Japanology Plus

Hand-hammered copperware ages gracefully.

If it's handled properly,
it can last for a hundred years.

Each object is hammered
from a single sheet of metal.

And each part of this traditional
craft is done by hand.

The artistry of hand-hammered copperware
captivated Matthew Headland, from Canada.

He became a marketer for a workshop
founded over 200 years ago,

and tripled its sales
to foreign customers.

He now shares his enthusiasm

for traditional Japanese crafts
with an international audience.

Today, we'll learn why he finds
copperware so enthralling,

and hear how interacting
with these objects

has influenced his outlook on life.

Hello and welcome to Japanology Plus.
I'm Peter Barakan.

Today we present one
of our Japanophile profiles.

I'm in the city of Tsubame
in Niigata Prefecture,

a place which is famous for its
exceptional craftsmanship in metalworking.

The cutlery produced here
is prized internationally,

and for the last 30 years or so has been
used in the Nobel Prize Winners Banquet.

Today, I'll be talking
to Matthew Headland,

who works for a well-known company
that produces hand-hammered copperware,

another product which
this region is famous for.

- Matthew?
- Yes?

- I'm Peter.
- Peter, of course. Welcome.

- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you as well. Please.

- Thank you.
- Come out from the rain.

Tsubame was once known
for its plentiful minerals.

Metalworking flourished.

Useful everyday items have been
made here for hundreds of years.

Copperware pieces are hand hammered,
one by one.

They're functional, but can also
be appreciated as works of art.

Headland works at a long-established
copperware workshop.

He develops international
marketing initiatives,

translates the company
website into English,

and shares information on social media.

His activities have boosted
international sales.

He assists Japanese customers, too.

You have to polish it like this
to preserve the grooves.

So you shouldn't scrub too hard?

- Exactly.
- I see. Wow.

Otherwise, these carefully hammered
grooves will disappear.

Headland will give us the standard tour.

This is a really nice old building,
and done up very prettily as well.

It actually used to
be the living quarters.

The fourth and fifth generations.

So how many generations
have there been so far?

Well, we're on our seventh generation now,

and the workshop has been
in operation for over 200 years.

Wow. Okay.

And these are all examples
of the products made here?

Yes. This is a small collection

of the pieces that
we actually make in the back.

And these are all made out of copper?

Yes.

This is called hand-hammered
copperware, right?

That's right. Yes.

So for example, a piece like this,

there's no joins in it anywhere.

It's all been made out
of one piece of copper.

Right.

These are perhaps
the most representative pieces.

You can tell here that the spout
and the body have no joint.

So this is actually made
out of one piece of metal.

Yes, that's right.

How is that done?

I'm sure you're going
to have to explain this.

Well, I can give you a little bit of
a look in the back, if you like.

Absolutely. Yeah.

We are doing some annealing right now.

Copper has very,
very good heat conduction.

So before we do any work with it,

to soften it,
we'll put it in the fire like this.

This is where we do forming.

We do a lot of the texturing here as well.

This is called the hammering room.

Okay.

The artisans carefully hammer copper
sheets into various shapes.

They also generate
different visual motifs.

So this one can change.

- Quite...
- Quite dramatically, yes.

I didn't realize it was going
to move that much.

Yes.

Whereas this one...
this one has been hammered,

and you can probably attempt to move that,

but it'll spring right back
to its original shape.

So this is actually one of the reasons
why the house, we believe,

started to work with this material.

Because of the ease at which it
can be formed and shaped.

In contrast to, say, iron, which has
to be kept in a fire and kept hot.

And you have to hammer it
and manipulate it while it's hot.

Right, right.

A single sheet of copper

is gradually hammered and stretched
into the desired shape.

Here, we see the various
stages of a teapot.

Working entirely by hand,

artisans patiently hammer a flat disc
of metal into the finished product.

Typically people will
see this and they say,

“Oh, you've hammered to stretch
the copper out to make a spout.”

But actually, what we've done is
we've hammered to shrink the body.

When we start here with a disc,
we don't need it any thinner.

What we need, actually,
is to bring this outside circumference in.

