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March 22
By train to Kyoto. Regular train first, then we changed to the shinkansen (bullet train). Both very clean and comfortable. Kayoko had bought sandwiches to eat, as well as a yummy peach-topped, cream-filled pastry. Arriving at Kyoto Station, I checked out the signs to locate the airport bus. (Unlike in Kochi, most of the signage is in English as well as in Japanese, the difference between a big tourist destination and a non-tourist destination!)
We cabbed it to Usami Shokakudo, a conservation company specializing in scroll-mounting. The company is 220 years old. I’m beginning to learn that it is very common in Japan for companies to be not just old, but in the same family for many generations. We first gathered in a conference room and learned something about the process, the paper and adhesives used here. We received samples of each paper, along with information about their different uses. And, yes, they use aged paste.
Three types of paper are used in scroll-mounting. Minogami is used as a backing for the silk painting, with a second backing of misugami to adjust thickness and for flexibility. The last layer is udagami. The company buys their paper directly from the papermakers, to ensure the quality of the materials used. We then went into their studios, and saw work in progress.
Right across the street is the Nishi-Honganji Temple. Should you be touring temples, castles, etc., I highly recommend having as your guide someone who is doing the restoration work there! Naoharu Usami, the younger son of the business, joined us, and told us to ignore the “No Photography” signs! We walked on a nightingale floor (though not the famous one), and it really does sound like birdsong. The Noh stage there is the oldest in the country. One of my favorite things here was the ceiling in one hallway that was painted with a design of books.
Later, Usami took out a key, and we went into the area where the Flying Cloud Pavilion and its grounds are being restored. It’s so beautiful. Normally, there is a large pond with a bridge over it, though the pond is now drained (all the rocks are numbered!). The shogun used it for rest and relaxation, tea, poems, moon-viewing, and the only way to get to it from the main building is by water. There is a dock under the pavilion for the boats.
I bought a disposable camera at the gift shop - nearly $18.00!
The archival box maker has been cancelled, and we went to Mr. Nishimura, the brushmaker, instead. He is the most famous brushmaker in Japan. He showed us how he separates the different length hairs by holding them in his hand and combing them. He bands them with persimmon-dyed paper, clamps them, glues them up with a very hard adhesive. He must take care that he allows it to completely dry, or the hair will be uneven - he showed us one of his mistakes. The handles are sewn on with silk thread, koto strings or samisen strings, depending on the size brush, and there is only one person in Kyoto who makes them. The handles are made in Gifu prefecture, from the hinoki tree, the same wood that papermaking screens are made from. His family has been making brushes since the Meiji era, though he studied with a brushmaker in Nara. He doesn’t make calligraphy brushes, just paste brushes and brushes for sweets (to brush the syrup on).
Dinner was at an Italian (!) restaurant. Not bad, and the tiramisu was delish.
Now we are at a ryokan, Shima-ya, for the rest of our stay. It’s delightful. Sigrid and I are sharing a large room, with a garden outside (all the rooms, at least on the first floor, seem to face a garden). And here’s a treat - the low table has a built-in heating element, and there are blankets between the table and the glass that drape down, so it was cozy toes. On top of which, each futon has an electric foot-warmer tucked under the quilt! Hot water, and a pot with green tea leaves, along with a treat, are on the table when you come in, such a pleasant thing.
March 23
Breakfast here is a bit western - hardboiled egg, a roll, yogurt, and a bit of fruit.
Rob appeared today in a sport coat and tie! It’s his birthday (he’s 52 here, but still 51 in London).
I think we must have hit the longest running business so far - 11 generations of karakami makers. The papers are made from carved blocks, each pattern made so that it can be repeated for a continuous design. Every block used here (all 650) is 200 years old; they’d be older except that there was a fire 200 years ago that destroyed everything. The wood is called ho, it is fairly soft, but it wears evenly. They are trying to find someone who can carve new blocks, but so far without success.
