The Future of Japanese Traditional Crafts.

photo: colocal.jp  Johoji-urushi

The other day, I joined a talk session on Japanese traditional crafts at Midtown in Roppongi.  Hidetoshi Nakata, a former football player and Jun Nakagawa, CEO of Nakagawa Masashiti shoten in Nara pref. talked about their endeavors to promote Japanese traditional crafts.  It was very interesting and thought provoking for me.

Nakata, known as a “traveler,” said he had just finished his trip visiting artisans, sake breweries and other local traditional craft centers in all 47 prefectural regions in Japan.  I have been wondering why a former world-class football player got interested in Japanese crafts.  I couldn't wrap my head around it.  However, my uneasy feelings finally cleared up when I heard his explanation. 

Nakata said that he realized he didn’t know anything about Japan at all when he was asked about Japan, as he worked outside of the country.  All the more reason, he wanted to know every inch of Japan and started visiting manufacturing people after he quite playing football.  I think it’s his honest feelings and I also sometimes feel the same way.  It’s a shame we really don’t know about our country.

Nakagawa is the 13^th generation of a traditional company with 300 years of history.  Born in a family of linen fabric makers, he considered the future of Japanese crafts, which seemed to be disappearing due to the lack of successors and the change of people’s lifestyles.  Now, he has been enthusiastic about revitalizing traditional crafts.  And his company is growing enough to have a flag shop in Aoyoma, Tokyo. 

The chemistry of these two people was very interesting.  Though their standpoints are different, there are some similarities between them.  What impressed me most is their claim that Japanese traditional products wouldn’t be sold overseas unless customers understand the cultural background, or how the products have been used in traditionally in Japanese. 

For example, Japanese wooden products and urushi lacquer products are beautiful but it’s a bit difficult to maintain their good conditions if people leave them in low ambient humidity, as in Europe. 

If we want to expand the traditional crafts market worldwide, we should export the history of the products as well so that the prospective consumers would keep using them as long as possible.  Otherwise, Japanese crafts would be recognized just a souvenirs. 

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The Remains of the Azuchi Castle.

photo: azuchi-shiga.com

If I were asked what period of Japanese history do you like best, I would say it would be the Azuchi Momoyama period (1573-1603) because many unique and innovative people appeared in the era such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Sen no Rikyu.

Oda Nobunaga was a war load who completed the way to unify the nation and promoted the merchandising by opening a new market without taxes.  Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born as a son of a peasant and climbed up the social ladder and finally reached the top.  Sen no Rikyu completed the tea ceremony as an ultimate art.  He created the new concept of art called “wabi,” a state of calm, quiet subtlety, which avoids being gaudy or showy.  What a gorgeous era Aduchi Momoyama was!

The name of “Azuchi” in Azuchi Momoyama period comes from the castle’s name, which Oda Nobunaga built in azuchi-cho, Shiga prefecture.  I’ve wanted to visit the castle for many years and finally I did. 

To tell the truth, there is no castle there.  Unfortunately, the castle was burnt down three year after it was built, when Oda Nobunaga was assassinated by his senior statesman.  All we were allowed to do is just look at the stone walls and imagine the time.

The remains of the castle stand beside Lake Biwa.  At the opposite side of the lake, you can see Mt. Hieizan, in which Enryakuji-temple is located.  Over the mountain is Kyoto, the ancient capital city.  Oda Nobunaga must have looked at the scene everyday and accumulated his ambition to unify the nation and beyond.  It’s nice to deepen my understanding of the history geographically here.   I think there is something that we can feel only when we come the site. 

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