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¡üNot so many engravers.
(Master's wife) (Our work is about) Letters. He engraves letters on wood. (Master) There're a few craftsmen even looking across Japan. (You engrave nameplates?) Yes, I deal with nameplates as well. (Master's wife) He engraves everything as long as it's wood, almost everything. But the most frequent order is engraving a posthumous Buddhist name on "ihai" (Buddhist memorial tablet, which is put inside Butsudan, a Buddhist altar placed in the home.) There're a lot of calligraphers but not so many engravers. (In some cases, the names are just written?) In Tokyo and other area in Kanto (prefectures surrounding Tokyo) most of them are written in "urushi" (Japanese lacquer). In our case, we engrave letters and then gild on them, that's what we're doing. Besides, concerning nameplates, some people are specialists in that field actually. (Master) Some people dealing with traditional handicrafts in the Kansai area (the western Japan around Osaka) inquired me about nameplates. But (number of nameplates craftsmen are) less than you think. And I also do special work. For example I sometimes engrave letters on beads of "juzu" for "hyakuman-ben." ("Juzu" is a Buddhist rosary made of numerous beads that is held in the hands during prayer. "Hyakuman-ben", which means one hundred times, is a recital of Buddhist prayers which is repeated one hundred times. It is done by many priests and the followers holding one single long juzu altogether.) And I connect them. (Master's wife) He engraves the names of people on them who dedicated. (Master) But in the past I've received an order to engrave a name on a tablet from a Japanese temple overseas somewhere in Hawaii or Los Angels once, it was a long time ago. (You work for only specific denomination?) No, no. I work for anyone. It's my style that I deal with everything if the Buddhist altar fittings shop over there on the main street who asks me to. However, no work is left here. (Is it because you provide as soon as you finish?) Yeah, that's right. (As for tablets, do customers bring wood themselves?) People in a shop do. (Master's wife) After all, the biggest market is Buddhist altar fittings shop. (Orders from Buddhist altar fittings shops?) Yes, that's the most common. Except that, some who get to know us by word of mouth and our acquaintances visit us directly. In that case we use wood they bring. (Master) Recently, there're few engravers of this kind in Tokyo. Even across Japan, there're only a few. (Master's wife) It's partly because machines are spreading.

¡üOrders of high-grade ones come to him from Kyoto and other cities.
(What generation?) I'm the second. (Succeeded your own father?) Yes, I did. (Does your job have a long history?) In the first place, everything was engraved during the Edo (1600-1868) and Kamakura period (1185-1333). Then, eventually, as far as Tokyo is concerned, the trend had changed to written ones. So, in Kyoto, most of them are being engraved. But since there're few engravers recently, things are mostly engraved by machines. There aren't craftsmen who hand-engrave. (Master's wife) So, sometimes orders of high-grade ones come to him from Kyoto and other cities. Now, high-grade things' orders come to us because the number of engravers in Kyoto isn't enough. Even if too many things were brought, we couldn't finish them, because he's the only one, so it would be difficult to finish. I think we have a nice amount of orders now. Machine-engraved ones are increasing a little bit. (By contrast, yours are getting increasingly valuable?) Right, by contrast. 'Cause there're few craftsmen. I hear that there used to exist about twenty or so craftsmen in Kyoto, but I guess these craftsmen are disappearing. (Master's wife) They engrave in a different way, don't they? (Master) Yes, a little. The way they do it is different. (Master's wife) As for knives, we use v-shaped small knives and I hear they work in a method using small plain knives. (You simply engrave and engrave letters?) (Master) Right, letters. (How about that patterns of an arabesque design?) These ones are, you know, different. (What matters?) A balance in total while engraving letters does. So I keep engraving the same part once I start there. And eventually the whole part will be finished. That's the general image of what I'm doing. After all, in the old days most of the things were engraved, but craftsmen are disappearing day by day. There're no craftsmen, so products are disappearing, that's what's happening now.