The pigment is mixed with water and fumori, and applied to the surface of the block with a sieve-like screen called a furu-i, first used 500 years ago. (Allegedly, the idea came from a similar sieve used in cooking.)
The papers are used in restoration. We were shown a piece that is for Nijo Castle, along with the original. The colors look completely different, but the original is faded and tarnished. They know the colors from a bit that was protected under the shoji frame.
Another shopping opportunity. I bought some cards and a large sheet of paper (the size of four blocks). The paper was a tad extravagant, but well worth it; it’s beautiful. I also bought a book with reproductions of many of their papers.
(Camera-curse update: dropped the camera and smashed the skylight filter as we were getting into the cab!!)
From there to the reprography studio at Nijo-jo (Nijo Castle). They are making reproductions which will replace endangered originals in situ. We saw some work in progress on ceiling panels, using paint made in exactly the same way as that used in the original work. In making the reproductions, they do not copy later additions, but reproduce the work as originally designed. For example, one wall painting they were copying had had gold added to it, which they left off. We saw the original later and it was NOT improved by the addition!
We then toured Ninomaru Castle (part of the Nijo-jo complex). This is where the famous Nightingale floor is. The gardens are gorgeous, too. One odd looking object, several legths of what appeared to be straw, capped with a “thatch”, turned out to be protecting a tree from the cold weather.
Then to Kintaka, a shop for ikebana tools. There were some great vases, but too heavy and/or large to take home. However, there were some small ones in glass and pottery, good for one or two blooms. I bought a few of the small pottery ones, being worried about transporting glass. Also got a frog, and a tool for spreading and cleaning the prongs. The shop had some gorgeous small scalpels - wooden-handled tied with colored cord. It was hard to choose. Later, Nancy told us that these knives are unique to Kintaka. The handles are either red cedar or smoked bamboo, and they use the best steel. (It’s probably a good thing she didn’t tell us earlier, or I’d have bought more!)
Dinner at an Irish pub (!) to celebrate Rob’s birthday. Further camera-curse: somewhere I dropped the disposable! When we got ready to go out, I realized it was in my coat pocket. I thought briefly about going back to the room and leaving it, but didn’t. DUMB! When we got left the restaurant, I realized I didn’t have it. Couldn’t find it there, so I probably dropped in either in the cab or on the street.
March 24
Wazome and chiyogami makers (graphic repeat patterns).
Mr. Kuriyama showed us around. They make lovely, lovely papers. We got to try our hand! The papers are made by using stencils, and applying a resist of rice paste. After the colors are applied, thinned with soybean juice (which also acts as an adhesive to stick the colors to the paper), they are dried and the resist in then washed off. The same method is used is kimono fabric dying, though Mr. Kuriyama is the first to apply it to decorative papers. The stencils are all cut by hand.
We had lunch at Sho-jin ryori at the Myoshin-ji Temple, a vegetarian lunch as it is a Buddhist temple. So many ways to make tofu! But very good, and very elegantly served.
We then had a tour, led by the head monk, who is also a doctor of agriculture. The temple makes a silk paper called san-ken-shi. Normally, silkworms die in the silk-making process, because their cocoons are destroyed, but they have developed a type of worm that spins on a flat surface. It’s beautiful, delicate paper.
The sermon hall has a very famous ceiling painting of a dragon, which appears to be looking at you wherever you stand. From one side it appears to be ascending to heaven, from the other, descending from it. The oldest bell in Japan is here, cast in 605 A.D., though only a reproduction is on display. (The original has a crack in it, and cannot be rung.) The monks also had a very nice looking steam bath!
Then to the Gion district, which is one of the most famous geisha districts (though they are called geiko in Kyoto. The cherry trees are just starting to come out, and there was one in full bloom just by the river that runs next to the main street, splendid photo op! We walked around there for a bit, and then Nancy and I went to Takashimaya to see the exhibition of 20th-century works from the Adachi Museum. Towards the end we ran into Kayoko and Usami, and Usami was able to tell us about how the framing elements for the scrolls are chosen, the importance of varying pattern size, different choices for Japanese-style and Chinese-style paintings, etc. There was one screen in the exhibit that his firm had restored.
