Antidotes to Modernity

  

We accompanied David on a shopping expedition in Sunshine City. Wikipedia tells us that this is:

 

“a building complex located in … Ikebukuro ... It consists of four buildings: the 240-meter Sunshine 60 skyscraper, which includes corporate offices and restaurants; the Prince Hotel; the World Import Mart; and the Bunka Kaikan building. The complex sits on land once occupied by Sugamo Prison.”

 

A children's area in Sunshine City.

 

David remarked that Sunshine City is itself a sort of prison for consumers: as long as you are inside this vast complex you will see no sunshine. From our fleeting experience we learned that, apart from great numbers of shops and restaurants, the City provides: an aquarium on the 7ths, 8^th, 9^th floors and the rooftop (presumably an enormous weight of water in an earthquake zone, as one is reminded by a sign directing you to the Disaster Control Centre). The planetarium is on the roof of another building. The complex also has a theatre, an Ancient Orient Museum, Sky Circus (an observation deck), a conference room, two exhibition halls and a bus terminal.  

Shopping in Sunshie City.

 Perhaps the very acme of Sunshine City consumption are the Namja Gyoza Stadium (Chinese dumplings) and Fukubukuro Dessert Yokocho (Dessert Alley).

 

Next, Jan and I headed to an antidote to Sunshine City, the Tokyo shop of Inden Ya. This family-owned business was founded in 1582 to produce deer leather decorated with lacquer. In the late 16^th century, the techniques that produced a light, strong and durable leather from deer skin were transmitted from India via the Namban trade. The very name of the company tells us of this history: Inden means “India” and ya “from.”

 

Yusichi Uehara, Inden Ya’s founder, started his business in the mountainous Koshu region just over 100km west of Tokyo. The region was known for its Japanese lacquer work and had easy access to deerskin (although I was told by one of the staff in the shop that the deerskin nowadays comes from North America). Uehara’s genius was to marry Japanese lacquer work with Indian deerskin techniques. In the Sengoku Period (1467-1590) samurai decorated their armour with lacquered deerskin, and in the Edo Period (1603-1867) chic drawstring pouches, tobacco holders, coin purses and other accessories of lacquered deer leather demonstrated fashionable good taste.

 

The lacquer technique used by Inden Ya reminded us of a visit to a cotton-printing studio in Ochiai last year: lengths of cotton were decorated by hand by applying stencils and one or more coloured dyes to the cloth. Similarly, the deer leather artisan applies lacquer designs with stencils.

 

Stencilled lacquer is not the only technique used. Inden Ya informs us that: “The fusube coloring technique entails mounting deerskin on a cylindrical frame and smoking it over burning straw to impart a sparrow-wing-brown finish. This started out as a hide tanning technique, and by the Nara Period (710–94) it had evolved into a leather-dyeing technique.”

 

Another technique is sarasa: "Chintz cotton printing" in English. The name derives “from similarly-named textiles originally brought to Japan in the 16th century through trade with Europeans. Using this technique, colors are applied one at a time in overlapping fashion using stencils, resulting in harmonious combinations of vibrant hues.”

 

The techniques used by the company are passed down through the generations by the head of the household, who upon inheriting the position changes his (perhaps her?) name to that of the founder.

 

We examined a variety of patterns. My eye was caught by the tombo (dragonfly) motif. The dragonfly is known in Japan as the “victorious insect” and symbolizes courage and strength in battle.

Tombo pattern.

 

The kozakura pattern incorporates cherry blossom, and was one of the motifs used to decorate samurai armour. Cherry blossom had been appreciated since the Heian Period (794-1185); from the 12^th to the 16^th centuries cherry blossoms became emblematic of the warrior’s mentality; In the Edo period the motif was widely used on kimonos and in craft products.

Kozakura patters,

 

Seigaiha is a design that originate in Persia and reached Japan via China and the Silk Road during the Asuka Period (592-710). Seigaiha means “blue ocean waves”, a name derived from a piece of traditional court music whose performers wore clothes with this pattern.

Seigaiha pattern.

 

And, of course, there has to be a Fuji pattern, takane (“high peak”). Fuji has several homonyms. One means “undying” or “eternal,” implying good luck in battle and therefore popular for weapons and jackets worn over armour. Another conveys “singular” or “peerless,” connoting unparalleled beauty and is therefore used on wedding kimonos.

Takane pattern.

 

We encountered another traditional craft, bamboo fencing, when we took a seat in Yakana cemetery for a rest from the hubbub and heat of Tokyo. A notice in English informs the visitor who chooses not to rush past to the shopping mecca of Yanaka Ginza that bamboo fencing is first documented in picture scrolls of the Heian and Kamakura (1185-1333) periods. The use of bamboo expanded in the Edo period when bamboo fences marked the boundaries of ordinary and tea-ceremony gardens. The notice observes that “There is a great variety of bamboo fences. In any given type there are subvarieties, and different kinds may be combined into one fence.”

 

Thirteen types are displayed either side of the road through the cemetery of fencing, each with a helpful notice to explain its characteristics. For example, the name of Garyu-Gaki fencing refers to its similarity to a dragon’s back.

Garyu-Gaki.

 

The names of some fence types immortalize their inventors. For example, master craftsman Hon’ami Koetsu (1558-1637) is immortalized almost half a millennium after his death by Koetsu-Gaki. His fence is characterized by “a round beading at the top wound with split bamboo thinly and [sic] center panel of criss-crossed bamboo tied in black hemp.”

Koetsu-Gaki.

 

Teppo-Gaki is a particularly ingenious fence type. Round bamboos are assembled alternately to both sides of bamboo cross bars. This fence is of a “blind type” when viewed head on, but when it is viewed diagonally you can see through it, so that the fence ceases to be “blind.”

Teppo-Gaki.

 

Tokusa-Gaki, on the other hand, named after tokusa grass which the fence resembles, is a blind fence.

Tokusa-Gaki.

 

I must confess that before we spotted this display my interest in fences was very low indeed. But I discovered that fences are culture as are lacquered deerskin leather products.