¡üStop it, Allan!
(How about this offertory box?) There's a donor, who donates the box to a temple to dedicate to someone who had died. So, I engraved a posthumous Buddhist name of the person who passed away, the year and the donor's name. And then he'll donate it. If they were just written, they'd fade away in the future, so he told me to engrave. There're a lot of craftsmen who make offertory boxes and others. They're called as "kiji-shi". After all, there aren't people who engrave letters. (Speaking to his wife) What's happening to the temple's one? I mean, the board for a desk. (Master's wife) Well, they'll come and take it today. The deadline is drawing near and they'll take it immediately. (laughing) (The master's dog barks.) (Master) Stop it, Allan!

¡üAs long as letters are concerned, we surely can't say it's good enough.
(Are there any specific style of letters?) No, in short, there isn't such a thing. What we have is just styles of our own. In conclusion, there's no rule. But I write mostly in the printed style. (Master's wife) His style passes for 'Nishimura-style" in our industry. (Master) After all, every shop has its own style and they engrave in that way. (Did you start your training from calligraphy?) We write a draft in red ink neatly. So we also have to be good at calligraphy. Only being able to engrave is not sufficient. No. Even though you can write letters, it's impossible to engrave them. An amateur can't engrave even a single dot. You can't engrave even a dot, which means that you wouldn't finish a letter. You would mess them up. (Is inappropriate material no good?) Well, it's not a matter of material. Since Buddhist memorial tablets are lacquered, we can't engrave onto a surface of wood. So sometimes undercoating may affect engraving. (You engrave on lacquered boards?) (Master's wife) Right. (You can't cheat?) So sometimes we have to pay as much as tens of thousands of yen for damages. (What an unbelievable world!) (laughing) Yeah, it's an unbelievable world, that's for sure. Everybody only sees completed works. We only have is one single chance. (Master, you may not look it as strange, since you've been looking at what your father is doing, right?) Correct. I've been seeing him for so long. I guess that's why craftsmen are becoming fewer and fewer after all. (From what age?) I've been taught since I was a student, the second grader of the junior high school. (How old are you now?) I'm fifty now. Nearly fifty-one. Still I can't do it as well as I'd like. (Is your skill improving as time goes by?) Nope! (laughing) I wish it could be. It's not so easy. As long as letters are concerned, we surely can't say it's good enough. (Do your letters change according to your age?) I'm not sure what to say, but I've been attempting to alter them. I keep a general shape but I take a balance into account a little bit. If I find nice letters, I attempt to write similarly somehow. I take a look at other person's letters, and if they are good, I may think, "Well, this letter is so nice that I should borrow the shape." I'm not sure what the preferred shape is. As for letters, actually, it's obvious to anybody what is good and what is not. (Do your letters look like your father's?) Right, right. Well, they're getting similar gradually.