After dinner, had a lovely Japanese-style bath at Shima-ya. These are incredibly relaxing. You soap up and shower off outside the bath, and then luxuriate in steaming hot water. Wonderful after a long day with a lot of walking around.
March 25
Long last day. Morning at the market at Kitano Tenmangu. This market is held on the 25th of each month, and the trip had been planned around it. We could have spent the whole day here, though we might have been broke at the end. Quite a variety of things, but I spent most of the time looking at the textiles. Many stalls had pieces of fabric, perfect for turning into book cloth, so I bought a bunch. Some real finds in obi and kimono. I bought a black and silver obi, with a small, overall geometric pattern for the equivalent of $3.00, as well as a black kimono with silver cranes embroidered at the hem and a purple summer sha (gauze) kimono with a scattered geometric design in metallic threads. I also found a wonderful painting on washi (of books); it’s had a repair but it’s not terribly noticeable. We had lunch at the market stalls, steamed bun stuffed with a meat paste for me.
Then to the Kuriyama Dyeing Studio. Mr. Kuriyama (from the paper studio) joined us; this studio is owned by relatives of his, and uses the same method for the cloth that he uses for paper. Quite an interesting visit. All is done the “old-fashioned” way, stencils cut by hand, resist, paint, all hand-done. We saw some stencils from the Edo period where fine threads were used in the pattern (so that a circle within a square was attached by threads); today a very fine mesh is used.
After that, another shopping opportunity at an art supply store. I confined myself to a couple of paste brushes.
On the way back to Shima-ya, we stopped at a washi store, the Morita Paper Company, and I found the perfect souvenir: five small trays with prints of the hand paper-making process. The display sample was the only one, and I got it for 40% off. Bought some paper, too.
Dinner was shabu-shabu, not to mention several other courses, and green tea ice cream to finish.
After dinner, we gathered in Rob and Colin’s room to view a slide show that Rob set up on his laptop. Also a “quiz”, which was basically a way to have fun while Rob divested himself of his left-over Great Omar posters that he had brought as gifts - we each ended up with one. (And a great deal of fun it was indeed, especially as the sake was being passed around!) Colin gave us aprons from his bindery - very thoughtful of him.
March 26
Up very early, cabbed to Kyoto Station to catch the airport bus. All went smoothly at all airports, and I got home the same day thanks to the International Date Line. It was a lovely trip, but it was nice to get home and see the cats again. I did miss them.
Final Thoughts
Japan is a fascinating country, and our tour was filled with striking contrasts between old and new (like the Starbucks a couple of streets away from our ryokan), or the television set in the takonome in the hotel room!
The people are unfailingly helpful and polite. I would very much like to import some Kyoto taxi drivers - picture getting your change back in a plastic ziplock bag, or a cabbie running after you down the street because you forgot your change!
I have always loved the Japanese aesthetic of making even the simplest household object or function beautiful. This was so evident every place we stayed and visited. After a while, we became used to a lovely, simple floral arrangement in the public washrooms. The food presentation everywhere was elegant, and respectful of the character of the food.
We were all, of course, interested in the traditional methods of papermaking and using handmade papers, but to maintain that tradition there must be new uses and markets found. Karacho is finding a niche by using the designs for postcards, stationery and the like. Nancy has found a market in the Inuit printmakers. But there are so many possibilities for the use of fine paper, especially in the world of interior design. The real problem is that young people like Akari Osaki and the Yoshiokas, who want to do this work despite its difficult lifestyle, are the exception, rather than the rule. This is not an easy problem to solve. I certainly don't know the answer.
A wonderful, enlightening trip. I'd go back in a heartbeat.
