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Cherry Bark Crafts
The Kakunodate area of Senboku City, Akita Prefecture, is the only place in Japan where Cherry Bark Crafts, Kabazaiku, is produced. Nowadays, wild cherry bark is used as the main material to craft tea-related accessories, such as tea caddies and tea boxes, and tableware such as trays and dishes, which are made for everyday use. In the late Edo era of the 1800s, cherry bark pill boxes called Inro or Doran were made for samurai to wear and carry.
One of the attractive features of Cherry Bark Crafts is its rich expression of wild cherry bark. Depending on the environment in which it grows, or the age of a tree, etc., different appearances are generated. Each different appearance of the bark has a unique name.
Crafts: Cherry Bark Crafts
Area: Kakunodate, Akita
Material: Wild Cherry Bark
MEMENTOS
Cherry Bark Brooch
Cherry Bark Crafts, Kabazaiku, is a traditional Japanese craft.
DENSHIRO, who has been making cherry bark crafts since its foundation in 1851, makes MEMENTOS' brooches, using one of Kabazaiku techniques, Tatamimono, carving preassembled layers of polished cherry bark into all sorts of shapes, and then polishing.
If you look at the brooch from the side, you can see the layers of cherry bark.
むじかわ
“Natural” Bark
The reddish-brown colored bark which is whittled and polished is called “Natural.” It is one of the most standard and common types of bark and is often used for KABAZAIKU products. The surface of “Natural” bark will grow more lustrous the more you handle it.
しもふりかわ
“Marble” Bark
“Marble” is the raw bark of the wild cherry tree. Since it is used for KABAZAIKU products just as it has grown in nature, the surface is rough. Its color is gray-brown, with partly whitish and yellow ocher-like colors mixed in. The color of its surface will grow darker and calmer the more you handle it.
きんけいかわ
“Gold” Bark
The “Gold” layer appears as the surface of the raw bark is whittled and polished. In order to make a fine “gold” layer on the surface, a craftsman needs to make sure not to remove it, though not all bark has a “gold” layer. The bark that has a large amount of “gold” is regarded as fine quality and rare. You may find a small amount of “gold” in the “natural” bark that is used for a product.
うらかわ
The Bark’s “Underside”
The outside of the bark is usually used for Cherry Bark Ware products, but the underside of the bark is polished and used as the surface of a brooch. The bark’s “Underside” has a hazy look.
ひびかわ
“Crazed Bark”
"Crazed Bark" has many cracks in a vertical direction through the knots and those cracks tend to be marked on the bark of old trees that grow in cold regions. It is a fine quality bark. The variety of the size and depth of the cracks make rich expressions in the bark of the wild cherry tree.
にどかわ
“Second-growth” Bark
"Second-growth" bark is peeled for use about 7 years after the first harvest. Only expert professionals can peel away the bark without damaging the trees so that the third-growth or the fourth-growth bark is possible. As it is regrown, the color and look of the young bark is completely different to other kinds of bark. It feels like cork.
Process of Making
Cherry Bark Brooches
Choose a Fine Cherry Bark
Cherry bark such as "Crazed Bark," "Gold" Bark, the Bark's "Underside" layer appears as the surface of the raw bark is whittled and polished. In order to make a fine layer of each bark on the surface, a craftsman needs to make sure not to remove it.
Assemble the Cherry Bark
A craftsman stacks bark together to from a pile with collagen glue. The thickness of bark depends on each type, but 10 to 15 pieces of bark are usually needed for a brooch. After a pile of cherry bark is made, it needs to be rest to dry the glue for a few weeks.
Polish Preassembled Layers of Polished Cherry Bark
A craftsman polishes preassembled layers of polished cherry bark by hand to make the shape and size of MEMENTOS' brooch.
In order that you enjoy the inherent quality of cherry bark, the brooches of cherry bark are not coated. The surface of cherry bark keeps changing or aging as the time goes.
The way of change varies, depending on the bark type or the finish method, but if you watch the process of bark's growing or age with your bark, it may lead you to growing a deep attachment to your cherry bark and the craftsmanship.
Enjoying
the Aging Process
of Cherry Bark
Caring for
your Cherry Bark
Caring for a Polished Cherry Bark Brooch
The polished cherry bark has a unique luster and will begin to shine even more with regular use and handling.You can maintain the luster by wiping the surface gently at times, following the direction of the knots on the bark, with a soft cloth such as an eyeglass cleaning cloth.
Caring for Unpolished Cherry Bark Brooch
If the raw bark of the wild cherry tree is used, the surface is rough and has no luster. However, the color of its surface will grow darker and calmer the more you handle it.