¡üEvery person has different sense of letters.
(This nameplate is beautiful!) This person writes well, but these letters aren't my style, actually. That's one on which I engrave written letters. Every person has different sense of letters. (pointing to a wall decoration with engraving) And this one is just for fun, which is written in fully cursive style. But... as for the appearance that this is engraved, if you don't approach close to it and see from this side, you don't notice the appearance that it's engraved. That means that nothing is different from just written ones. However, it's very hard to engrave on a board like this. (Master's wife) Well, "There aren't any works." they said and "won't you make something." Then we tried it. (Master) When I was commended by Taito ward (in Tokyo) I had to make something, and I tried making it just for fun. (What they read?) (Master's wife) I should've chosen more popular haiku. (laughing) I wrote it. (You yourself composed this haiku?) No, no. I just do calligraphy a little bit. He engraved letters I wrote. (It's so nice that you two cooperate like a three-legged race!) (Master) You can realize these have been engraved, if you get closer, but if you saw them from a distance, they'd look the same as written ones. Then they'd be quite the same as ones anyone else would make. To represent something of my interest, I guess it wouldn't be enough. (Master's wife) But, anyway, they're rather popular among general public. (Master) After all, I can engrave anything as long as it's written. For example, if someone, who is a calligrapher or enjoys calligraphy as a hobby, wants me to engrave their letters and I do it, they might be happy. (Do you think I should take its picture also?) Well, OK. (laughing) Even though you carry it (on the Internet), maybe it's.... (Just for fun?) Ha-ha-ha. In addition to that, it's only for our family members, but I engrave names on umbrella handles. (Master's wife) This kind of thing is anticipation. (Master) I'm not sure about what kind of order would be placed, but some might ask to engrave their names. (There might be a lot of such people?) Contrary to my expectation, a lot of people don't know that an umbrella can be engraved. (Master's wife) I do it for my friends and they're overjoyed at it. (Master) Unsurprisingly! 'Cause they won't lose it, heh-heh-heh. (An umbrella is appropriate for a gift to guests of a wedding?) (Master's wife) That's right. We personalized presents to wedding party's guest. (Master) I say, at our wedding party, we engraved the name of each guest. Presents were foldaway umbrellas. They were metal. So I told one of my friends to engrave a surname and gave them to the guests as presents. (laughing) (You did that yourself?) No, because I don't engrave metal. One of my friends, who is a hand-engrave craftsman, did it all for me. (laughing)

¡üUsing no color was common in the old days.
(There's been a technique to use gold for a long time?) No, using no color was common in the old days. Most of them were simple ones without coloring. When I look at old ones, there're some with gold. But I guess it started from around the Edo period (1600-1868). Before then, they engraved and just left them alone. Then, in the case of Buddhist memorial tablets, if letters are left alone (without painting with gold), tablets will absorb water from there and thin film of "urushi" (Japanese lacquer) will flake off (from the surface). So, (using gold) functions as a sealant to prevent water from being absorbed. (When you go to the Kyushu area (southern Japan), you'll see tombs with names written in gold, won't you?) Is that so? Use gold in tombs..... Well, I wonder if they adopted the sense of tablets for tombs. As for a memorial tablet, once it absorbs water, it gets swollen increasingly. Undercoating in the old days is called "gofun", finely powder of oyster's shell, and they painted with it. Then covered it with urushi. As opposed to today, it wasn't a chemical paint, so it absorbed more water. Then consequently, it got messy and letters faded away eventually. But if they were engraved, they would remain there, because they were engraved on a board. But nowadays, we don't engrave deeply until a board. (Maybe wood is also good, isn't it?) Yes, it's good. As you expect, "keyaki" (Japanese cypress) stays in good condition for a long time. (Do you yourself deal with materials?) Well..... When it comes to materials, since I only deal with engraving letters, finally I have to ask somebody to prepare the materials after all. (You can't use what customers bring in?) Still, it seems difficult for me to prepare the materials myself. A little while ago, my company in the field of traditional handicraft asked me, and I made one. Even at that time, I asked someone to prepare a board.


¡üI had been told to do that since I had been a junior high school student.
(There used to be considerable number of engravers in Tokyo?) No. There were two in the past. (There've been only a few from the beginning?) Correct. After all, my father was a sculptor of Buddhist images. So we can see a lot of Buddhist images like this and other works of his in many places, yeah. And at that time, his master in "Nitten" dealt with engraving letters on Buddhist memorial tablets. ("Nitten" is a prominent art organization that holds an annual exhibition every fall.) But he said he was so busy that he quit. So my father succeeded it in 1961. My father's Buddhist images are ubiquitous. All those left here are original forms. (He did sculpture also?) He did this one at Nitten. He was also a member of Nitten. So he wore three hats, not two. (laughing) You can see my father's works in many considerably famous places, yeah. For example, the Statue of Masamune Date, a feudal load, in Sendai (in Miyagi prefecture). He carved that one also. But the annual day when it's open to public is in October, I think. (Even his son can't see it?) No. I went there once and saw how it was exhibited. (Mr. Nishimura, you did carving?) No, I couldn't. I used to do both at one time. But I became busier in engraving letters on Buddhist memorial tablets, and I spend less time on training for Buddhist images. Then I found there were no choice but I had to abandon Buddhist images. That requires a lot of time to train for. On the other hand, I was able to engrave letters somewhat, because I had been told to do that since I had been a junior high school student. So I decided, "I should specialize in engraving letters."

