YUKI HACHIYA, UCHIWA MAKER IN KYOTO

«When I turned 20 years old, I decided to become a craftsman. I wanted to do something that no one else was doing.»

Yuki Hachiya is a young craftsman living and working in Kyoto. Hachiya san was born in Yamagata prefecture and decided to move 540km south to Kyoto, to learn the art of making Uchiwas.

Hachiya san in front of his atelier in Kyoto.

Proust Questionnaire

Where were you born and raised? I was born in Yamagata in the northern part of Japan.It is a peaceful place with a lot of nature. Why and when did you decide to become a craftsman? and why did you come to Kyoto? When I was 20 years old and I was also interested in product design.I’ve always liked making things myself. I came to Kyoto to learn making Uchiwa fans. Kyoto has a good balance between history, tradition, culture and nature. How did you learn your craft ? How long did it take you and who taught you ? I learned how to make an Uchiwa from a craftsman who works at a long-established Uchiwa shop.I was taught only the rough method, and then I just moved my hands to learn.With so many trials and errors. It took me five years to learn the basic work.It’s been almost 10 years since I started this work, but I’m still learning every day. What is the most enjoyable part of your work ? And the most difficult? The moment when I can do the work I want to do and when a beautiful uchiwa is completed. The most difficult is to process the bamboo. But it is also very interesting. What do you think about Japanese craftsmanship? How do you imagine the future of crafts? Japanese are diligent and delicate, so I think they are able to make wonderful items.But sometimes,they stick too much to old practices. Unfortunately , I think the number of craftsmen will continue decreasing in the future.

Why is it interesting for you to collaborate with me ? Because of your beautiful design and creation, which is different from mine, it is fresh to me. Do you have a mentor ? Or people who helped you or influenced you ?I can’t think of a master for me.To put it bluntly, craftsmen from the past whose names I don’t even know are my masters.Everyone I’ve met has influenced me and helped me. I like looking at various designs and creations of the present and the past. I am always thinking about how to get inspiration from those creations in making my Uchiwa. How do you picture your life and yourself in 5 years ? 10 years ? 5 years :I want to be able to do more beautiful work and creation than I am now. 10 years :I want to spread those works and creations to people all over the world.

Favorites places your like to go in Kyoto ? In Japan ?My favorites places in Kyoto:Kamo River and its surroundings. In Japan: in the snowy landscape of my hometown Yamagata and beautiful islands in Setouchi.

FULL BLOOM

“If I were asked to explain the Japanese spirit, I would say it is wild cherry blossoms glowing in the morning sun!” — Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), nativist thinker and poet

The cherry blossom is not just another pretty flower. Pause to consider, as you feast, drink and carol beneath the blushing petals this season, how ancient a rite of spring your frolics are perpetuating.

Not infinitely ancient — the Nara Period (710-784), being Chinese in orientation, imitated China in preferring the darker, more fragrant and more assertive plum blooming a few weeks earlier on similarly leafless branches.

It was courtiers of the succeeding Heian Period (794-1185) who began making of ethereal sakura (cherry blossoms) what they later became in all their glory — living poems, living symbols of beauty, life, evanescence, death, “Japanese spirit.”

But how stately, how ceremoniously elegant Heian celebrations were in comparison with our modern madcap revels!

“… the festival of the cherry blossoms took place in the Grand Hall. The empress and the crown prince were seated to the left and right of the throne. … Adepts at Chinese poetry, princes and high courtiers and others, drew lots to fix the rhyme schemes for their poems.

“I have drawn ‘spring,’ said Genji, his voice finely resonant in even so brief a statement.

” … The emperor had of course ordered the concert to be planned with the greatest care. ‘Spring Warbler, ‘ which came as the sun was setting, was uncommonly fine.” — Court lady Murasaki Shikibu in her novel “The Tale of Genji” (11th century)

The sakura banquet retained its aristocratic aura until the rambunctious Edo Period (1603-1867), when commoners, in their coarse and spontaneous way, began to ape their betters.

Long before that, in the 14th century, the priest Kenko, in jottings known to posterity as the “Grasses of Idleness,” complained of “rustic boors who take all pleasure grossly. They squirm their way through the crowd to get under the trees; they stare at the blossoms with eyes for nothing else; they drink s

The cherries’ only fault: the crowds that gather when they bloom” — Saigyo, 12th-century poet

A GREAT COLOR MASTER : SACHIO YOSHIOKA

The Japanese natural dyer and textile historian Sachio Yoshioka unexpectedly passed away on 30th September in Aichi prefecture, Japan.

Yoshioka dedicated his life to reviving and preserving techniques of natural dyeing, giving lectures and workshops in Japan and internationally. Yoshioka wrote many books on the topic - one of the most famous being The Dictionary of Japanese Colours, which explains the narrative behind 466 colours that originated in Japan.

Yoshioka succeeded as the fifth-generation head of Kyoto’s Somenotsukasa Yoshioka dye workshop in 1988. When he took over the family business he abandoned the use of synthetic colours in favour of dyeing solely with plants and other natural materials. The workshop uses only plants and other natural materials to produce a wide range of extremely beautiful colours.