Ise katagami is the art of crafting stencils for kimono patterns. Now, the artisans practicing it are aging and their numbers shrinking. We look at the people devoted to preserving this tradition.
Stories about people, stories about life.
Hometown Stories.
For 1,000 years, people have practiced the traditional craft of Ise-Katagami.
It uses dye and paper stencils to create beautiful, ornate patterns.
Ise-Katagami has been handed down from generation to generation in the city of Suzuka in Mie Prefecture.
Each stencil design is meticulously hand-carved by artisans.
The stencils are placed over fabric which is then dyed to produce a delicate effect that machines can't replicate.
It's an unparalleled technique.
There are multitudes of
stunning patterns.
Tens or maybe
hundreds of thousands.
That's what makes
Ise-Katagami so special.
But, as with other traditional crafts in Japan,
the future of Ise-Katagami is uncertain as the number of people making it shrinks.
The aging community of artisans is taking a new approach to tackling this issue.
Master artisans have been offering courses to pass on their techniques.
In April 2023, the first graduates emerged from a training program that has been offered for over 20 years.
After a thorough review, they were officially recognized as Ise-Katagami artisans.
Even so, these newcomers will need more time to find a firm footing in the industry.
How do I carve this part...
They receive words of wisdom from master craftsmen.
You can't improve if you do
the same thing over and over again.
Some of them try to overcome their lack of experience by cooperating with their peers.
Having her next
to me kept me motivated.
She lifts me up.
And she keeps me moving forward.
These fresh faces are eager to keep this traditional craft alive.
This story takes a close look at their trials and tribulations.
Today, we focus on one eager graduate, Yanagida Yukari.
Yukari works in an office.
She's pursuing a path as an artisan while continuing to work full time.
This is your workspace?
I leave my tools out so
I can practice anytime.
On weekdays, she usually gets home at 6 pm at the earliest.
Her first task is to prepare dinner for her husband.
She has to be efficient with her housework to allow more time to practice her craft.
I make things that are easy
to prepare, since I work too.
Now all I have to do is cook this.
After prepping for dinner, she gets to work on Ise-Katagami.
It's become her daily routine.
Yukari tries to find time between work and chores to hone her skills.
She aims to practice for three hours a day.
I'm trying to narrow the gap between
myself and the master artisans.
It's been about two months since she started out as an artisan.
She'd like to spend more time practicing her craft, but she needs to earn a living.
I'm not established.
I'm still at the starting line.
There's so much left for me to learn.
These days, it's difficult for even veteran artisans to earn a living from their work.
Yukari and the other new graduates haven't received any paid work.
She's pouring effort into practicing in the hope of getting commissions.
Hello?
OK, see you soon.
Bye.
That was my husband.
He's on his way home.
Yukari gets back to her housework.
Juggling chores, work, and training seems to be quite demanding.
Her husband mentioned that he supports her artisan practice because she finds it rewarding.
Yukari entered the world of Ise-Katagami in her forties,
when she had settled into her career and was looking to acquire a new skill.
She learned about the course from a local TV program.
She was interested in traditional crafts, and decided to take it up as a hobby.
The classes took up 6 hours of her time every weekend.
She became so absorbed in them that she began harboring dreams of become an artisan herself.
Yukari took classes for 15 years.
I want to acquire the techniques
and gain recognition.
It gives me a sense of accomplishment
and inspires me to
take on new challenges.
She has her sights set on creating a pattern known as "Yose-komon."
The style enchanted her as a student.
It's not just about the visual aesthetic - a kimono lover, she hopes to wear one with this design.
I'd like to dye a kimono in this pattern.
I dream about wearing it.
This design is incredibly difficult to create.
Each stencil requires nine different patterns in a patchwork-like arrangement.
Until now, Yukari has only made stencils with a single pattern.
This would be a major undertaking.
If I'm able to do this,
it'll be a big step up.
With her motivation fueled, she begins working on her new project.
I'm going to build
a diamond-shaped tool for the petals.
She will start from scratch, by creating the tools needed to carve the stencils.
That's another one of her specialties.
She carves blade tips into shapes such as flower petals and diamonds.
