What is "Kyo Karakami"? Beautiful patterns created by woodblocks passed down for over 100 years

The first state-run paper mill was built on the banks of the Kamiya River, which runs beside the Kitano Tenmangu Shrine in Kyoto.

"Kyo Karakami" has many orthodox and traditional patterns.

In the Edo period (1603-1868), as the culture of the common people developed, Karakami, which was favored by the masses, began to feature more free and open designs.

Yes. In the world of the tea ceremony, the unique Japanese sense of beauty called "wabi" was pursued, and plant patterns, especially paulownia patterns, were favored. It seems that the common people of the Edo period were also influenced by this preference for the tea ceremony.

Patterns in the Edo period were influenced by the "Rimpa school of art". This was a school created by Honami Koetsu, Ogata Korin and Tawaraya Sotatsu, who pursued the possibilities of expression in design.

There are more than 300 sheets. Of these, about 150 are in good condition and usable.

The oldest printing block is about 180 years old, and dates from the 8th year of the Tempo Period.

I was using it in service until two or three years ago. The next oldest would be from the 10th or 12th year of the Tempo era. Most of the woodblocks have been used for more than 100 years.

Yes, that's why I reprint old woodblocks and carve new ones a few times a year.

For ordinary prints, hard woods such as cherry or ginkgo are used. This is because the carving of a normal print is shallow, 1 to 2 millimeters.

The woodblocks are washed and dried each time they are printed, so they are resistant to bending and decay even after many years of use.

Dryness is the enemy of woodblocks, so we use a humidifier to keep the humidity constant. Also, we store the woodblocks so that they do not overlap with each other.

For sliding doors and wallpaper, we use Echizen Torinoko-gami paper produced in Fukui Prefecture.

Because it is strong and has been used for centuries.Cold water is good for papermaking, and I believe that good paper is made in Echizen, where paper is made with water from melting snow.

Funori is a glue made by boiling down dried seaweed. Normally, glue is used as an adhesive for prints, but it is animal-based and can damage the woodblock, so funori is used for karakami because it dissolves easily in water and is easy on the woodblock. .

That's right. We have to be careful not to burn it, and we have to change the amount of water depending on the weather and paper quality, so the craftsman's intuition is very important.

Crushed granite gives a pearl-like sheen. In the case of karakami, mica is used to make it shine, and gofun is used to make it matte. Gofun is made by baking and crushing clam shells.

The light is very important. In the old days, the rocks were crushed by hand, so the particles were sparse and shone with diffuse reflection.

Sieve (Furui) is a tool unique to karakami. It is a frame made of long, thin sheets of cedar rolled up and covered with cold gauze or gauze, and is used for transferring paint to the printing block.

When printing, a bamboo baren is used for ordinary prints, but the characteristic of karakami is that it is rubbed with the palm of the hand in a circular motion.

Kyo Karakami was originally used in Japanese-style rooms, and as the number of Japanese-style rooms decreases, so do the opportunities for its use. If there is no demand, tradition will not continue. Therefore, I believe that our mission is to cultivate demand.

Since it is difficult to use only the old style "Karakami", we are developing something that fits modern lifestyles, for example, something that fits not only Japanese-style rooms but also Western-style rooms, and something that can be used in hotels, restaurants, and overseas.

Since there are no sliding doors in Western rooms, we developed a wallpaper called "Urushi Karakami". The idea was to create something strong enough to stand up to Western-style interiors, and we used lacquer, which is also associated with traditional crafts in Kyoto. .

After the patterns are printed on the paper, lacquer is sprayed onto the paper using the Kyoto Buddhist equipment technique. The lacquer repels the paint, so the pattern appears glossy and the lacquer soaks into the paper. .

Since it is wallpaper, it has to be non-combustible and certified as a fireproof material by the government. It was a trial and error process, and it took about three years to develop.

The Ritz-Carlton Kyoto actually offers Karakami woodblocks as interior decorations instead of paper.

Yes. One day, a person from a foreign hotel came to our showroom, and I thought he needed wallpaper, but he was standing still in front of the woodblock.

That's right. The woodblock prints have a wonderful atmosphere, so we wanted to use them for interior design. For us, it was a completely new idea that was "eye-opening".

No, at first they wanted to have them in all the guest rooms, but it was impossible due to budget constraints because of the huge number of them, so we made the woodblocks on the ceiling of the banquet hall in the main hall as interior decorations.

We are now putting a lot of effort into making the woodblocks themselves into interior decorations, especially for foreign countries and hotels.

Yes. The traditional hand-printed "Kyo Karakami" series are engraved by hand when the woodblocks are reprinted, but when we design and create new patterns for new products, we incorporate data into the computer and engrave them with a laser.

Yes. Thanks to this, we are now able to use patterns created by overseas designers as printing blocks.

However, if we convert the data into a format, there is a risk that only the patterns and designs will walk alone. I think that the tradition of karakami includes not only the patterns, but also the fact that each piece is hand-printed by craftsmen, so I am careful to draw a line when developing new products.

Because Kyoto has traditionally been a place where products are made in a variety of fields, there are many craftsmen. This makes it easy to develop products without having to worry about what to make.

Even so, there is a serious shortage of successors, and it is certain that the culture of craftsmanship is declining. If there is no need for it, there will be no work, so I would like to cultivate demand and promote not only karakami but other traditional crafts as well.

Unlike other traditional crafts, I don't think many people know about karakami. That's why I would like to first of all make people aware of karakami.

I would be very happy if you could incorporate karakami into your lifestyle as something familiar.

I think the entry point can come from anywhere. I also hope that people in Japan and abroad will learn more and more about the appeal of karakami.

At the workshop, you can experience the same process of making karakami by choosing the woodblock, paper, and color, and then printing it yourself.

The postcards can be made in a short time, and the art panels in an hour and a half to two hours, and you can take them home that day. You can even use woodblocks that are over 120 years old!

In the hands-on workshop and the hands-on kit, go back to your childhood and have some mindless fun!

Yes! If the experience leaves a lasting impression on your memory, you will be able to find it when you visit temples and other places. I think you will be able to find it. .

Please do! We hope that people will not feel self-conscious about the fact that it is a traditional craft, but rather feel it as something familiar with a traditional backbone, and from there incorporate "Karakami" into their daily lives.