Fish !

Our Samurai with their swords

Emperor Meiji abolished the Samurai class during the reformation of Japan in favour of a Western style military. In the summer of 1869 the population was formally reclassified as Nobles, former Samurai and Commoners.
 
By 1876 ex-warriors were even deprived of the right to carry swords. The effect of this shift was far reaching. The craftsmen who supplied the many thousands of Samurai with swords were left without customers and this in turn affected a number of professions. These included the suppliers of all the various component parts such as the silk braid weavers, the fish skin suppliers as well as the metal workers all of whom suffered.

The skin of a Stingray wrapped around a sword handle

 

A sword handle wrapped with silk braid

Here in the studio there is a reminder of this proud tradition. Hammered onto the surface of a modern kogatana is an interesting pattern. It has been put there by a family who still use today the visual ray skin reference to remind everyone that they were traditional metal workers whose ancestors made swords for Samurai.

The Kogatana

Overdressed ?

It was not at all unusual in Japan to see itinerant Pilgrims and Priests often carrying a portable altar. These could be either men or women and it was common at the end of a working life to go on a pilgrimage. Suspended from the front of their sash there would be a small gong to announce their arrival as well as bells they jingled and a short staff they shook in front of them. They relied upon charitable donations and they invariably wore plain inconspicuous clothes.

An itinerant priest c1867-1868

Itinerant priests c1880

In order to travel incognito the Ogre hunters decided to "disguise" themselves as Buddhist pilgrims. However, whilst they are clearly masters of all forms of combat they seem to have been somewhat reluctant to forgo a dashing outfit in the interests of disguise ........

 

Our Samurai and their rather unconvincing "disguise ''

Cutting Edge...

Staying with the theme of "edge tools" we should mention the swords used by our Ogre hunters.

Japanese craftsmen have for many centuries manufactured the most formidable weapons. Historically swords were tested (tameshigiri) on human bodies purchased from the execution grounds.

The finest swords were tested on multiple bodies tied together. One famous old Japanese sword was inscribed on the tang that it had successfully sliced through seven bodies with a single cut !

The bodies were carefully inspected before cutting to check for disease, primarily because it was believed that sickness would make the pure sword unclean. After each gruesome cut, the sword and the target were carefully examined to determine if the edge had been notched and that the cuts were clean.

During the Meiji period test cutting on the bodies of criminals became illegal. These were replaced by targets made of soaked and bound wara (rice straw) with a bamboo core.

We must assume that all of the Samurai swords would have been deemed worthless after dispatching the Ogres of Oeyama........

Marubocho

Two Marubocho - the Kyoto style handle is to the left, Tokyo to the right

As we apply many narrow 3mm strips of Japanese mulberry paper to support the many creases on the scrolls we should mention one of the most important knives used by scroll mounters. The Marubocho (maru just means curved). These are used for cutting all paper and lined silk.

Incredibly sharp with a very fine cutting edge they are comprised of alternating layers of soft and hard steels. As with our other edge tools only Japanese water-stones are used to sharpen these amazing knives.

When cutting there is only light pressure sideways to guide the blade along the straight-edge and minimal pressure downwards as they are SO sharp.
It is essential that they are used with a square-sided straight-edge to prevent the fine cutting edge from veering off........!!!!!

 
Very narrow strips of a thin Japanese mulberry paper are cut using the marubocho. These are then used to support the numerous creases throughout the scrolls. The strips are cut across the grain direction of the paper so that the tiny strip will be at it's most effective. The strips are pasted with a dilute wheat starch paste before being applied along each crease. 

Raking light and transmitted light sources are used to highlight where a strip is needed. The pasted strip is rolled around a bamboo spatula to transport and help to accurately apply it along the crease. 

An Imperial visitor

The Princess admiring the scrolls                  (photo Roseanna Bancroft)

                      
On Friday 21st June we were very honoured to receive a visit to the project from Her Imperial Highness, Princess Mako of Akishino. She was interested to hear that through the generosity of the Sumitomo Foundation that this was the second conservation project, following on from the "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" handscrolls in 2012

The Princess studied at University College Dublin during 2010 and has very fond memories of her time in Ireland and was familiar with the Chester Beatty Library and its collections.

Hello Goodbye

Today is Queens day in the Netherlands and it is being celebrated with even more enthusiasm than ever. The reason for this is that Queen Beatrix has abdicated and the investiture of Prince Willem to King takes place today. The Dutch Royal Family are immensely popular and the whole country will be following this historic event.

Somewhere amongst the invited dignitaries there is Prince Charles from England - clearly hoping that this whole abdication thing might not go unnoticed back home..........