Kawatsura Lacquerware
The origin of Kawatsura Lacquer Ware was the Kamakura era, during the 1100s. It was said that the Kawatsura area of Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture, had plenty of natural resources then, such as wood materials and urushi lacquer. Armor and weapons, such as sheathes, bows, and suits of armor, were lacquered with urushi.
In the early Edo era of the 1600s, after Kawatsura Lacquer Ware was established and the production was commercialized in earnest, daily items such as bowls, trays, and nests of boxes, started to be made. Also, new decoration techniques were added at that time, such as the Chinkin technique, whereby the lacquerware’s surface is carved and then gold and silver powder or leaf is inlayed in the depression, and the Makie technique, whereby gold and silver powder or leaf is sprinkled or attached on the lacquered part on the lacquerware surface.
MEMENTOS
Kawatsura Lacquerware Brooch
Kawatsura Lacquerware is a traditional Japanese craft, started during the 1100s.
Mr. Hiroki Settsu who is the third generation of maki-e artisan in Kawatsura, one of the lacquerware production area in Japan, makes MEMENTOS' brooches using the same colors and maki-e techniques that he usually use to make bowls and sake cups.
One of the characteristics of lacquerware is the color, red. A wide range of red colors are used in lacquerware , and each has a different purpose.
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くろ
黒呂
呂色仕上げの漆黒のブローチ。漆を塗り研磨する工程を繰り返し、最後には鏡のような艶が現れます。
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ほんしゅ
本朱
鮮やかな赤で、艶のある仕上げ。古くから神聖な色として、慶事には欠かせない。
ぎんしゅ
銀朱
落ち着いた朱色で、マットな仕上げ。
あらいしゅ
洗朱
黄色みを帯びた、橙色に近い赤。「朱色」を洗って色味がくすんだような色、と表現されることも。日本の関西地方では神社の鳥居などに使われる色。
こだいしゅ
古代朱
艶感があるチョコレートのような色合い。
たまり
溜
赤い顔料を混ぜた漆を下地に塗り、その上の層に、乾くと半透明になる生漆を塗ることで下地の色が透けて見える技法。角張っている端に色がたまり、濃く発色するため、自然と輪が浮かび上がる。
きんぷん
Gold Powder
The rough texture of the surface is made with a mixture of dried clay powder and urushi lacquer. It looks like crumpled paper. Before the urushi lacquer is dried, gold powder is sprinkled on. This matte gold brooch has a subdued feel.
ぎんぷん
Silver Powder
The rough texture of the surface is made with a mixture of dried clay powder and urushi lacquer. It looks like crumpled paper. Before the urushi lacquer is dried, gold powder is sprinkled on. This matte gold brooch has a subdued feel.
ぎんみがき
Silver Polished
Silver powder is sprinkled on urushi-lacquered wood chip and it is repeatedly polished. The surface is smooth to the touch and looks like a cold metal chip, but it is surprisingly light as the base is a wood chip.
Process of Making Lacquerware Brooches
Applying Urushi Lacquer
Lacquer brooches are made by applying layers of lacquer to the wood chip of maple trees.
Depending on the type of brooch, the production process and finishing methods differ, but the process of lacquering and polishing is repeated. One of the characteristics of Kawatsura lacquerware is the technique of "nuritate" or "hananuri", which is not sharpened at the end of the process. This technique gives a more moist and soft impression, but the quality of the finished product is greatly affected by the presence of dust.
Maki-e Technique
After the finishing lacquering process, some brooches are decorated with gold or silver powders using the Maki-e technique. Gold and silver powders are sprinkled on the uneven texture created by abrasive powders and lacquer, or lacquer and silver powders are applied and polished repeatedly to enhance the luster.
As the lacquer becomes more transparent with age, it gradually changes to a brighter color and becomes more shiny the more you touch it.
In addition, brooches that are finished by grinding silver powder will tarnish due to the sulfurization of silver when exposed to the air.
The way of change varies, depending on the item or the finish method, but if you watch the process of lacquer's growing or age with your lacquer brooch, it may lead you to growing a deep attachment to your brooch and the craftsmanship.
Enjoying
the Aging Process
of Lacquerware
Shiraiwa Pottery
Shiraiwa Pottery
Shiraiwa Pottery originated in the mid-Edo period. At the time, one of the sources of revenue for the Akita clan was mining, and Unshichi Matsumoto, who was invited from what is now Fukushima Prefecture as an engineer to make heat-resistant ceramic containers for refining minerals, opened a pottery in Shiraiwa where there was good quality clay.
At its peak, Shiraiwa Pottery had grown into an industry with about 5,000 people working in 6 potteries, and was used for a wide range of purposes, from daily necessities for the common people to offerings to the clan. However, Shiraiwa Pottery ceased to exist in 1903 due to the loss of clan patronage following the abolition of the han system, the influx of pottery from outside the clan, and damage caused by the earthquake.