We need to shrink it to make
this the diameter of this opening.

And so what we do is, our artisans will
hold it at an angle and hammer it,

such that the piece actually shrinks.

It raises and shrinks to make a vessel.

You can see here, you can
follow this progression here,

and you see that the outside
is slowly getting

Right.

smaller, and more narrow, right?

But what you might also notice is that
the spout doesn't actually move much.

Aha. I see. I see.

Right.

Now, these big metal pieces down here,
you were calling these anvil stakes?

Anvil stakes, yeah.

How do those work?

If I was to make something
like this, right?

It looks perhaps like you could, you know,

you could make it with one
single anvil stake, this contour here.

But in actuality, our artisans,
when we texture this piece,

will actually use maybe one, two, three
different anvil stakes just for the body.

How will they use them?

The tool inside of this...

Okay.

So I may actually put
the copper on top here

and I want to hold it in such a way
that it's flush with the surface

that I want to hammer.

Okay.

Now, what's very important is
that when I hammer it like this,

the artisans can actually
tell from the sound

where the tool is in relation
to the material,

so if it has a bit of a hollow sound,
it may not be flush,

and when you hammer it,
it might actually just indent, right?

So it's very important that the artisans
are cognizant and listen for that sound.

They can also tell when they hammer it,

based on the feel,
how the hammer springs back.

The craft of shaping copper with a hammer
spread to this region in the 1700s.

It has been passed down ever since.

Do you do these workshop tours regularly?

Yes.

Well, I did the tour for you just now
in English, so I can do that, of course.

But I also do some
of the Japanese tours as well.

In a weird way,
the Japanese tour is easier for me.

Why's that?

I think it has to do with the language...

this...the specialty vocabulary
that's involved.

Okay.

Do you actually get people coming in
from a bunch of different countries?

Certainly.

I mean, we have people from Australia,
New Zealand, Canada, the United States.

Actually, I believe today
I had an email...

people from, I believe, Hong Kong
wanted to come and see the workshop.

It's not uncommon for people
to just kind of show up as well.

- Really?
- Yeah. Yeah.

One time Colombia...
How do people find out about you?

Sometimes people will
be visiting the area close by.

They might do an internet
search and find our name,

and then decide to come directly.

Matthew Headland was born
in Toronto, Canada.

He is the second of three children.

As a boy,

his love for Japanese superheroes and
ninjas drew him toward Japan.

As the years went by,

his interests evolved and he started
practicing martial arts.

Then at the University of Toronto,
he majored in East Asian Studies.

He began learning Japanese,

and at age 20 spent a year
in the Kansai region.

You studied Japanese
in university, I know.

Yes.

I know I did the same thing too,
and they teach you a lot.

You learn to read and write.

But speaking is a lot harder, isn't it?

Yes. Well, and even
for the writing and the reading,

I was probably near the bottom
of the class, I think.

But yeah, well, I mean, I didn't really
learn to speak until I came to Japan.

My first experience in Japan
was in the Kansai area,

particularly in Hyogo.

I had a very sweet host family there,
so I stayed for a little bit.

And then I also lived in Osaka for a time.

Well, suffice to say
the first kind of Japanese

that I actually learned how to speak
was Kansai-ben, or the Kansai accent.

Oh, okay.

It was so ingrained in me

that even when I went back
to Canada to finish my degree,

my Japanese teacher would
get upset with me and say,

“Speak, you know,
the standard Japanese,” right?

Which you didn't know.

Well, and I mean, you know, and my
knowledge for language at that point,

what came off the tongue, was Kansai.

In 2011,

Headland moved to Niigata to work as
an assistant English language teacher.

Wanting to learn more about his new home,

he co-founded a group
that undertakes activities

to benefit local sake breweries.

I was part of a group
called Niigata Sake Lovers,

and I was actually one of the...

one of the founding members
of that organization.

But the whole idea was to

not only enjoy the tasting
and all of that, the drinking of it,

but it was really to grow a deeper
appreciation for the beverage.

And I should probably add,

this area is very famous for its
sake and its rice, of course.

Yes, that was probably the...knowing
that sake was famous here was probably

the extent of my knowledge before coming.

