Japanese Traditional Culture

Weekly email newsletter “DENKEN-TEST PRESS" No. 4

We are pleased to present you with the 4th issue weekly email newsletter “DENKEN-TEST PRESS."
This issue will also feature the serial Chu-chan's “Go Straight Towards Japanese Traditional Culture" by a director of Japan Traditional Culture Testing Association.
“Warm-up Quiz" will include answer and explanation from the previous quiz, as well as question from the field of Traditional Colors and Patterns.
We are also continuing the promotion to give away the official textbook to 100 people who have signed up for the email newsletter by the end of July. Now, let's start with the 4th issue.

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Chu-chan's “Go Straight Towards Japanese Traditional Culture"　【Part３】 Aging and Beautification

Kondo Chuji = Director of Japan Traditional Culture Testing Association

Photo: Negoro Lacquerware, a traditional craft of Wakayama Prefecture

In my previous column, I wrote that the value of traditional crafts created by “Artisanal Skills" has been taken away by the trend toward nuclear families. Japanese wooden houses, furniture such as chests, and Buddhist altars, which are the accumulation of traditional crafts, are all designed to be used for generations to come. While industrial products deteriorate over time, the greatest feature of traditional crafts is that they “Beautify with Age". However, in an age where families are breaking apart, no one cares about such values, and lasting for hundreds of years has become an over-quality.

As a Showa-era person born in an era of mass production and mass consumption, and raised on the idea that “Consumption is a Virtue", the word that follows “Aging" is “Deterioration", and I never imagined that there would be another word to follow. So when I first heard the term “Beautifying Aging",  I couldn't help but be a little shocked after a moment of confusion.

It must have been about 30 years ago when I met the then chairman of the Traditional Craftsmen's Association. When I asked him, “What is the difference between mass-produced products and the crafts you make?", he immediately replied, “It's the difference between deterioration over time and beauty over time". Sensing my confusion, the chairman explained, “Mass-produced products are at their best when they are made, that is, at the time of shipment. On the other hand, crafts become more comfortable in the hand the more they are used, develop character, and shine over decades or even centuries”.

It was a very convincing story. Industrial products, especially home appliances, deteriorate the more they are used. This is a typical example of deterioration over time. Also, for those of us who have lived in an industrial society where high-performance products are constantly being released, the latest models are the best, even if they are not used, and older ones are merely inferior. However, there is something in Japan that has the exact opposite value, and it has been passed down from generation to generation.

For example, there is a type of lacquerware called Negoro-Nuri. It was originally made as tableware for the monks of Negoro-ji Temple, the head temple of the Shingon sect of Buddhism in northern Wakayama Prefecture, to use during their daily training. To make it sturdy, a base coat of black lacquer is applied, and then a vermilion lacquer coat is applied using cinnabar (a mineral that contains mercury sulfide and has long been prized as a red paint).

If you use it carefully for decades, even a hundred years, the vermilion color will naturally fade from friction with your fingers, revealing the black base and creating a speckled pattern of black on the vermilion background. With further use, the vermilion areas will eventually fade and the opposite scene will emerge: vermilion speckles on a black background. Of course, it is beautiful when it is first made in its pure vermilion color, but the more it is used, the more beautiful it becomes. This is nothing other than an irreplaceable beauty created by the natural process of time. Here, too, the essence of Japanese traditional culture, of treating nature as a friend and enjoying it, is evident.

To see the beauty of aging, it is not enough for a craftsman to make it with great care. The people who use it also cherish it and treat it with care, and this can only be achieved through a collaborative effort between the people who use it and nurture what the craftsman created. I feel that the phrase “Beauty of Aging" symbolizes a sustainable society that reconsiders our disposable culture.

The next session will be in the second week of May. The theme will be “The deciding factor behind Japanese cuisine becoming a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage".

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“Warm-up Quiz" No.４ (Traditional Colors and Patterns)

ーQuestion will be divided into categories from the official textbook (scheduled for publication in September)ー

This pattern was on the Kimono of the heroine of the anime that was the biggest hit in the history of Japanese movies, and is one of Japan's traditional auspicious patterns. What is the name of this world-famous pattern?

[Previous Answer and Explanation]

Question: What is the name of the unique technique in Kagawa Lacquerware, a traditional craft of Kagawa Prefecture, in which multiple layers of lacquer are applied, patterns are carved into the layers, and colored lacquer is filled into the recesses?

Answer: Kinma

Explanation: One of the decorative techniques for lacquer art. A pattern is carved into the lacquer base with a special kinma knife, and the carved grooves are filled with colored lacquer and ground flat to create the pattern. It is characterized by its intricate lines and beautiful colors. Tamakaji Zokoku, a lacquer craftsman in the late Edo period, studied and developed lacquerware techniques introduced from Thailand and China. It is now a representative technique of Kagawa lacquerware, and has produced many Living National Treasures of kinma.

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News from DENKEN-TEST Association

 We are working at a rapid pace to publish the official textbook for DENKEN-TEST exam this summer, but for those who can't wait that long, we have decided to create the “Japan Traditional Culture Testing Association Designated Reference Book (Webpage)". Details will be posted on the official website, which will be released around the 25th of this month, but we will provide the URL in advance exclusively to our newsletter subscribers. Both are full of great material for learning the basics of traditional culture and traditional industries. In addition to beautiful photographs, there are also pages that have uploaded videos of crafts being made and classical performing arts performances, so we hope you will enjoy starting your preparations.
We would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to the related organizations and companies that agree with the aims and objectives of DENKEN-TEST and have readily agreed to allow us to set up links.

[Traditional Crafts]
About Traditional Crafts | The Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries
https://kyokai.kougeihin.jp/traditional-crafts/

Learn about crafts | Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square
https://kougeihin.jp/learn/

KOGEI JAPAN - Japanese traditional crafts and products
https://kogeijapan.com/locale/ja_JP/

[Traditional Culture]
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Explanation Contents | Japan Arts Council
https://www.ntj.jac.go.jp/tradition/unesco.html

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[Editor's Note]

We have delivered the 4th issue of DENKEN-TEST PRESS. Since the first issue was distributed, I have been asking everyone I meet to sign up. I am really happy that everyone willingly signed up on the spot. And after signing up for the newsletter, they tell me all kinds of stories related to traditional culture, saying, "Actually... me too." Wow, Japanese traditional culture is deep. If you want to know more, please check out the website introduced in this issue of “News from DENKEN-TEST Association". I will study too (Sakamoto).

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