[VILLAGE Report vol.24] 70% of Abacuses and Almost All Fishing Flies | Hyogo Prefecture

Hyogo Prefecture is the last stop in Kinki. Its nationally designated items are Banshu abacuses, Tamba Tachikui ware, Izushi ware, Banshu fishing flies, Toyooka willow basketry, Banshu Miki forged blades for a total of 6 items.

These six, are all in different places. Harima in the south, Tajima in the north, and Tamba in the center. Several cultural regions exist within a single prefecture.

70% of abacuses

Banshu abacuses are made mainly around Ono City, about 70% of domestic production according to estimates.

The beginning was in the Tensho era. Residents who fled Hideyoshi’s attack on Miki Castle and took refuge in Otsu learned how to make abacuses there and brought the method back according to tradition.

Nishijin-ori was born when artisans scattered by war came back. Banshu abacuses were born when residents who fled war brought back technology from the place they had gone.

What they learned while taking refuge became a local industry 400 years later.

Almost all fishing flies

Banshu fishing flies are fishing flies made mainly around Nishiwaki City. Bird feathers or silk thread are wrapped around a hook to make it look like an insect in the water.

Almost the entire domestic production is made in this region.

It is the same as Ise katagami in Mie. One region carries the whole country for one tool.

A high share is a strength, but at the same time, it also means that if that place stops, there is no replacement.

The second of the Six Ancient Kilns

Tamba Tachikui ware is also one of the Six Ancient Kilns of Japan.

Shigaraki ware from Shiga, covered in vol.21, and Bizen ware from Okayama in vol.11— this makes the third of the Six Ancient Kilns to appear in this series.

Tamba’s distinctive feature is the ash and bidoro glass-like glaze it is. Even without applying glaze, the ash melts and becomes a natural glaze.

Bizen was the same. Pottery made without applying glaze is left to the fire, so no two pieces are exactly alike.

Another production area of white porcelain

Izushi ware is made in Izushi, Toyooka City white porcelain it is. Locally quarried white porcelain stone is used, and everything is finished in white.

following Arita ware in vol.03, Hasami ware in vol.04, and Tobe ware in vol.16, are porcelain-producing areas.

Arita is known for overglaze colors, Tobe was quick to be recognized, and Izushi works with “white only.”

The earlier form of a bag-making town

Toyooka willow basketry is a basket made by weaving a willow called koriyanagi.

Toyooka is now one of Japan’s leading bag production areas. This willow basketry was its origin.

The skill of making “containers for carrying things” survived by changing materials.

Even if the material changes, an industry can continue if the “purpose” of what it makes stays the same.

We have traveled around Kinki

In Wakayama it was the fields, in Nara it was calligraphy and tea utensils, in Mie it was the division of roles, in Shiga it was reinvention, in Kyoto it was numbers, in Osaka it was professional support, and in Hyogo it was the abundance of regions.

All seven were different.

From the next issue, we head to the Chubu region.

References: Hyogo Prefecture, Ono City, Nishiwaki City, Toyooka City, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries

—The Value Village Editorial Team

Photo: __U___ / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)