¡üBecause my son's left-handed.
(How about your successor?) Well, let me see. I think it might be difficult for my son, because he's left-handed. (Is it hard for lefties?) Right. How to write each letter using tools should be different. It requires considerable power of fingertips. So I think it's difficult unless he becomes right-handed. (Being right or left-handed doesn't affect writing letters?) It does, because the pressure of the brush differs in writing leftward or rightward. If it were written in "Reisho" style (a letter style in ancient China), being left-handed would actually be advantageous on the contrary. But in case of the printed style, letters are written from the right to the left at large. And how to press a brush at the end of a stroke is difficult in this style in its nature. (Letters are originally right-handed-oriented?) Yes, that's correct. (Does it require much effort to correct?) It requires more effort than other's.¡£

¡üThe first time I saw these engravings, I found them "unbelievable!"
(You write really quickly!) No, not so fast. This one is not so good, 'cause my eyesight is not so good. I usually do it with a magnifying glass. (You engrave all the vertical lines first?) Yes, indeed. If I engraved each letter separately, not doing vertical lines first, there would be no unity among letters. So I have to follow the flow of lines. (Master's wife) Merely engraving the right and the left after drawing a vertical line in a draft makes it awry. (Master) It's because my eyesight is worsening! (laughing) (Do you do it?) (Asking the wife) No, it's impossible. (Master) She is unable to do it. Even I still hear complaints from some customers, although I've been doing it since I was a junior high school student. (Were you an apprentice at the same time you were attending school?) That's right. Because I apprenticed in a situation in which I was almost forced to succeed. So I've been doing it for so long. (Right after your graduation, did you enter in this world?) Yes, after finishing high school. He said, "Work, rather than go to a college." (Master's wife) Looking at engraving is more interesting than looking at finished ones, isn't it? The first time I saw these engravings, I found them "unbelievable!" (Master) I guess people don't understand it, because there are few people doing it. (When you married did you do the same job?) Yes, I did. (Master's wife) He had been doing it for ten years. (Weren't you working on sculptures?) No. I had been carving for about two years from 18 to 20. But orders for letters were growing constantly, because the date to hold a service is designated after all, you know. In the old days, we made them all together on "o-bon" and around equinoxes. (O-bon is August 15. On o-bon and equinoxes many Japanese hold a service for the dead.) That's why I was so free on other days that I was able to deal with sculptures. However, recently customs that we make them only on o-bon and equinoxes have become less common, and people place orders on the 49th day after the death (one of the days to service after the death), which means I maintain the same level of work throughout the year. (Master's wife) It seems to me that what makes us competitive is the delivery time. If we were apt to be late, Customers would say, "No. I don't care even the machine engraved, not written and colored one." They wouldn't expect it to take such a long time. You see, they're upset after the passing away. So the 49th day arrives in a flash. But customers used to wait for about one month if we said we needed more time for a hand-engraving. But now, they rarely wait. So, we have to finish within two weeks. (Master) Since few people deal with these things, many are engraved by machines. Some temple say the spirit wouldn't be saved if letters were finished by machines. (Can you finish also with machines?) Sure we can. There're also machines over there, yeah. IIn the Kansai area (western Japan around Osaka),¡¡most engravers used to finish them by their hands. However, recently hand engravers have become fewer. That's why machine engraving has developed¡¡so much there.
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