[VILLAGE Report vol.26] Nearly Half of Tableware | Gifu Prefecture

Gifu Prefecture’s nationally designated crafts are Mino ware, Mino washi paper, Hida Shunkei lacquerware, Ichii Itto carving, Gifu lanterns, Gifu wagasa umbrellas these 6 items.

Take a look at the rice bowl you are using now

Mino ware accounts for a large share of ceramic tableware production in Japan. Many household dishes are fired in this region.

And yet, there are probably not many people who remember buying a vessel labeled “Mino ware.”

This is the greatest feature of this production area. Without putting its name forward, it supports Japan’s dining tables through volume.

The reason is that Mino ware does not have one specific style. There are named styles such as Shino, Oribe, Ki-Seto, and Seto-Guro, but as a production area as a whole, it can “fire anything.”

The production areas we have seen in this series have usually survived by making “only this one thing.” Mino is the opposite. It remained because it could make anything.

Paper listed by UNESCO

In 2014, UNESCO inscribed “Washi, craftsmanship of traditional Japanese hand-made paper” on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

Three were included. Sekishu-Banshi (Shimane), Hon-minoshi (Gifu), Hosokawa-shi (Saitama) in total.

The Shimane installment (vol.12) was about tatara ironmaking “dying out and returning.” Gifu’s Honminoshi paper is uses only paper mulberry, and keeps both the tools and processes as they were in the past.

In this series, we also looked at Kochi’s Tosa washi (restoration of cultural properties), Mie’s Ise katagami (stencils for dyeing), Tottori’s Inshu washi, Tokushima’s Awa washi, and Ehime’s Ozu washi. This is the sixth kind of paper. Japanese paper has taken on quite distinct roles.

Not painting over the grain

Hida Shunkei lacquerware is lacquerware from Takayama. Usually, lacquerware uses a thick base layer to hide the wood grain.

Shunkei does the opposite. A thin layer of transparent lacquer is applied so that the wood grain remains visible.

In other words, the technique cannot work unless the wood underneath is beautiful. Because it cannot be hidden with lacquer, the outcome is decided at the stage of selecting and cutting the wood.

Wakayama’s Kishu lacquerware (vol.18) was lacquerware that “gained volume through everyday use.” Hida Shunkei is lacquerware that “shows the wood.” Even with the same lacquer, the thinking is completely opposite.

Lanterns and yew

Gifu lanterns are made from thin washi paper and slender bamboo strips. This industry existed precisely because Mino washi was close at hand.

Ichii Itto carving is finished simply by carving yew wood without coloring it. This, too, is work that “does not hide.”

Gifu is a prefecture that shows materials as they are one might say.

Next issue, we go to Shizuoka.

References: Gifu Prefecture, Tajimi City, Mino City, Takayama City, Agency for Cultural Affairs, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage “Washi, craftsmanship of traditional Japanese hand-made paper,” Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries

—The Value Village Editorial Team