|
| กก | As soon as I came home from school: I was always told to help out the work. (How long have you been doing this?) I have been doing this for about 40 years. (How old are you?) I am 50. (Which generation are you?) I am the third. (Aren't you famous in television?) No way. I am just in it. (But do a lot of customers come here?) Yes, thanks to the television. But I make one by one handmade, unlike the machines, and even if I make a lot, the number is usually the same. (Are there those kind of problems on the other hand?) Yes, there are, because the numbers that I make are already decided. It's not like I will be working all night without a sleep, right? So the sales are already known. All we need to decide is when we sell them. (I guess you sell them in the season before summer?) Of course. (With how many people do you make?) My father, me, and three young ones. (How many do you five make in a year?) We make about 200,000, including all the different kinds. (You make them by breathing each of them in?) I make each of them by hands. (Since what age did you start making these?) I started when I was 12. (Could you make when you were 12?) No, but it was because we were wind-bell sellers. As soon as I came home from school, I was always told to help out the work.  You see how the edges are rugged like this? (Are wind-bells worldwide?) No, I don't think they are worldwide. I think they are only in China and Japan. The origin of wind-bells is China. (I see metal wind-bells often, what are they?) Those are southern ironware. (Are those in Japan?) Yes, they are called "southern wind-bells." (Do wind-bells differ depending on the regions?) There are metal wind-bells, glass wind-bells, and there are porcelain wind-bells, which are ones made in Seto. That's about it. And there are shell wind-bells if you go to Southeast Asia, but I don't know if shells can be called as wind-bells. (Those kling-kling ones?) Yes, yes. (What are the characteristics of edo wind-bells?) Well, first of all it is made of glass. And all the paintings are done inside the bell. So colored glasses are not used, but it is done by paintings. (So they are made with transparent glasses?) Yes. (Even the wind-bells which are red or white as a whole?) Those are also paints. (You paint them in?) From the inside. There is luster on the glass on the front side, since they are painted from the inside, right? (Are the edges at the bottom of the mouth rugged?) Yes. Many people think this is strange, but you see how the edges are rugged like this? Why this feels not smooth like a cup, but rather rugged is because the glass tube makes a sound when scratching the rugged end. Do you understand? (So they are rugged intentionally?) Yes, yes. Since the old days, people in Edo Era did not temper this part to make it feel like a cup, but just left as it was. Wind-bells are made for listening to the sound it creates, so they make them that way in order to bring the sound. There are wind-bells from other countries like Taiwan, in which they try to imitate ours, but they have this part tempered. So this does not make good sound. Well, you can tell the difference clearly if you compare listening to them. (You see it with your eyes and enjoy by listening?) Yes. "Stand-selling" has been forbidden due to the increase of cars. (Where are the wind-bells stands, which were seen back then, now?) Because of the traffic control, the festivals and their shops have gone away, and the "stand-selling" has been forbidden due to the increase of cars. But I heard that some people have started "stand-selling"again, around Kabuki-chou. (Do those people come here to buy?) No, not us, but to the wholesale store. I guess they could come here, but we have only a few. If they go to wholesale stores, they could get many kinds, and find other things too. Things have changed a lot when I compare with the past. But time passes by. There is nothing we can do. (Were the wind-bells sold less as the time passed by?) No, but thanks that our wind-bells are sold well. Many orders come from other countries, in English. (Is it difficult to send the wind-bells to other countries?) I don't know. I don't know because I've never tried. (Would it be okay if you stuff cushions with it?) Yes, but the most anxious part is at the customs. It'd be okay if they put them back properly after opening them. Japanese do that well, but if that's done roughly. (They break?) They don't usually break, but they might break when it's unlucky. When we are advertised in magazines like Japan Times, many orders come from other countries, in English. The orders come, but there will be money problems if they break on the way there, so we've never done such a thing like that.  Their
sounds are all different.(Are the floors of the factory made of earth?) Yes, they are called "Doma", floor made out of earth. (What kind of glass is this?) Those are board-glass. They are used in windows. (Same glass as the window's?) We crack the thick board-glass in pieces, and then melt them. Then we roll and stick the glasses with this glass stick. That's why, yes, you can't see it clearly, right? We make the products by measuring by our eyes and instinct, so we make big ones by rolling them many times, inflating a lot of air to make them big, and to make small ones, we take only a few quantity, and inflate only a little bit of air in. We expand this part a bit, and by using a wire, I pierce a hole to hang a string in. The process is simple. You just need to inflate it round, but the sound will differ by making the thin parts and thick parts of the glass, and depending on its roundness. If