This is where the artisan's work really begins.
Master artisans create hundreds of tools.
Yukari has made about 50 so far.
For her Yose-komon project, she'll need to make ten new tools.
It's a huge hurdle.
The tools used to create delicate patterns are delicate as well.
These are some of Yukari's unsuccessful attempts.
If I press them too hard,
they end up breaking.
The process isn't going well.
I'm getting frustrated.
Yukari is cheerful by nature, but she's beginning to get exasperated.
Everyone has an off day once in a while.
She pays a visit to her mentor, hoping for advice about the tools for her Yose-komon project.
Hello.
It's been a while.
Good to see you.
Imasaka Chiaki is a tool-carving artisan.
He has been Yukari's teacher and mentor for a long time.
Tool carvers sometimes rework tools made by others.
However, her mentor says that she should first try making them from scratch.
Yukari is here to borrow tools made by former artisans, so she can use them as inspiration.
These might work.
I'll take them home.
Are these thin enough?
I might need one that size
for piercing twice.
You're right.
The longer one is better.
I'll give it a try this year.
If it doesn't work out,
I'll try again next year.
I want to see it through,
no matter how many years it takes.
Yukari is ready to dive into her big endeavor.
The art of Ise-Katagami is a long-standing tradition in this area.
My studio is up here.
This is where Yukari's mentor Imasaka Chiaki lives.
He's the third-generation member of a family of craftsmen that has been in business for 100 years.
Here we are.
My father worked until
around 20 years ago.
One space has been
vacant since he retired.
These drawers contain relics of this long history.
Chiaki has an incredible collection of tools he has made and inherited, nearly 4,000 pieces.
His path was very different from the new generation of artisans like Yukari.
He was surrounded by Ise-Katagami his entire life, and learned the craft by observing his father all day long.
I never received verbal instructions.
I just kept glancing at how my father worked,
and then repeated it by myself
over and over again
until I was able
to absorb the techniques.
Chiaki has been a core leader of the artisan course.
Yukari is the first of his students to graduate.
He looks forward to seeing her become an established artisan.
When you do everything yourself
and finally complete it,
you feel a sense of accomplishment
and aim to do a more difficult piece.
I look forward to seeing what she creates.
One pair of newcomer artisans are supporting one another as they hone their skills.
Good morning.
It's 8 AM.
Artisan Higuchi Ayumi has arrived at the studio.
Good morning.
Already inside is fellow-artisan Tanaka Nozomi.
I've been restless all morning,
thinking about the day's work.
That's why I get ready to work so early.
Nozomi tends to fret.
Ise-Katagami is a delicate artform with no room for error -
- this sometimes induces anxiety and causes her to lose her appetite.
Ayumi is laidback and takes a more relaxed approach.
I want to be able to work
at my own pace.
My previous teacher told me
he'd eat raw eggs before work,
so I do the same.
The pair have completely different personalities and approaches,
but they've learned alongside each other for 12 years.
They specialize in a method of reinforcement called Ito-ire.
It involves using threads to keep stencils stable during the dyeing process.
There are currently only three Ito-ire artisans in Japan, including these two.
The future of this technique rests on their shoulders.
Nozomi pastes long, thin strips of paper onto the stencil.
One wrong move, and the entire
thing will be ruined.
I always make mistakes when it
comes to releasing the strip like this.
They prepare the stencils by blowing on them.
Since they are laser-focused on the tasks, there is no room for conversation, but they still maintain a bond.
I feel her presence.
I can sense when things are going
well or when she's having a bad day.
I'm too focused to notice those things.
On a bad day,
the air feels heavy.
- It's all good today.
- Very smooth.
Good morning.
Their mentor, Matsui Toshiko, taught them all their techniques.
She continues to check in on them from time to time.
Within the industry, Ito-ire is a highly prized skill.
Matsui is incredibly pleased that the two women will be carrying on this craft.
They're really helping me out.
They can also help each other.
Nozomi and Ayumi have kept detailed notes of their mentor's lessons.
Regardless of which one of them receives a lesson or critique, they both take it to heart.
"Put down the strip and if it's too long,
cut it on the board with a razor."
