Find the Light of Japan 303602685947
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"We may possibly simply have lost our appreciation for handmade goods." Igarashi san has been making chochin paper lanterns in his little shop for his life time. His father also, and his grandfatherand great grandfather and also great, great grandfather. Equipment & the tools that surround him today, actually go here for more info, have outlasted his ancestors, their wooden surfaces worn smooth with age. Since the start of the Meiji period (1868 - 1912) Kanazawa citizens have been buying Igarashi chochin from the store, in the heart of old Kanazawa's business section, near the back of the fortress. The shelves are piled high with beautifully decorated lanterns - lively bursts of color peppering the confines of the little course.
Chochin lanterns have a fairly long history in Japan - there is evidence of them being used in temples in the 10th century - and were used mainly as a means of lighting. Only sporadically used inside, they usually hung outside a home, temple or company or else in the entrance, ready to be suspended on a and carried before everyone going out through the night. Igarashi-san reckons that at once these were so popular there might have existed 40 or 50 chochin retailers just in Kanazawa. In these days there remain only himself and one other local contractor in the other fellow and the industry (Matsuda-san) has long since diversified, making conventional umbrellas his mainstay.
Building a chochin is just a awkward, fairly fine process despite the beautifully simple appearance of the conclusion product. And, when asked what're the main features in his profession his bright eyes dead serious, "patience and concentration" are replied, by Igarashi-san. The average sized lantern based on Igarashi-san, at about 30 cm across, can be produced at a rate of about two each day by one man including most of the painting. However some really huge people have left the Igarashi store over the years - his greatest was a matsuri beast measuring 5 shaku (1 shaku = 30.3cm in the old Japanese measuring system) in diameter having an intricate year of the rabbit design on it. The old lantern producer is realistic concerning the fact that people need cheaper, mass-produced, plastic covered lanterns these days - he also carries them himself - but he's comfortable in the knowledge that a well-made paper lantern is a lovely thing, excellent in a variety of ways to these garish modern impostors.
"You can repair a good chochin," he tells us, "you can replace one rib or repair a hole in the report no problem." "Plastic lamps haven't any internal frame and can't be patched." A paper lantern regardless of how well made lasts only about per year (pure beauty is always fleeting) whereas a plastic one might last twice that and cost half as much. Along with that, we as a community could have only dropped our appreciation for handmade products. Price has become our main inspiration as consumers. We don't care to learn how things were made in these times, or who made them, or else Igarashisan would be the prosperous head of a string of stores.
The walls of his ready-to-hand scrapbook activity and the Igarashi Chochinya numerous monochrome photos and press clippings showing a proud, broad-shouldered young man with strong, thick hands and an attractive smile showing off elegant paper spheres with matsuri lights glimmering in the background. Humbly showing us them, his warm, friendly smile just falls slightly as he tells us that he'll function as last of his family line making lanterns here.