Being a part of that organization
and the people that, uh, that came,

I mean, it completely changed
my relationship with Niigata as well.

As a member of the sake group,

Headland made a presentation

at an event about the significance
of traditional manufacturing.

There, he met Tamagawa Motoyuki,

the president of a hand-hammered
copperware business.

Tamagawa was immediately
impressed with Headland.

I spoke about copperware
and traditional crafts.

And he spoke about sake.

That's how we got to know each other.

His Japanese was extremely good,

and I saw that he had a genuine
love for Japanese culture.

I was very impressed.

I wanted to hire him and put him
in charge of international business.

So I asked.

But on that occasion, he turned me down.

You offered him a job?

Yes, yes.

I made him an offer.

And he said no.

But then I said, “How about coming
once a week to teach the staff English?”

And he agreed to that.

As he taught English
to the workshop staff,

Headland found himself becoming
increasingly fascinated with

hand-hammered copperware.

It was interesting because when
an English-speaking person would come,

I would often be recruited
to see them through the workshop.

Despite having taught everybody else.

Right.

And so, you know, obviously,

obviously coming from a
language and humanities background,

I had absolutely no idea about
how copperware is made or produced.

So I would translate for the artisans.

Ah, okay.

And it was through that that dialogue,

um, because I had a million questions,

they would say one thing and I would
have to, in order to get it across,

I would have to ask all
these extra questions, right?

I would learn about
how copperware is made,

but also the, you know,
what's difficult, what's easy,

how they approach their work,
and all of that.

So I started to really understand
copperware in a much deeper,

deeper sense.

And the more I did that, the more...

what would you say, the take...
the more taken I was by the art, you know?

And so one day I just
showed up and I said,

“Mr. Tamagawa, I'd love a job.
One day a week is not enough.”

Do you know what he said?

He said, “I've been waiting for you.”

Perhaps it was part of his
master plan to bring me in,

you know, all these years.

Just as I planned!

I got him!

Headland spent a lot of time with
the artisans asking them questions,

and before long, they became friends.

We'd talk about work,
but also about hobbies.

And our private lives, too.

We talked a lot.

So when he said he wanted
to join the company, I was thrilled.

We get on well.

During the winter months,
we commute to work together on the train.

He's always eager to learn.

And he made a difficult piece
of copperware pretty quickly.

I was very impressed
that he managed to do that.

In the evenings and on days off,

Headland practices making
copperware himself.

The experience advances his knowledge

and deepens his appreciation
for the craft.

Now Peter's going to get
some hands-on experience.

He'll try making a copper dish.

So I want to actually
give you the chance to

put yourself in
the artisan's shoes a little bit,

and actually try some of the things
that we actually do every day.

Okay.

This will be a bit
of an adventure, surely?

Yes. Well, I hope so.

The first step is to give
the metal visual appeal.

That working?

Yeah, that looks good.

Differently shaped hammers are
used to produce different effects.

Today, Peter will be using three
hammers on one copper sheet.

You're going to put it on the edge here.
The curved edge.

A wooden mold is used
to create a curved shape.

Yeah, very nice.

The shaped metal is cleaned,

then soaked in a chemical solution
that brings out a subtle color.

Interesting color.

Yeah, it's got an interesting
color on the back there.

That's nice. I think I like that.

It's a nice color. It's a little unusual.

Here's Peter's finished dish.

What do you think?

When you were going in the workshop
after work, and experimenting yourself,

was there ever a point where you thought,

“Hmm, maybe I think I'd like
to do this full time”?

There was, to be honest.

I have a very, very strong, um, respect
and admiration for what the artisans do.

And so perhaps that feeling of admiration,

um, was somehow inclining
me towards that road.

But somehow I knew instinctively
that my skills were better served

making what their...
what they do more visible.

Whether that's when
they actually come in for a tour,

or if it's on the website,
or if it's at events, and so forth.

I think I get...I really get an energy
from people that I don't get

when I'm kind of in my own little...

when I'm in my own world working with,
with something, you know?

Through his work, Headland shares
his enthusiasm for copperware,

raises the company's profile,
and increases sales.

