NEWS

Traditional Craft Making Experience and Gallery Tour

Update: February 16, 2024

On January 25, 2024, a group of ICU students, along with faculty and staff, experienced making accessories using the manufacturing technique of kazarikanagu (decorative metal fittings) used in Owari Butsugu (Owari Buddhist altar items), which is one of Japan's traditional crafts. Afterwards, they also visited the traditional crafts gallery.

Organized in collaboration with The Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries, which seeks to advance the dissemination of Japanese traditional crafts, this event was the association's first collaborative project with a university to be held in Japan. Eight ICU students, along with four faculty and staff, participated in the event, which provided an opportunity for the participants to deepen their understanding of traditional crafts and explore new educational possibilities. Having attended ICU's Introduction to Monozukuri course in 2021, ICU alumni Naomi Onishi subsequently began working at the association, ultimately resulting in this collaborative event taking place with our university.

The workshop for engraving kazari accessories began with a lecture by two artisans, which covered a wide range of topics, including the regionality and cultural development of kazarikanagu, focusing mainly on Owari. Following on, the participants actually experienced creating an accessory. The workshop was approximately 2 hours long, and the participants chose one accessory from among an incense holder, tie clip, and hair clip. The actual engraving process involved using a hammer and chisel to engrave patterns onto the copper or brass plate. The participants will receive their final product in March after the accessories have been gold or silver plated by the artisans. Later on, we plan to hold a gathering within the university where participants can discuss their products.

After creating their accessories, the participants visited the Japan Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square, a gallery that displays traditional crafts from all over Japan, where they were able to view numerous pieces utilizing superior techniques, as well as engaging in the issues surrounding the Japanese traditional crafts sector.

 

Comments from participants:

• This opportunity to actually experience making something by hand and coming into contact with Japanese culture has enabled me to further visualize Japanese tradition that tends to blend into our surroundings. I hope to take action towards ensuring the enduring continuation of Japanese tradition into the future, gradually and in small, actionable ways, by buying traditional crafts and disseminating traditional crafts to the people around me.
• As it was my first time, I was initially uncertain how things would turn out. Still, once I picked up the actual tools and started hammering, I began to gradually experience the real process of creating a craft and discovering its positive qualities.
• It was a lot more accessible and fun than I had originally imagined. But I also realized how difficult it is "to use the chisel precisely, adjust the strength, and maintain uniformity to create a beautiful design." It was a surprising and joyful experience to discover that what I had previously thought was a technique for accessories was, in fact, a technique that was adapted from decorating Buddhist altar items.