blog

Feb 01 2018

Onsen, What has drawn people to Beppu for Centuries

One evening, after a day of filming, the film crew took me to an Onsen run by a 3rd generation Onsen owner. The Hyotan Hot Springs are in Kannawa. Outside the onsen was this great structure built out of bamboo to cool down the water, which came out of the spring boiling hot. The water was piped to the top of the structure, built out of bamboo branches, and dripped off the branches into a pool, where anyone could soak their feet.

After decades of trying different materials to help cool the water bamboo turned out to be the best. The water really looked beautiful and sounded so relaxing dripping off the branches.

The Onsens are considered healing, and people travel from the far corners of Japan to come soak. Inside this Onsen we were given lockers for shoes and small items. There were no suitcase lockers. We showered 1st sitting down, then soaked in several pools. One of the most striking things about this Onsen are hot spring water pouring out of a natural rock wall. The water is powerful, hot, and makes a wonderful echo throughout the women’s area.

The water was not just used for soaking. One area had steam for healing throat, a sand bath, a pebble bath, a natural stone bath, and tile baths. You could also buy eggs cooked with spring water. The outdoor bath had a stunning waterfall, With red, orange, and brown rocks complimented by green moss.

This is a great place of respite. Next to the Onsen is a small temple where one can make an offering and ask for what one needs help with.

http://www.hyotan-onsen.com/

The Owner

Jan 31 2018

The Show Room, Bamboo Vocational School

Kantake Shinichi, the schools headmaster, and I, standing in front of a wall of sample weavings.

The Bamboo vocational arts training center is in Oita, the Southern part of Japan. It was decided to establish the school in that part of Japan and make Oita the bamboo capital of Japan because of the demand for bamboo baskets by visitors to the hotsprings. It started out as a one year school and has become a two year school. Next door is the Oita prefecture Beppu industrial arts research center, which is a one year school. It is a very competitive school and there are several qualifications that need to be met in order to get into the school. They only accept 12 students a year. Six people are from Oita only. They can be straight out of high school and are accepted with no test if they have recommendations. Without recommendations an Oita high school student planning to graduate must have passed the test.The other six people are chosen from a pool of applicants who are unemployed or looking for work and can pass the test. If someone drops out the school may accept someone from outside the Oita area. There might be more qualifacations needed that I do not know of, but I have learned that an applicant must be 39 years old or younger when applying.

I first visited the bamboo showroom, where there are hundreds of objects made from bamboo, both traditional and modernly innovative.

There is a small section of the space devoted to recent graduates work, along with their name and some contact information.

There was so much to learn just from looking at the samples in the showroom. I felt humbled to be surrounded by so much beautiful handmade bamboo work.

After receiving a tour of the showroom I was taken to the classroom, where I was invited to stay for the day and learn along with the students. I was already thrilled to be at the school. Being able to sit in on a class was beyond my wildest dreams. In my next post I will share about my visit with the students

Nov 09 2017

Tanabe Chikuunsai iv studio visit part 2

After a morning looking at Tanabe-san’s families artwork we had a lovely lunch at a nearby restaurant. During a tour of the teahouse in the back of the restaurant I learned that Osaka was actually the birthplace of Japanese tea ceremony. I also learned that we had just had lunch next to the largest emperor’s tomb in Japan.

From the tea house we went to Tanabe’s home, where he has several of his new works destined for a solo show in November in Brussels. We did spend quite some time talking about one particular piece that catches light in the most remarkable way. The bamboo is split so finely it is translucent in the light.

In his studio Tanabe-san showed me some of the different types of bamboo that he uses that are predominant in Japan. Although there are over 600 different types of bamboo in Japan only 20 varieties are suitable to work with. Out of those 20 Madake is most commonly used, especially in the Beppu region. There was one piece of bamboo that was passed down through generations with large dime sized spots on it. Another was a smoked piece of bamboo that Tanabe remembers pulling out of a collapsed farm house with his father. A bamboo which resembles Sasa palmatta was also present. Tanabe also showed me a collection of antique Samurai arrows he sourced through several different antique dealers. He is planning on creating sculptures with them. (See image at the top of page, the box to his left contains the arrows)

Next Tanabe showed me how he bends bamboo strips with a candle. It is important for the wick of the candle to not be too long. If it is the flame is too big, and the flame will burn the bamboo and produce smoke instead of slowly heating the bamboo. The wick was trimmed several times during the lesson. After a demonstration I had a chance to try the technique too. I burned my first piece; the method I have always used to bend bamboo is to heat it with a heat gun. Using a candle right angles can be made with ease. As I was working I was thinking about candle bent glass stringer and how you have to wait for it to heat before bending so it doesn’t break. The bamboo requires a quick movement to bent it once it is heated. Tanabe told be that bamboo requires that you listen to it; it was fun to hear him tell me the same thing I tell me students.

