2024.09.05
DENKEN-TEST PRESS（Newsletter）weekly email newsletter “DENKEN-TEST PRESS” No. 22
We are pleased to present you with the 22nd issue weekly email newsletter “DENKEN-TEST PRESS”
The top story in this issue is Chu-cyan’s “Go Straight Towards Japanese Traditional Culture” Part 11: Beauty Born from Chance.
“Warm-up Quiz” features answers and explanations from the previous quiz, as well as questions from the fields of Tea Ceremony/ Japanese Sweets/ Matcha.
The promotion drawing for 100 official textbook winners from among those who registered for the newsletter closed on August 31. A strict drawing will be held to select the winners.
DENKEN-TEST website publishes Practice Exam (practice questions) for levels 2 and 3.
Please give it a try and test your skills.
Level 2 Practice Exam
https://denken-test.jp/
Level 3 Practice Exam
https://denken-test.jp/
table of contents
・ Chu-cyan’s “Go Straight Towards Japanese Traditional Culture” Episode 11: The Beauty of Accident
・ “Warm-up Quiz” No. 22 (Tea Ceremony/ Japanese Sweets/ Matcha) = "Wasanbon"
・News from the DENKEN-TEST Association
Chu-chan’s “Go Straight Towards Japanese Traditional Culture” Episode 11: Beauty of Accident
Kondo Chuji = Director of Japan Traditional Culture Testing Association
Bizen ware firing process. "Yohen"
(Video of "Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square" The Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries a general incorporated foundation. Handcrafted TEWAZA "Bizen ware""from)
First, please click on this link to take a look at a photo of a famous piece of pottery (an Important Cultural Property) owned by the Gotoh Museum (Setagaya Ward, Tokyo).
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This Iga-yaki pitcher is called "Yaburebukuro" (broken bag). As the name suggests, the bottom part is deeply cracked. Moreover, the whole pitcher is severely distorted, as if it had been crushed downwards with great force. There are also some small bumps here and there that are probably pebbles. The natural green glaze is not uniform, and there are different shades. No matter how you look at it, it is a failure. It is not something that can be sold. Isn't it normal to immediately decide to dispose of it?
However, this is a masterpiece among masterpieces, to which Furuta Oribe, the greatest feudal tea master of the Sengoku period, who served as tea master for two generations under Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, paid the highest praise, saying, "There will never be anything like it again." The sense of praising such a distorted object as a "masterpiece of the ages" runs through Japanese traditional culture. I even believe that the uniqueness of Japanese traditional culture lies in this attitude, or rather, this method of appreciation, when looking at something, which is sublimated to the point of tactile sensation.
There are expressions such as "artificial" or "visible intention." These are used when you feel that the author's intention is obvious, and are never used in a positive sense. Japanese people take this for granted. However, when you think about it, it's a strange thing.
Whether an artist or a craftsman, when a person creates something, they naturally have an intention or a thought of "I want to make this kind of thing." Without that, people cannot create things. A work of art is something that clearly expresses the creator's thoughts when creating it. Since it is a work of art, it is only natural that there is "intentionality." Perhaps from a Western perspective, a work in which "the intention is not visible" is a bad work, and works in which "the intention is visible" and "the intention is clearly expressed" are the ones that should be evaluated highly (Sora-chan is not Western, so this is just my own speculation).
The opposite of "artificial" is, of course, "unartificial." And "unartificial" means "left to nature." I think that at the root of this respect for "unartificial" is the idea that "human artifice cannot compare to nature." You could also say that it is a delicate aesthetic sense for the shapes and colors created by nature. Japanese people not only find beauty in flowers, but also in trees swaying in the wind, high waves crashing, and driving rain.
The "Habukkuro" introduced at the beginning is a pitcher that happened to be crushed by gravity and was fired in that state. Furthermore, the firing temperature was too high, causing cracks to appear. The way it was crushed and the way the cracks appeared are exquisite, making it a wonderful painting. I surmise that Furuta Oribe praised it highly, saying "There will never be another such coincidence again," meaning that such a coincidence will likely never occur again.
