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 The
history of my shop:
My great grandfather started this shop first as a rice shop in Oomori,
Tokyo. This shop has moved around Tokyo from Oomori, Fukagawa, Tawaramachi,
and Senzoku around the Meiji era (mid 1800's- early 1900's), then finally
settled here．Because we started as a rice shop, people tell me my store
looks like a rice shop.
- The origin of the word "sudare":
the sudare is basically made from bamboo, but it can also be made from
3to4 other types of materials. The word "sudare" is characterized in
kanji(Japanese character) by the combination of 2 kanjis: one meaning
bamboo and the other meaning "in row." So "sudare" means "lined-up bamboo."
Well actually, if we break the word "sudare" down, "su" stands for "lined-up
bamboo," and "dare" means "hanging down" because you hang sudare down
from the ceiling when you use them.
The materials to make the sudare:
- The sudare is basically made from bamboo, and also can be made from
plants named yoshi(reed),
 gama(bulrush),
and gogyo. Gama and gogyo have hollow veins, and can work as insulation.
The materials used for making the sudare shouldn't expand or shrink
depending upon the humidity. All the materials are natural, so they're
not straight. I boil them to make them softer, and after the moisture
and the grease in the vein is out, I polish the veins, and straighten
them. Another thing I concern about is if the materials are grown in
Japan or not. The materials should be made in Japan. It's because the
plants or trees grown in other climates don't quite match the Japanese
climate, and tend to become mold or worm-eaten more than those grew
in Japan, so foreign materials need to be painted with chemicals.
Laying a stock of materials:
It's becoming harder and harder to get a natural materials these days
because trees are cut down all over Japan. I get the bamboo in this particular
place I chose. I order metal fittings from a particular store, and I knit
strings by myself because they are special kind of strings.
 How to
make the sudare:
For bamboo, I would get a long piece, shorten it depending upon the width
of the sudare I want to make, wash it, split it along the vertical lines
on the bamboo and make some thin layered bamboo, plane it, then dry it.
The thickness of the bamboo doesn't matter because I would split them
anyway.Splitting bamboo−I need to split them by my hand. I can't just
use machine. If it's a piece of wood, I can just chop it with a saw, but
because the vertical lines of bamboo are tight and stiff, I need to split
it along the vertical lines or the bamboo would break. Plain the layered
bamboo− I plain the layered bamboo with machine for the thick ones, but
I plain by my hand for the thin ones. I could use machine for the thin
ones, too, but it's quicker to do it by hand. It's pretty easy to make
the bamboo layers in the similar thickness if you have enough practice,
but the difference between amateur and professional is that professionals
can plain them quicker. Well, we didn't used to plain them because the
sudare is just for hanging outside, and it's not a thing to touch or anything.
If someone touches it, the thin piece of the bamboo sticking out a bit
would stick in to one's hand. It's pretty simple to think that your hand
will get hurt if you touch it, but some people today don't know that the
sudare is not a thing to touch, and they touch it, get hurt, and will
complain that they got hurt. So I plain them today. Knitting the materials
together- Even if we split and plain the bamboo, it is impossible to have
exactly same thickness because the bamboo is natural. It's the same for
the other materials, too. They each has different thickness because they
are natural. So I sort them into the similar thickness when I knit the
layers together to make the sudare.
The tools:
I use scissors and a saw to make the sudare. If I have my tools sharpened
thoroughly, I wouldn't have to have them sharpened for another year. But
because there are cheaper disposable tools today, there aren't many professionals
who sharpen the edged tools left anymore.
 My
working place:
The place I used to work was small and had tons of materials all over.
The room had a very nice atmosphere, and looked like I was working in
a very good place though, the room was uncomfortable to use. I wanted
to make this room brighter than a department store for me to have a
better view of the whole room. I feel comfortable with a bright and
a huge room I have now. Well, to be honest, the wooden building is the
best for me to work, but I unfortunately can't because of the law.
Parts of the sudare making I take to the other artisans:
There are some parts of the sudare making that I can't do. If a customer
wants a traditional gilt portable folding screen(byobu), we make it in
three steps with three different professionals. The door carpenter will
make the frame of the byobu first, then the sculptor sculpts on the frame.
And then, I make the sudare that fits the frame, and attach the sudare
in. You know, everything has steps to finish. Well, people don't even
think they can sculpt on the byobu etc. anymore: they're not creative
enough to think. Some will just think there are bunch of holes and scratches
on a piece of wood!
- Qualification to be an artisan:
All of my artisans are live-in artisans. It's better to live-in for
teaching techniques and everything else. It's even better is the new
artisan coming in has just finished middle school. I used to like how
the social system of sumo was. A new wrestler would come in just after
finishing middle school in the old days. They collapsed after letting
in college graduates. You don't need an 'intelligence' or better not
to have an 'intelligence' for the work that uses your body. You can't
live long in the world only using your body with an 'intelligence.'
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- Training and traditions:
- We need at least 3years to know if the new artisan is suit for the
job. But some people have gifted talents. Some learn very quickly, some
don't. But learning quickly doesn't mean that he can't do everything,
so nothing is better or nothing is worse. Someone who learned quickly
will forget quickly, and someone who learned slowly won't forget what
they have learned. People's lifestyle is always changing, so we can't
just make 'old things,' and we don't think just making old stuffs are
a 'tradition'. To have the traditional technique is the tradition, even
if the tool is made according to today's lifestyle. So the artisans
learn the basic technique, then think and make the craft that fits today's
lifestyle. But just making the modernized craft is not enough. Someone
might bring the old ones for repair, so the artisans also need to learn
the old techniques, too.