By train to Kyoto. Regular train first, then we changed to the shinkansen (bullet train). Both very clean and comfortable. Kayoko had bought sandwiches to eat, as well as a yummy peach-topped, cream-filled pastry. Arriving at Kyoto Station, I checked out the signs to locate the airport bus. (Unlike in Kochi, most of the signage is in English as well as in Japanese, the difference between a big tourist destination and a non-tourist destination!)
We cabbed it to Usami Shokakudo, a conservation company specializing in scroll-mounting. The company is 220 years old. I’m beginning to learn that it is very common in Japan for companies to be not just old, but in the same family for many generations. We first gathered in a conference room and learned something about the process, the paper and adhesives used here. We received samples of each paper, along with information about their different uses. And, yes, they use aged paste.
Three types of paper are used in scroll-mounting. Minogami is used as a backing for the silk painting, with a second backing of misugami to adjust thickness and for flexibility. The last layer is udagami. The company buys their paper directly from the papermakers, to ensure the quality of the materials used. We then went into their studios, and saw work in progress.
Right across the street is the Nishi-Honganji Temple. Should you be touring temples, castles, etc., I highly recommend having as your guide someone who is doing the restoration work there! Naoharu Usami, the younger son of the business, joined us, and told us to ignore the “No Photography” signs! We walked on a nightingale floor (though not the famous one), and it really does sound like birdsong. The Noh stage there is the oldest in the country. One of my favorite things here was the ceiling in one hallway that was painted with a design of books.
Later, Usami took out a key, and we went into the area where the Flying Cloud Pavilion and its grounds are being restored. It’s so beautiful. Normally, there is a large pond with a bridge over it, though the pond is now drained (all the rocks are numbered!). The shogun used it for rest and relaxation, tea, poems, moon-viewing, and the only way to get to it from the main building is by water. There is a dock under the pavilion for the boats.
I bought a disposable camera at the gift shop - nearly $18.00!
The archival box maker has been cancelled, and we went to Mr. Nishimura, the brushmaker, instead. He is the most famous brushmaker in Japan. He showed us how he separates the different length hairs by holding them in his hand and combing them. He bands them with persimmon-dyed paper, clamps them, glues them up with a very hard adhesive. He must take care that he allows it to completely dry, or the hair will be uneven - he showed us one of his mistakes. The handles are sewn on with silk thread, koto strings or samisen strings, depending on the size brush, and there is only one person in Kyoto who makes them. The handles are made in Gifu prefecture, from the hinoki tree, the same wood that papermaking screens are made from. His family has been making brushes since the Meiji era, though he studied with a brushmaker in Nara. He doesn’t make calligraphy brushes, just paste brushes and brushes for sweets (to brush the syrup on).
Dinner was at an Italian (!) restaurant. Not bad, and the tiramisu was delish.
Now we are at a ryokan, Shima-ya, for the rest of our stay. It’s delightful. Sigrid and I are sharing a large room, with a garden outside (all the rooms, at least on the first floor, seem to face a garden). And here’s a treat - the low table has a built-in heating element, and there are blankets between the table and the glass that drape down, so it was cozy toes. On top of which, each futon has an electric foot-warmer tucked under the quilt! Hot water, and a pot with green tea leaves, along with a treat, are on the table when you come in, such a pleasant thing.
March 23
Breakfast here is a bit western - hardboiled egg, a roll, yogurt, and a bit of fruit.
Rob appeared today in a sport coat and tie! It’s his birthday (he’s 52 here, but still 51 in London).
I think we must have hit the longest running business so far - 11 generations of karakami makers. The papers are made from carved blocks, each pattern made so that it can be repeated for a continuous design. Every block used here (all 650) is 200 years old; they’d be older except that there was a fire 200 years ago that destroyed everything. The wood is called ho, it is fairly soft, but it wears evenly. They are trying to find someone who can carve new blocks, but so far without success.