Next Tanabe showed me how to make a simple bamboo basket that Japanese children make. The bottom is a simple under-over weave. The ends of the weave can be curved and tucked in many ways, making it a ideal basket design for investigating form. After the basket was finished I had the opportunity to try my hand at flower arranging. We had to have a little laugh at the result.

The highlight of the visit was when Tanabe-san showed me his tools, which consist of four generations of bamboo artists in his family. Anyone who uses tools on a continual bases knows that tools, in a way, become an extension of the body, they are indeed, imbued with the artists spirit. I have a collection of my grandfathers tools and a few of my mothers, which I find very meaningful to use and own. They are not bamboo related, but meaningful none the less. I found the idea of four generations of bamboo tools to be mindblowing.

Tanabe is pointing to one of two chests made by his father for Tanabe-san and his brother when they were both very young. At the very last we exchanged gifts, some of which were very nice books of Tanabe-san’s work. Tanabe said he hopes some day we will have an exhibit together. I too hope that can happen. I was invited back-and did return, after a trip to several other artists studios. More on the second visit in a future post.

The last of our visit was a great group photo.

Save

Oct 09 2017

A studio visit with Tanabe Chikuunsai IV

This morning found me riding in a taxi with crocheted seat covers, which appealed to the fiber artist in me. After the white gloved driver dropped us off, I found myself at the door of a stately house in Osaka. There was a great variegated bamboo at the front, so I knew we were going to meet a bamboo person. I was surprised, when the door opened, to find Tanabe Chikuunsai IV.

Tanabe Chikuunsai IV is the fourth generation of bamboo basket makers in his family. Although I grew up learning glass art from my mom, I find it amazing that there could be a family with four generations of artists practicing the same art form. Not only did Tanabe-san study bamboo arts in his families studio since a very young age, he also studied sculpture and earned a dergree in college and attended the bamboo vocational school in Beppu, Japan. The bamboo techniques and ideas passed down through the family, as well as the knowledge gathered from the schools Tanabe-san attended, has created an amazing visual vocabulary Tanabe-san can work from. I had the good fortune of meeting Tanabe-san in Florida during the show “Modern Twist: Contemporary Japanese Bamboo Art” at the Ruth Funk Center for Textile Arts, where we both gave a presentation and he had several works. I was aware of the fact that he is a fourth generation bamboo basket maker and really wanted to see his families collection of artworks, and hear his families artist story. There was also some technical information I was hoping to learn.

Tanabe-san’s most recent project is an instillation at the MET, as part of the show “Japanese Bamboo Art:The Abby Collection”. If you want to get a sense of what the show is about Roberta Smith wrote a wonderful article about the show in the New York Times.

Tanabe-san’s beautiful intimate and traditional Osaka garden is surrounded by his house, studio, and tearoom. I was first lead into his families tea room and gallery, where four generations of his family have baskets on display. We were served tea, the ceramic tea bowls sitting on little woven bamboo trays that Tanabe-san’s studio produces. Tanabe-san first shared with me his great grandfathers basket, which was made in a style similar to Chinese tea ceremony baskets. This type of basket uses a lot of decorative knotting and the form holds true to a traditional basket shape. His grandfather’s basket breaks away from tradition, yet still uses the basket form and traditional weaving patterns. His father’s work is purely sculptural, using bamboo and rattan to create a grid like form incorporating circles.

Other objects his family made that I was shown included a bamboo cicada and a tobacco pouch.

The very ornate 150 year old cicada, was woven out of bamboo using several different patterns and meant to be hung on the wall as a flower basket. This is an example of the style of basket, although not the one produced by his family.

The piece that took my breath away was a Tobacco basket, around 4” x 3 “x 1”, meant to be worn on a man’s belt, woven by his great grandfather.

It incorporates split pieces of antique bamboo arrows once used by a Samurai. It was a truly mystical experience to be holding such a beautifully made object incorporating bamboo once used by samurai. Tanabe-san has continued the tradition of collecting arrows to incorporate into his own work. He carries his grandfathers tobacco pouch to openings to hold business cards.

Close up of Tobacco pouch shows the variation of decorative color bamboo arrows had.

The above tobacco pouch, made by the Chikuunsai family, is similar to Tanabe-san’s Great grandfather’s pouch I saw. It also includes Samurai arrow pieces.

The alter in the tea house contained a sword that was past down through the family for generations, given to each artist when they took on the family artist name of Chikuunsai. Tanabe-san took on the name in March 2018. Offical paperwork certifying the new name also graces the alter.

Lastly, Tanabe-san showed me a piece from his new series of work, which is astounding. He is collaborating with a mathematician in order to create complex sculptural forms, in which every element is slightly smaller than the next element, the elements go from thin to thick, and the spacing of the elements go from wide to narrow progressively.