70 years later, in 1975, the descendants of the potter opened the Wahee Pottery and devoted themselves to the revival of Shiraiwa Pottery. Although none of the Shiraiwa Pottery techniques were inherited, it was discovered that the characteristic blue color was due to the "Namako glaze," which contains ash from the rice husks of the Akitakomachi rice variety.
Crafts: Shiraiwa Pottery
Area: Kakunodate, Akita
Material: The glaze is "Namako glaze," which contains the ashes of rice husks from Akita rice variety "Akitakomachi." The clay is collected in the Shiraiwa area.
MEMENTOS
Shiraiwa Pottery Brooch
Shiraiwa Ware is a historical pottery that was founded 250 years ago in Akita, a northern part of Japan.
The Mementos brooches are made using the clay, glaze, and techniques of the craft, Shiraiwa Ware. It is carefully handcrafted by Aoi Watanabe of Wahee Pottery.
Shiraiwa Ware's blue color is highlighted by its glaze made from the ashes of locally-harvested "Akitakomachi" rice husks, called Namako glaze.
The combination of the deep blue of the Namako glaze and the reddish brown of the "mud glaze" expresses the way the ground peeps out when the snow melts in spring, which is typical of Akita, a region with heavy snowfall.
Aoi is also working on a new expression of gold and platinum decoration with "white glaze."
なまこゆう
Namako Glaze
The combination of the deep blue gradation of the Namako glaze and the red clay-colored clay glaze reminds us of the spring thaw in Akita, a region of heavy snowfall. The part covered with the Namako glaze is slightly raised, blending in with the clay glaze.
はくゆう・きんさい
White Glaze with
Gold Glazing
A crescent moon brooch with white glaze and gold glazing. The white glaze part is shiny and the gold glazing part is matte.
はくゆう・ぷらちなさい
White Glaze with Platinum Glazing
A crescent moon brooch with white glaze and platinum glazing. The white glaze part is shiny and the platinum glazing part is matte.
Shiraiwa Pottery
Akita Silver Filigree
Akita Silver Filigree is a traditional craft in Akita, Japan mainly made of pure silver wires. Blessed with rich mineral resources, Akita was a prosperous mining area from the beginning of Edo period (1600s) to the Showa period (1970s), and Akita Silver Filigree was born from the metalworking techniques cultivated in Akita.
Crafts: Akita Silver Filigree
Area: Akita
Material: Silver
Parts are made from 0.3 to 0.5 mm twisted silver wires, brazed, and finished. Using basic patterns such as "jagged" and "spiral," Akita Silver Filigree with delicate expressions are carefully handcrafted.
MEMENTOS
Akita Silver Filigree Brooch
Akita Silver Filigree brooches are handcrafted by Toshiko Matsuhashi, Miho Kobayashi, and Kasumi Takahashi, artisans who run Yadome Silver Atelier.
Akita Silver Filigree brooches are made by twisting 0.3 to 0.5 mm silver wire into a bundle to form the frame and parts, then fitting the parts into the frame and then brazed into the frame and finished.
Jagged or spiral patterns are used to create jewelry and other works of art.
Akita Prefecture was blessed with rich mineral resources, and mining development was active from the Edo period to the Showa period, which refined the art of metalworking and it came to be well-known as a typical Akita craft.
しまもよう
Shima
A work by craftsman Toshiko Matsuhashi. Twisted wire and round type wire are placed alternately and make it stripe pattern. The back plate has a matte finish.
うずもよう
Uzu
A work by an artisan, Miho Kobayashi. Round silver frames are randomly placed. Two silver wires of 0.5 mm in diameter are twisted together and crushed, and then make them a spiral shape and inserted into the frames.
ぎざもよう すかし
Giza
A work by an artisan, Kasumi Takahashi. It is an openwork design with a jagged pattern.
ぎざもよう しろ
ぎざ模様 白
職人・髙橋香澄の作品。
ふくらみのある土台にギザギザな線模様を組み合わせました。
銀線の白いマットな輝きがほどよいアクセントに。
ぎざもよう くろ
ぎざ模様 黒
職人・髙橋香澄の作品。
ふくらみのある土台にギザギザな線模様を組み合わせました。
黒く燻した渋い銀の輝きが、角度によって様々な表情に。
ぎざもよう わ
ぎざ模様 輪
職人・髙橋香澄の作品。
ギザギザな透かし模様を施した繊細なデザインです。
小さなギザギザと大きなギザギザを斜めに配置したアシンメトリーなデザイン。