The pigment is mixed with water and fumori, and applied to the surface of the block with a sieve-like screen called a furu-i, first used 500 years ago. (Allegedly, the idea came from a similar sieve used in cooking.)
The papers are used in restoration. We were shown a piece that is for Nijo Castle, along with the original. The colors look completely different, but the original is faded and tarnished. They know the colors from a bit that was protected under the shoji frame.
Another shopping opportunity. I bought some cards and a large sheet of paper (the size of four blocks). The paper was a tad extravagant, but well worth it; it’s beautiful. I also bought a book with reproductions of many of their papers.
(Camera-curse update: dropped the camera and smashed the skylight filter as we were getting into the cab!!)
From there to the reprography studio at Nijo-jo (Nijo Castle). They are making reproductions which will replace endangered originals in situ. We saw some work in progress on ceiling panels, using paint made in exactly the same way as that used in the original work. In making the reproductions, they do not copy later additions, but reproduce the work as originally designed. For example, one wall painting they were copying had had gold added to it, which they left off. We saw the original later and it was NOT improved by the addition!
We then toured Ninomaru Castle (part of the Nijo-jo complex). This is where the famous Nightingale floor is. The gardens are gorgeous, too. One odd looking object, several legths of what appeared to be straw, capped with a “thatch”, turned out to be protecting a tree from the cold weather.
Then to Kintaka, a shop for ikebana tools. There were some great vases, but too heavy and/or large to take home. However, there were some small ones in glass and pottery, good for one or two blooms. I bought a few of the small pottery ones, being worried about transporting glass. Also got a frog, and a tool for spreading and cleaning the prongs. The shop had some gorgeous small scalpels - wooden-handled tied with colored cord. It was hard to choose. Later, Nancy told us that these knives are unique to Kintaka. The handles are either red cedar or smoked bamboo, and they use the best steel. (It’s probably a good thing she didn’t tell us earlier, or I’d have bought more!)
Dinner at an Irish pub (!) to celebrate Rob’s birthday. Further camera-curse: somewhere I dropped the disposable! When we got ready to go out, I realized it was in my coat pocket. I thought briefly about going back to the room and leaving it, but didn’t. DUMB! When we got left the restaurant, I realized I didn’t have it. Couldn’t find it there, so I probably dropped in either in the cab or on the street.
March 24
Wazome and chiyogami makers (graphic repeat patterns).
Mr. Kuriyama showed us around. They make lovely, lovely papers. We got to try our hand! The papers are made by using stencils, and applying a resist of rice paste. After the colors are applied, thinned with soybean juice (which also acts as an adhesive to stick the colors to the paper), they are dried and the resist in then washed off. The same method is used is kimono fabric dying, though Mr. Kuriyama is the first to apply it to decorative papers. The stencils are all cut by hand.
We had lunch at Sho-jin ryori at the Myoshin-ji Temple, a vegetarian lunch as it is a Buddhist temple. So many ways to make tofu! But very good, and very elegantly served.
We then had a tour, led by the head monk, who is also a doctor of agriculture. The temple makes a silk paper called san-ken-shi. Normally, silkworms die in the silk-making process, because their cocoons are destroyed, but they have developed a type of worm that spins on a flat surface. It’s beautiful, delicate paper.
The sermon hall has a very famous ceiling painting of a dragon, which appears to be looking at you wherever you stand. From one side it appears to be ascending to heaven, from the other, descending from it. The oldest bell in Japan is here, cast in 605 A.D., though only a reproduction is on display. (The original has a crack in it, and cannot be rung.) The monks also had a very nice looking steam bath!
Then to the Gion district, which is one of the most famous geisha districts (though they are called geiko in Kyoto. The cherry trees are just starting to come out, and there was one in full bloom just by the river that runs next to the main street, splendid photo op! We walked around there for a bit, and then Nancy and I went to Takashimaya to see the exhibition of 20th-century works from the Adachi Museum. Towards the end we ran into Kayoko and Usami, and Usami was able to tell us about how the framing elements for the scrolls are chosen, the importance of varying pattern size, different choices for Japanese-style and Chinese-style paintings, etc. There was one screen in the exhibit that his firm had restored.