you equalize the thickness of the cup, the sound would only be similar to the sound that is made when you hit a cup, kling-kling-kling sound. To make the sound echo inside the wind-bell to get a better sound, to get a cooler sound, we have to change he thickness of the glass. (Would all the wind-bells sound the same?) Their sounds are all different. But there are people who like the low sounds, while there are ones who prefer the higher sounds, so the balance is taken pretty well. It would be boring for the customers if these all sound the same when they are made by machines, but by making them by our own hands, there would be slight differences in the size of the mouth, and also in the sound by the different thickness of the glass. (Doesn't the blowing pipe melt?) It does. If you stick it inside long, it melts. We try not to melt the whole pipe, but just let the top part melt. (But why do they get shorter and shorter?) That is because we cut it. With the wind-bell, you see we cut only this part? So only this part gets shorter, but we just can't let the whole pipe melt. But at the same time, if the wind-bell at the end of the pipe hardens, we can't make it round. These parts are really difficult, where we must make one by one in a short period of time, and expressing them in an instant moment. (Are those glasses inside an amount used in a day?) No, that is for about two hours. So we replace them four times. There is another fireplace on this side. We use them alternately. (Is the work hard in the summer?) Yes. But on the other hand, we get orders and earn a lot in the summer, so it's nice when it's a little hot.  They
are thinking about making better ones the next day.(One of how many can you make a masterpiece?) I can't. I was scolded "so you don't sell any ones that you are satisfied with?" but that's just the difference in nuance. Craftsmen are thinking about making better wind-bells tomorrow than the ones they made today. But today, we try many things like drawing in three, and changing the colors. (Do the patterns change as the time passes by?) Yes they do. The goldfish patterns are sold a lot even today, and there was only one goldfish back then. But today, we try many things like drawing in three, and changing the colors. Our wind-bells are pretty tough, so they last easily for two, three years, right? So we change the patterns for the customers who say "I have the same one." We try to leave the traditional patterns, but they have slight changes. (Are there cases when the sound of the wind-bells becomes a public disturbance?) Yes, but I think that is also the passing of time. Like the extinction of the dinosaurs, the legendary craftworks that have no use in this society would also be extinct. So we think of a way in how we can prevent them from extinction. The number of mansions has increased and they claim that the wind-bells are loud when they are hanged in the front of the house, so why not hang them inside the house? When the wind-bell is hanged inside, it would be nice if it rings when we move and by the breeze of the air conditioner. It would be also good if we make wind-bells that could be enjoyed visually, that are interesting, and ones that could heal our minds. In this way, the wind-bells are a little different from the old days. The picture patterns are more valued. But still, the sound is the priority, so we keep it as it was like in the old days. This is how we must be careful about it.  We
just do one rotation in a year.Normal works and business do many rotations in a year, right? We just do one rotation in a year. What we are making now in winter are for next year's work. So we must wait for next year to come to know whether the new patterns we made this year are good or bad. (Are those yellow ones monkeys?) Yes. I made them from the twelve zodiac signs. I made that in the year of the Monkey, and also in the year of the Tiger. (So you'll make one next year too?) Yes, I made a dragon too. "Yeah, people listened to the sound in the old days" Wind-bells were used for fortune telling in China. From where the wind blew and by the kind of the wind, people could tell whether it was good luck or bad luck. When they come in to Japan, they are used this time for charms. It was told that the plague couldn't come into the house by the sound of the wind-bell. When the time is in the Edo Era, and the people's mind have been stabled, the wind-bells get in the world of quiet elegance and elegant simplicity, right? That takes the shape as the world of the cool today. So in the future, it might turn out like "yeah, people listened to the sound in the old days" when they regard to wind-bells. Well, that is not like 40, 50 years later. In 100, 200 years, maybe, people listen to the sound of the wind-bell in the house, and they might be able to tell whether they are healthy or not by the kind of the sound. There is nothing we can do about that, because that is the current of time, and current of society's culture. (Healing wind-bells?) Yes, yes, yes. It takes three years to inflate small balls. Do you want to try this a little bit? I think you can't see the glass. Here is the glass. You roll this round, like this. Then you expand it, like this. And by all means, these gatherings are formed. To be honest, it takes three years to inflate small balls. (It's not something that can be done just by explanations?) People often say that's it's the knack, but you must work everyday diligently. That is why it's the knack. You have to feel that yourself. Even if we tell you "Now! Turn them now!", how to turn them with your fingers and how to inflate them are things you have to think and feel by yourself. (Like the blades, the instant is the point?) Can I call this the tidal moment? Whether to do it now or not, is really difficult to judge. It'd be no problem if I had to make only one in a year, but I have to live and eat with this, so I need to make tens and hundreds of them. (Can you make them with your eyes closed in the end?) Well, everything is like that. Rather than making them with consciousness, it'd be the best if your body naturally learned the work, without being conscious all the time. (It's interesting how the two make more and more without saying anything!) That has been done for ages.  But