- The artisans and the users:
There are limits on the ideas of the new crafts if we only use our ideas.
The customer is the one who is using it, so we are surprised with the
customer's ideas. There are no limits to ideas, so I think the world
with boring stuffs only have boring people with no ideas. If the customer
asks "I want to use it in this way, in this color, so would you make
it?" we need the technique to make them nicely. An artisan work hard
and improve his technique by customer's ideas. When we meet something
we haven't seen, we take that as a new idea, and make them our own.
 Repairs:
When someone brings a sudare for repair, I usually ask how long have
he/she been using the sudare he/she brought. If that person answers
like "well, my grand mother bought this sudare, and she gave it to me,
so I want to use it," I'll be glad to repair it. I'm pleased to repair
the sudare customer used for a long time, and brought it for repair
because he/ she still wants to use that particular sudare. But there
are some people who just got influenced by the media, and come here
with rude attitudes. Some come up to me and ask "I bought this at an
antique shop, but this looks too old, so could you repair this?" I wouldn't
take the job in this case. Didn't the person go to the antique shop
because he/she wanted an old stuff? And even if I take the job and repair
them, many of the customers like that would complain "this is not the
way I wanted." I feel that the human nature is getting worse these days
when I meet this kind of situation. There are also some people who comes
to my store, and ask "no one uses the sudare anymore, do they?" I think
that's very rude.
The sudare in the Edo era (early 1600's to mid 1800's):
The sudare made in the Edo era can be used if the string part is repaired.
The bamboo part doesn't need and can't be repaired. Long time ago, there
was this customer from Aomori(northern Japan) who brought the sudare from
the Edo era. She wanted to repair them, but couldn't find the sudare shop
that would fix her sudare. She was about to give up, and throw it away.
I decided to fix the sudare up because she told me her ancestor bought
it in Edo(former Tokyo), and the sudare meant a lot to her family. Her
family would hang the sudare on the new years day and pray because the
sudare is the thing handed down from their ancestor. I took a look at
the sudare she brought, and was surprised how high the artisans of the
Edo era had. The front side and the back side of the bamboo was sharpened
in different angle.
- Young girl's ideas:
I want the users to know how to use the sudare, but on the other hand,
I appreciate young people's eccentric ideas. Some of them told me they
don't have huge windows to hang the sudare, so they hang them on the
wall, and enjoy the feelings of the summer. Some even tie dried flowers
or a latter rack on the sudare. I'm just always surprised and impressed
by their ideas. I used to make some plastic sudare. I quit making them
because I thought "if I'm bored of making, others are bored, too." When
I made them, I made with some color I can use only if I'm making the
plastic ones. I first made green ones, then blue ones, and translucent
ones in many different colors. I asked help from young girls for colors.
They know which color fits the time, are the best advisors of the color.
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- The price:
Artisans always think of the users when they work. We always think "This
looks nicer," "this is tougher," "this is more comfortable
to use." We work this way because we want our customers to be happy,
and we want to see them happy. If the customer says the sudare is too
expensive, I ask why. What's expensive about it. Compared to what is
it expensive. Someone who doesn't know about the sudare or the artisans
thinks sudare is a cheap thing, and complains about the price when he/
she buys a good one. We buy some high quality things if we want to use
them as long as possible.
- User's sense of values:
The sudare made in the Edo era(early1600's to mid1800's) is as old as
I've seen, but people don't bring them for repair so often today. They
throw them away instead. Parents and kids have different values. In
the old days, when people couldn't buy many stuffs, they had memories
in every thing they bought. For example, they first got to buy sudare
when they got married. They have this important memories, so they would
use them delicately, and bring them for repair to use it as long as
possible. But if they hand down that sudare to kids, the sudare is just
an old thing that's disturbing them. So the kids just throw it away
because their parents are not around any more. It's kind of sad, though.
People today and in the old days:
Japanese people in the old days were modest. For example, they would ask
me; "the bathroom is very close to my neighbor and I feel uncomfortable
because it's wide open. It's pretty rude to use your sudare as a blindfold,
but is that OK with you?" There are some people like that. But on the other
hand, there are some people who uses the sudare for the dog house thinking
"I bought it, so I can use it in anyway I want to." It's the thing I made
thinking what's better for the customer. I feel like I did something to
make someone happy, but that person spit on my face instead. And they bring
the dirty sudare with dog bites on for repair, and ask me to fix it? If
you use sudare for your dogs to bite, don't get the sudare at my shop! Well,
if the dog likes the sudare I made, I have nothing to say, but you know,
people can have some respect to other people's feelings. You don't just
throw away a gift from someone because it's yours now, and you didn't like
it. That's not right. If someone tells us "I really loved your gift you
gave me the other day," we get happy. It's because we think about the happy
face of the person we're giving a gift to when we buy or make the gift.
The world around us changed a lot. This country got rich in terms of money,
but got poor in terms of human nature.
- The reason that the traditions are kept:
Why are we artisans here even we make traditional, and old stuffs? It's
just not because the thing we make and what we do are rare, but because
the traditional Japanese tools really fit the Japanese weather, taste
and culture. That's why we're here.
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