[VILLAGE Report vol.7] This Town Makes 90% of Japan’s Bamboo Bows | Miyazaki Prefecture

South from Oita. This time, we look at an overwhelming production area for a single tool.

About 90% of Japan's bamboo bows

Miyakonojo City, Miyazaki Prefecture. Made in this town, Miyakonojo Daikyu is, accounts for about 90% of the bamboo bows produced nationwide. Its production volume is Japan's highest.

The bamboo bows held by people who practice kyudo. Almost all of them come from this place.

200-300 steps, all by hand

The production method was established in the early Edo period. The number of steps reaches 200 to 300 and most of them are done by hand.

In addition, It takes more than 10 years to become a full-fledged bow maker.

Bamboo and wax tree wood are combined and joined with animal glue, then shaped while judging how the materials expand and contract through the four seasons. Decisions that cannot be replaced by machines are made at every step.

It was designated a national Traditional Craft Product in 1994 in total.

One production area across prefectural borders

Another nationally designated craft is Authentic Oshima Tsumugi. The pieces made in the Miyakonojo area are Together with the production areas in Kagoshima Prefecture, it received national designation in February 1975..

The design, binding, dyeing, and weaving, every step of the process, is done by hand without using any machines at all.

The fact that it is not divided by prefectural borders expresses the essence of this craft. Administrative lines and the lines of technique are different things.

38, and 2

In Miyazaki Prefecture, there are 38 prefecture-designated traditional crafts and 2 nationally designated items in 7 categories.

To receive national designation, a production area must be of a certain scale or larger. In other words, among the 38 are items whose techniques are highly refined, but which are not listed nationally simply because too few people make them.

I wrote the same thing in the Saga installment. This is exactly the kind of place this series is looking for.

How do we convey the work of someone who spent 10 years mastering it?

It takes 10 years to become fully skilled. Should that person then spend another 10 years studying how to sell?

Makers should focus on making. The role of communicating is ours.

Next issue: Kagoshima, another production area for the same Oshima Tsumugi.

References: Miyazaki Prefectural Government, “Traditional Crafts” and “Traditional Crafts of Miyazaki Prefecture”; Miyakonojo City, “National Traditional Craft: Miyakonojo Daikyu”

—The Value Village Editorial Team

Photo: Kyu3a / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)