I asked him later and he really said "I want to succeed."(Are making legendary craftworks hard to live with?) It is difficult to live and eat with this. In other words, we are doing an obsolete job, including us, right? It is really hard to make the products look modern for the customers to buy. Even if my kids, or young ones that work for us succeed my trace of work, I wouldn't be able to take the responsibility if they can't live and eat with this. (Do you have children?) I have three. The youngest said that he will succeed my work, in the interview we had with the television here. I thought he was told to say that by the people of television. But I asked him later and he really said "I want to succeed." It made me both shy and happy with the responsibility when I was told that face to face. The other two kids don't say that, but they help out their parents when they come home from school. I guess everyone is like that. When you were a kid, you were told to help out the housework, right? Today, we don't see that anymore. Kids don't go shopping for their parents, when in the old days, parents told us "go and buy this", and we go out to shop with a basket, right? There are no more of that today. I am not saying that the old days were good, but I think we were able to maintain the family shape like that. (Do craftsmen have the feeling of wanting their kids to succeed, and at the same time, feeling of not wanting them to?) There are skills of your own when you learn the work from parents, or other masters after working with them for few decades, right? And everyone thinks that he made better products than his ancestors, even though he dosen't actually say that. If I cannot make my kids succeed my job, I would feel like, "then what was all my life, 50, 60 years of career about?" But there is hardly anything we can do if the successors say something like "I don't want to do it your way if we can't live and eat with it." My father, who still works, was respectable in a way he enlarged my range of vision. He wasn't egocentric, and he expanded my range of vision as wide as he could, and said to me "whether you want to make a two-storied house or a skyscraper like that of a Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, it's at your discretion." We are not sure whether we can expand our children's range of vision like that, but I think that is really important.  The skills of the traditional craft workers made the high economic growth of Japan now. The skills of the traditional craft workers made the high economic growth of Japan now. he prototype of the high economic growth lies on our dexterous fingers to make the traditional crafts, that have been handed down from the old days. That is what we think. It was not as if the high-ranked officers made these. If those parts get more valued, I think Japan will be much better. (The state now is the result of how those things have been thrown away?) People from the baby-boom generation in the late 1940's produced the high economic growth, but they are now suffering and thinking what they should do with this restructuring, right? I think this is not right, absolutely. We think it's really absurd that the people, who have experienced a lot of hardships in the past, are not having fun right now as they aged. That's what I think. They worked really hard, but they couldn't enjoy the times of the bubble, what do you think? There were only a few people who had fun in the times of the bubble, right? The bubble collapsed, they got hit by the recession, and they went bankrupt. That's a strange story on the other hand. This is what I think. Sorry, I went off the topic. (Are there workers who wouldn't mind dying an honorable death?) Like I told you, the surroundings made it that way. Skills cannot be revived if the person with the skill dies, to be honest. Right? If we start again from one, it would take also 50, 100 years to make something we cultivated 50 years to make, I think. It is nice that our opinions match. You said to me "you are in the mass media often" a few moments ago, but I think that is a part of our job too. With the television, one whole day is used to finish the work. But these would be really precious in 10, 20 years, like people saying "hey, I saw this somewhere" and "I saw a Edo-style glass wind-bell." Some old craftsmen tell me "you get on television too often, and that isn't good," but I don't think it that way. You have to work really hard, plus something else in order to live through this time. It is obvious that the abilities and the skills are good, but we, the craftsmen, must also respond to the media, talk to them about many things, let them know how our wind-bells are splendid, and make them understand the good points about traditional crafts. And I think that would have a decent effect when it comes to time for our children or the young ones to succeed us. |
 |
|
Copyright 1999-2001 EDOCRAFT. Allrights reserved. mail@edocraft.com
|
