner, Mr. Tawara chose Matsuoka Silk Mill in Yamagata Prefecture.
Matsuoka started its operation in 1887 as a silk mill, but now a days raw silk production comprises less than 10% of its total revenue. Most revenue comes from its cutting edge businesses such as electronic components and aviation parts. Since Matsuoka has diversified into more profitable businesses, it can afford to continue the loss-making business of milling silk.
When the "Japanese Silk" branding started in 2007, Chiso was the first company to be registered in the program. The collaboration group led by Chiso tries to maintain transparency among all the member companies. They hold a conference annually to exchange ideas, and set rules for pricing products. The member sericulture farmers take active roles. They visit other sericulture farmers to learn best practices. They visit other constituents such as the silk mill, fabric weavers, and also Chiso's headquarters in Kyoto. Chiso's group website lists all the growers with their profile photos.
"It's not all about business. I just want to be proud of ourselves", says Mr. Tawara humbly of his achievement. Now over 90% of Chiso's high-end product lines and 100% of their original brand "Yume Tachibana (夢立花)" Furisodes, use Japanese silk.
Chico's alliance members gathered to celebrate its 460th anniversary.
In order to make sure that Chiso's kimonos were made of Japanese silk, Mr. Tawara needed to secure reliable suppliers; sericulture farmers that could constantly provide high quality silk cocoons. A decade ago, however, raw silk production was controlled by Japan's agricultural cooperatives. The basic rule was that purchasers like Chiso didn't have access to individual farmers.
When the government conducted research reviewing the existing system of the silk industry, Chiso was one of interviewees. After presenting his idea, Mr. Tawara was rewarded with an introduction to two of the cooperatives in Iwate Prefecture that had a similar idea.
Mr.Tawara met with the farmers and explained to them his idea. The farmers were unresponsive. Only at the banquet after the meeting, while sipping sake together, Mr. Tawara learned why the farmers were skeptical. In the past many "great opportunities" had been presented, only to result in disappointment.
Mr. Tawara didn't give in. He visited as many sericulture farmers in Japan as possible, presented Chiso's plan to make kimonos with Japanese silk, and encouraged farmers to join an alliance with Chiso. Around 60 sericulture farmers signed up.
Ten years ago, Takeshi Tawara transferred to the sourcing department at Chiso, a high-end kimono maker and wholesaler founded in Kyoto in 1555. He was shocked at what he found there.
He had assumed that all of his company's kimonos were made of silk also produced in Japan. He was wrong. Most of the fabrics used silk made elsewhere, mainly in China and Brazil.
Is this fair to Chiso's customers? It's not that silk produced abroad is any inferior to Japanese silk. But if we boast about Japanese kimonos, shouldn't they be made of Japanese silk? Now that he was in charge of sourcing, Mr. Tawara wanted to change the situation. How could he ensure that Chiso's kimonos are made of Japanese silk?
Washi paper has also been one of the important materials for making clothes in Japan. Thinly severed, Washi paper is woven into textile.
On Washi paper, shippaku (漆箔) master craftsman Mr. Saito spreads Urushi sap very thin, and places also very thin gold films one by one evenly. He does it so effortlessly, a technique that can be mastered only after years of years of practice.
Used as part of weft, the paper thread is woven to create a beautiful Obi.
Many thanks to Mr. Saito, Mr. Katsuyama, and Ms. Horie for giving me an opportunity to see the whole process of obi making.
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