He truly loves the craft.

And the customers can sense that.

Previously, 10 to 20 percent
of our customers were foreign.

Now it's 50 percent.

He certainly has
a foreigner's perspective,

but he also interacts with customers
in a truly Japanese way.

Many of our customers aren't
simply fans of this company;

they're also fans of him.

He's really expanded our reach.

What is it about this kind of copperware
that attracts you particularly?

The copperware really changed the way
that I see things in my daily life.

And I can use it for a very,
very long time.

And the color is also another
part of the puzzle here.

If you look after your copperware,

you'll be able to pass it
on to your grandchildren.

And over time, the color slowly changes.

This kettle is three years old.

And this one is 50 years old.

It has a distinct personality, and a color
that comes from many years of use.

The colors are meant as a starting point.

I can give you a personal anecdote there.

I remember I was, I was quite busy,

and I hadn't taken the time that,

I originally had with
the coffee pot I was using.

And so a little bit of verdigris,

this sort of oxidized green layer
had developed on the side of it.

And I was quite surprised that it
just kind of appeared out of nowhere.

Now what I did is, you know, if you
take a little...like a plastic ruler,

if you take your fingernail,
you can usually scratch some of it off.

So that's what I did.

Unfortunately then though,
some of the colored surface came with it.

So the copper underneath was showing.

And I said, you know, I got on myself,
I was like, “Shoot, what have I done?”

But remembering that
the important thing was to use it,

and just to continue to use it.

So that's what I did.

And now that spot that was very,
very noticeable

has kind of melded into the rest
of the, the body, right?

And so it's not nearly as noticeable now.

Now if I look, it's kind
of that reminder of,

oh, it was that time when I was,
you know,

too busy or I was really stressed or,
you know.

And you were probably the only one
that realizes that now.

Right. Of course, it becomes
a story now that I can,

Sure.

that I can tell other people, right?

I think that kind of...what would you say?

That kind of care, or that kind
of approach, that kind of use

was not something
I was accustomed to until then.

I was very much the type of person that,
you know, cheap, disposable is best.

You know, I'll just buy what I need,
and if it breaks, well I'll buy it again.

Right, right.

Um, I've come to realize that perhaps

that's not best approach
to the things that I...that I use.

Mmm.

Um, I think in some sense that can

extend outside of the
things that you use as well.

You know, if you're...if you're taking
your time using a particular item,

you might take your time

and look up and see the person
that you're sitting across from.

Uh huh.

Right? Um, and maybe that's the person
that you tell that silly story to, right?

Um, and so suddenly this,

this coffee pot that was just helping
you stay more mindful in the moment

has now helped you connect
to the people around you.

These lessons also come
into play in family life.

In 2017, Headland got married.

A few years later,

the birth of his daughter marked
the beginning of another stage.

How much has your life changed
as a result of having a child?

Oh, yeah. It's completely different,
to say the least.

You have a...

A couple, yeah.

Yeah. So I only have one so far.

Without a doubt

it's changed the way that I
think about the things in my daily life.

She's a handful.

But, you know, she helped me
realize mindfulness to life that

that I, I couldn't imagine
living without now.

The last question on these Japanophile
programs is always the same one.

What is Japan to you?

I mean, it's a second home,
you know, without a doubt.

Because I graduated from university
and I came right here, right?

So, um, you know, in many ways,
it reminds me of that, of that song.

“I think I'm turning Japanese.”

I've probably turned Japanese.

You know, my first intuitive move
after I meet someone is to kind of

give them a small bow, you know?

It's hard to get rid
of those things, I think.

- Is it? From yeah, my...
- I think so.

-I mean, you acquire them really quickly.
- Yes.

But if you want to get rid
of them it's really hard.

That's right.

You know when you're bowing
when you're talking on the phone...

and you're bowing
when you're on the phone, right?

And it means a lot to hear that
from many years my senpai.

It's not a place that I'll ever forget.

And I really believe
that Niigata is part of who I am.

Mmm.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Not at all, it was my pleasure.
Thanks, Peter.

- I enjoyed it too.
- Thank you.