Oribe created the famous "Kutsugata Tea Bowl," a crumpled tea bowl. Of course, there should be no artificiality in it. If the "intention of the work is visible," it will be ruined. The artist creates with the intention of "I want to create something like this," but the final part is left to nature. I think that this is the attitude of craftsmanship in Japanese traditional culture, and the perspective from which it should be appreciated.
"Haabukuro" was recognized as a masterpiece long before the birth of Jackson Pollock, the American painter who represents 20th century abstract expressionism. It can be said that the traditions of beauty that combine human skill and nature, such as the "tarashikomi technique" of ink painting, the "hidasuki" and "botamochi" of Bizen ware, the "kintsugi" repair method, and even the borrowed scenery of gardens, are truly unique to Japan.
“Warm-up Quiz” No. 22 (Tea Ceremony/ Japanese Sweets/ Matcha) = "Wasanbon"
~Questions will be categorized by genre from DENKEN-TEST textbook (pre-release scheduled for September 20th)~
"Wasanbon" - Dried sweets with beautiful colors and shapes
22nd
Question: Wasanbon is a type of dried confectionery with beautiful colors and shapes. It is made only from wasanbon sugar, a high-quality sugar produced in Kagawa and Tokushima prefectures, but what variety of sugar cane is wasanbon sugar made from?
(Answer and explanation in the next issue)
The blue sky and the red of the sunset mix together to create a pale purple sky.
[Previous questions, answers and explanations]
Question: At dusk in early September, which is the end of the first half of the year according to the twenty-four solar terms of the Japanese calendar, introduced from China, the blue sky and the red of the setting sun mix together to create a pale purple color. Since ancient times, the sky has been given various color names. This sky color is called "○○ sky color," but what word goes in for ○○?
Answer: Benikake
Explanation: A pale sky with a slight reddish tint is "benikakezorai." It is a color that is a mixture of the blue sky and the red of the setting sun at dusk, and was named after the dyeing method in which safflower is layered over an indigo-based sky-color. In addition, there are other expressions for the sky as dawn breaks and the sun begins to lighten it, "amairo" for the clear sky on a sunny day, and "meishoku" for the dim evening sky, all of which express the color of the sky in beautiful Japanese, taking into account the changing of the seasons and time.
News from DENKEN-TEST Association
▼Two companies, Ukai (regular member) and Kyoto Industrial Promotion Center (general member), as well as three individuals (general members), have joined our association as new members.
"Ukai," which operates Japanese and Western restaurants both in Japan and overseas, not only promotes food culture, but also operates the Hakone Glass Forest Museum. The Kyoto Industrial Promotion Center operates the Kyoto City Miyako Messe Industrial Promotion Hall and the Kyoto Museum of Traditional Industries. Our association will deepen its ties with its members and contribute to the inheritance and development of traditional culture and industry.
▼We visited the workshops of Kagawa lacquerware and confectionery molds, crafts of Kagawa Prefecture. Kota Matsumoto, a lacquer artist at Sanuki Urushi Sinra, a Kagawa lacquerware workshop, was impressive as he tried new things to get more people interested in the craft. Matsumoto's works are also sold at select shops in Haneda Airport, and are apparently popular with visitors to Japan. Meanwhile, confectionery molds are essential for making Japanese sweets, but there are only a few craftsmen in the entire country. Ichihara Yoshihiro, the only craftsman in Shikoku, said with a stern expression, "I never compromise on the molds," but also with a gentle smile, saying, "The thing that makes me happiest is seeing the smiles of the people who visit my workshop."
Editor's Note
We have delivered the 22nd DENKEN-TEST PRESS. Before we knew it, we were at the mercy of typhoons and heavy rains, while we kept saying "It's hot, it's hot." These days make us realize that we must learn from the wisdom and aesthetic sense of our ancestors and create wisdom for living in harmony with nature.
Category: DENKEN-TEST PRESS