Tanabe Chikuunsai IV and I with one of his new small scale sculptures

This work in incredibly challenging. It is strenuous and laborious enough making properly prepared bamboo strips of all the same size. The lengthy process of making bamboo strips calls for several tools accurately set to the right size. Making many elements of different sizes requires accurate equations and the resetting of tools over and over again.

The result is a seamless and intriguing form that has a harmony, peace, and flow. It creates the illusion of simplicity, when the form is really quite complex. More of Tanabe-san’s newer works in this series can be seen here.

The next blog post will be about Tanabe-san’s studio, which was really wonderful!

Oct 05 2017

Weaving a basket with Morgami Jin, Part 3

I felt very grateful to be able to spend a day with Morgami Jin and his family, visiting a bamboo factory, splitting bamboo, and having dinner. It was such a great surprise to find I also was going to get to spend a day with him weaving a basket. His work had already shown me that he is a patient artist; he was also an incredibly patient teacher.

The first step was to create the bottom of the basket. The type of weave we worked on creates a zigzag like pattern, alternating between over three, over two, and over one.

After Morgami-san had woven several rows and the pattern was about to repeat itself he let me weave, directing me when to go over and under. The weave felt very complicated, and it wasn’t until we were almost done with the bottom that I felt like I was catching on. If I had to repeat the weaving on my own it would require detailed directions. This is actually one of the less complex weaves so it gave me even more of an appreciation for woven baskets with a more complex pattern.

The bamboo strips must stay wet so they stick together, The dryer they are the harder it is to keep the weave tight and the material starts to slip around.

When the square bottom was woven short bamboo splits were added to keep the weave from slipping while the corners were woven. The middle of each side becomes the corners of the basket. The weaving pattern becomes over three under three, and after a few rows up the side switches to over two under two. While Morgami Jin was weaving the sides his fingers flew, it was second nature to him and seemed like it needed no thought. Morgami-san let me weave several inches of the side of the basket and I started to feel the same flow, although I can tell it would take many baskets before this type of weave would become second nature to me.

I was most interested to see how a rim of a basket was made. I could see how knowing how to create a rim could translate over into my own work.

A bamboo strip is first coaxed into a curve gently by hand, and then wrapped around the basket, the ends overlapping. A pencil is used to mark a point where the two ends overlap.

The extra material is cut from the strip at least 3 cm from the mark. The overlap of material on our basket was 3 inches.

Each end is then beveled down from the mark to the end of the strip using a baishinshi knife.

A glue is then added to the beveled area of the strip. When asked what type of glue was being used Morgami Jin said “Bondo”. It is a type of Japanese superglue. What would be comparable in the US is something that warrants research. Wire is temporarily wrapped around the bamboo strip to hold it while the glue dries.

Morgami-san mentioned that if he were making several baskets he would continue making this type of element, wait for the strips to dry, and return the next day to use them. Because we were on a timeline we moved onto the next step, even though it would be a bit more challenging with the glue not completely dry.

The edge of the basket is folded inward and the rim ring is carefully slipped over the end. It is slid down to where the rim is desired and a pencil line is drawn where the edge of the basket will be.

Morgami-san then uses a pair of shears to cut the excess material off the edge of the basket. The type of shears used are also used in Bonsai tree trimming.

Another strip of bamboo is coaxed by hand to curve so the skin of the bamboo is on the inside of the curve. This skin is the strongest and most ornamental part of the bamboo.

It is then put inside the basket, pencil lines are made to mark a 3 cm overlap, and the same cutting, beveling, gluing, and wiring process is used to prepare the inside ring to become the rim.

Tools used in the making of basket, from left to right: Wire cutters, needle nose pliers, cutting shears (can be found in a high end japanese gardening shop), hand tool for drilling, awl made of old umbrella part, awl, bandashi knife, clip, caliper (not used), and pencil.

When the inside bamboo ring is in place a hand tool which functions as a drill is used to make small holes directly below the rim through which to run wire, then later rattan, to hold the rim together. The hand drilling tool has a square shaped point, which, when twirled back and forth, creates a hole between woven material. The rim is then wired together. One of Morgami-san’s tricks I really liked was using the wire cutters to both cut and tighten the wire around the rim. It certainly can save time and energy to not have to pick up and set down wire cutters and needle nose pliers, especially if doing the same technique hundreds of times.

After the rim is wired together more holes are added through which to sew the rattan that will bind the rim together.

Rattan that has been soaked is then used to stitch the rim to the basket. A short piece of rattan is laid along the edge of the rim to hide the edge of the cut woven material. The above image is of the process used to hide the end of the rattan after the whole rim has been sewn.

It was truly wonderful to see a whole basket made from beginning to end, from the factory where the material was prepared to the finished piece in a studio in Beppu, Japan. Although this was a production piece, the amount of skill, work, and care for the craftsmanship that goes into such an item is still pretty astounding. A basket like this will far outlive any plastic item made in both beauty, ecological soundness, and utility.

I was sorry to have to depart from Morgami-Jin and his family but the memory of the experience will be treasured.