After dinner, had a lovely Japanese-style bath at Shima-ya. These are incredibly relaxing. You soap up and shower off outside the bath, and then luxuriate in steaming hot water. Wonderful after a long day with a lot of walking around.
March 25
Long last day. Morning at the market at Kitano Tenmangu. This market is held on the 25th of each month, and the trip had been planned around it. We could have spent the whole day here, though we might have been broke at the end. Quite a variety of things, but I spent most of the time looking at the textiles. Many stalls had pieces of fabric, perfect for turning into book cloth, so I bought a bunch. Some real finds in obi and kimono. I bought a black and silver obi, with a small, overall geometric pattern for the equivalent of $3.00, as well as a black kimono with silver cranes embroidered at the hem and a purple summer sha (gauze) kimono with a scattered geometric design in metallic threads. I also found a wonderful painting on washi (of books); it’s had a repair but it’s not terribly noticeable. We had lunch at the market stalls, steamed bun stuffed with a meat paste for me.
Then to the Kuriyama Dyeing Studio. Mr. Kuriyama (from the paper studio) joined us; this studio is owned by relatives of his, and uses the same method for the cloth that he uses for paper. Quite an interesting visit. All is done the “old-fashioned” way, stencils cut by hand, resist, paint, all hand-done. We saw some stencils from the Edo period where fine threads were used in the pattern (so that a circle within a square was attached by threads); today a very fine mesh is used.
After that, another shopping opportunity at an art supply store. I confined myself to a couple of paste brushes.
On the way back to Shima-ya, we stopped at a washi store, the Morita Paper Company, and I found the perfect souvenir: five small trays with prints of the hand paper-making process. The display sample was the only one, and I got it for 40% off. Bought some paper, too.
Dinner was shabu-shabu, not to mention several other courses, and green tea ice cream to finish.
After dinner, we gathered in Rob and Colin’s room to view a slide show that Rob set up on his laptop. Also a “quiz”, which was basically a way to have fun while Rob divested himself of his left-over Great Omar posters that he had brought as gifts - we each ended up with one. (And a great deal of fun it was indeed, especially as the sake was being passed around!) Colin gave us aprons from his bindery - very thoughtful of him.
March 26
Up very early, cabbed to Kyoto Station to catch the airport bus. All went smoothly at all airports, and I got home the same day thanks to the International Date Line. It was a lovely trip, but it was nice to get home and see the cats again. I did miss them.
Final Thoughts
Japan is a fascinating country, and our tour was filled with striking contrasts between old and new (like the Starbucks a couple of streets away from our ryokan), or the television set in the takonome in the hotel room!
The people are unfailingly helpful and polite. I would very much like to import some Kyoto taxi drivers - picture getting your change back in a plastic ziplock bag, or a cabbie running after you down the street because you forgot your change!
I have always loved the Japanese aesthetic of making even the simplest household object or function beautiful. This was so evident every place we stayed and visited. After a while, we became used to a lovely, simple floral arrangement in the public washrooms. The food presentation everywhere was elegant, and respectful of the character of the food.
We were all, of course, interested in the traditional methods of papermaking and using handmade papers, but to maintain that tradition there must be new uses and markets found. Karacho is finding a niche by using the designs for postcards, stationery and the like. Nancy has found a market in the Inuit printmakers. But there are so many possibilities for the use of fine paper, especially in the world of interior design. The real problem is that young people like Akari Osaki and the Yoshiokas, who want to do this work despite its difficult lifestyle, are the exception, rather than the rule. This is not an easy problem to solve. I certainly don't know the answer.
A wonderful, enlightening trip. I'd go back in a heartbeat.