I think that was directed at me.
Having her next to me
keeps me motivated.
I feel the same way.
She lifts me up.
And she keeps me moving forward.
We have inherited this rich tradition
and we must keep it alive.
I hope to pass on these feelings
to the next generation.
The pair can share this huge responsibility.
Yukari has started to make tools for her upcoming Yose-komon project.
This shape is called "kasuri."
This is my first time making
a tool to carve it.
The tiny shape is only about 3 millimeters long.
It's her first time making it and there's no one to show her how.
She takes apart the borrowed tool to examine the blade's shape and figure out how to recreate it.
It's bent into kind of a U-shape.
and then hardened.
The shape gives her some clues.
Through these tools, she's receiving the wisdom of artisans from the past.
She will first create two blades which will be joined together to form the tip of the carving tool.
She cuts strips of steel to match the width of the pattern.
Then she follows her intuition to cut them into seven-millimeter sections.
She hopes to bend both ends of the steel into a smooth curve.
But she's not sure how to go about it.
How do I shape it like this?
OK I see.
Maybe I can use a cylindrical bar.
She decides to hammer it into shape.
However, things don't go according to plan.
It's not bending.
This is going to be tricky.
Making a tool for the first time
entails a process of trial and error.
She spends an hour trying out an array of methods.
Yukari was able to create the curve she wanted.
But after trying to cut a pattern with it, she realized that 7 millimeters was too wide.
She has to start all over again.
It's thinner and curved properly,
so I'll just make some finishing touches.
This time, she opted for a 5.5-millimeter-wide strip.
Her second attempt looks quite similar to the sample she borrowed.
Now she will join the two blades together and make some adjustments.
You can see that it's still not
the right size for the pattern,
it's too thick.
The blades are still too thick to produce the distinctive sharpness of the kasuri pattern.
If I overdo it,
It'll break the tool.
It's done. Looks good.
There's still a long way to go.
But for now, at least the shape is right.
She managed to get the right shape.
She ends the day by hardening the steel, so that it can withstand more pressure.
Finally, she sharpens the steel with a whetstone to make it into a blade.
It's a critical step in the tool-making process.
Yukari is almost ready to test out her new tool.
I'll see if I can cut stencils with this.
That's the most important part.
It's time to get to work and see if the blade will cut through all the layers of paper.
What do you think?
It's inconsistent.
It doesn't go all the way
through each time.
Something doesn't feel right
about how it pierces the paper.
Although the sample works fine,Yukari's new tool doesn't go through all the layers.
There aren't any open ends on the tip...
It seems like Yukari isn't quite ready to take on the challenge of creating a Yose-komon design.
Hello.
At times like this, there's one person she can rely on: her mentor Chiaki.
I tried carving with it,
but it doesn't go all the way through.
The tool looks great.
What would be the best way
to tweak it so it carves better?
Can you figure out what's wrong?
The two sides of
the tip are slightly different.
See this side and this side?
- There's a small difference in height.
- Near the center?
Chiaki explains that the tool didn't work properly because the center of one side is slightly lower than the other.
The sharpening method was to blame.
This attempt at creating a tool was not successful.
But Chiaki explains that what matters is that she found a pattern she wanted to make and jumped right into it.
You can't improve if you do
the same things over and over again.
Once this is done,
she can take on a new challenge,
and that's how she'll acquire new skills.
It's important to keep chasing
new goals throughout your life.
Yukari seems to have a good grasp of what it takes to be an Ise-Katagami artisan.
Good morning.
A few days later, Yukari has made some progress.
Yesterday, I made a tool I'm happy with.
It pierces well.
So glad it works.
Yukari has been able to create the kasuri pattern.
This has given me confidence.
I hope this hard work pays off
in other tasks too.
She has nine new tools left to create, but she is inching toward her dream of creating the Yose-komon pattern.
There's a long road ahead,
but I'm one step closer to
completing this project.
What will Yukari's final piece look like?
A craft that dates back 1,000 years.
The fine techniques that create the exquisite patterns of Ise-Katagami are now being practiced by a new generation of artisans.
What future will they carve out for this rich tradition?