OBACHAN'S SCRIBBLES

Sunday, July 17, 2005

A Day of Crafts - Part 3 -

-- My one day trip to a town called Ino on Jul. 14 --

On my way back to Kochi city from the paper craft village, I dropped by Ino-cho Paper museum in the center of Ino town. I do not come outside Kochi city very often, so I wanted to see as many places as possible on this one-day trip.

To be exposed to detailed information on Tosa Washi　(traditional Japanese paper made in Kochi), this museum is the best place, I would say.　 The place has exhibits with thorough explanations (in Japanese) on materials for and process of washi paper making, and you can experience washi-making here, too, for 420 yen (8 postcards or 2 larger paper), though they do not provide you with leaves and flowers to use. (But they said you can bring in pressed flowers/leaves and use them when making washi paper, and the price would be the same.)

The souvenir shop there has more variety of washi paper crafts. What really fascinated me (though I didn’t buy any, of course) was these… what do you actually call these? Paper shades?




They are made to be placed (maybe clipped to a hook or something) in front of light bulbs so that the light from the back will show the patterns on the Washi shade. I had no idea how they made those complicated designs on the shades. Those patterns did not look like they were cut-and-pasted on the shades.

I bought a pack of small Tengu paper pieces for souvenir. Tengu paper is super-thin washi paper in delicate colors and used for chigiri-e (torn paper art).


Tengu paper

It was certainly delightful to discover different expressions that paper can offer.
For me paper is not just another tool for communication any more …
It is something that can convey warmth and healing in communication.


Ino-Cho Paper Museum
110-1 Saiwai-cho, Ino-Cho,
Agawa-gun, Kochi 781-21
TEL 088-893-0886
Open 9:00 – 17:00 (Workshop closes at 16:00)
Closed on Mondays

And there was a nice coffee shop near the entrance of the museum.
posted by obachan, 7/17/2005 06:38:00 PM

3 Comments:

Oh my gosh, you packed a lot of crafting, sightseeing, and adventure into one day! I love all your pictures. The paper crafts are so beautiful! 

Posted by Amanda
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 7/18/2005 9:00 AM  
Thanks Amanda.
They are really beautiful, aren't they?! I definitely wanted to share them with dear readers :) 

Posted by obachan
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 7/19/2005 10:51 AM  
Hello!
it's a beautiful blog you have...
I was looking for examples of works in this japanese papaer. A japanese friend of mine gave me a pack of paper and I want to try it, thank you for the information and beautiful pictures!

I'm looking forward to go tu study Art in Japan someday...it's a big dream for me!
commented by Blogger  Jael , 10/10/2009 2:58 AM  

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