Heirs to Kyoto Talent: Metal Ornament Craftsmen Responsible for Cultural Properties Has Impressive Workmanship

Yomiuri Shimbun

a day ago

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Metal ornament craftsman Kosuke Matsuda smiles during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun at Kazariya Matsuda, his workshop in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, sur-rounded by a myriad of work tools.
UJI, Kyoto — Metal ornament craftsman Kosuke Matsuda was using a hammer and chisel to engrave an arabesque pattern on the surface of a thin copper sheet. The 1.5-centimeter-wide, 26-centimeter-long sheet will adorn a folding screen. The sheet has to be exquisite but not too showy — the optimum balance to enhance the ap-pearance of the screen.
Matsuda, 33, is very strict and meticulous about his handiwork. He switched to an-other chisel and, on a section with no design on it, neatly engraved a 'nanako' pattern, which involves small, dotted circles, each measuring 0.4 millimeters in diameter. Looking closely, you will notice that none of the tiny circles overlap and there is no extra space between them. The nanako motif highlights and adds depth to the delicate arabesque pattern.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Matsuda engraves patterns by rhythmically hitting a chisel with a hammer.
Kazariya Matsuda, his workshop, is in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture. It was founded in Kyoto more than 200 years ago.
The workshop was mainly engaged in producing hikite pulling handles for fusuma sliding panels, as well as ornaments for frames used to mount paintings and calligraphy pieces in homes. During a housing construction boom in the 20th century, the work-shop was inundated by orders. However, as the lifestyles of people in Japan became more westernized, Japanese-style rooms started to disappear.
Instead, the company started to receive many more orders related to cultural prop-erties, which they rarely received. Over the past 20 years, these orders have grown to comprise more than half of the total.
Matsuda has restored pulling handles for fusuma sliding doors in Nijo Castle's Ninomaru Palace and Kiyomizu Temple's Jojuin subtemple. He has also repaired metal ornaments for floats in the Gion Festival and restored ritual instruments in the Seiden main hall of Shuri Castle in Okinawa Prefecture, among other renowned cul-tural properties.
Choosing career path
In the spring of 2015, after graduating from university, Matsuda started working at the workshop with the idea of potentially succeeding his father, Kiyoshi, 63, the eighth-generation operator of the business. After much consideration and inner con-flict, he ultimately made the decision to enter this world on his own.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Various hikite pulling handles, including eye-catching ones with family crests and beautiful engravings
Since he was a child, the workshop had been a playground for him. He closely watched his father and other craftspeople work and even helped them. However, his father never pressured him to follow in his footsteps, saying, 'You can choose your own career path and do whatever you want to do.'
At university, Matsuda majored in social welfare, his field of interest. He also attended school to study bookkeeping and management and even received a job offer from a financial institution. However, he ultimately chose the family business, as he knew firsthand that its techniques were essential for repairing and restoring cultural prop-erties.
Matsuda's father has been named by the central government as a holder of the se-lected conservation techniques for cultural properties in the field of metal ornament crafting. He also serves as a director of an industry organization. Matsuda's father has built credibility for himself in the industry and interacted with people at the fore-front of various fields.
'It's amazing that he has been able to do a job where mistakes are not tolerated for so many years,' Matsuda said. He was encouraged by his father's strong presence and meaningful work.
Even making tools
Metal ornament craftspeople create patterns and characters on metal sheets made from gold, silver, copper and brass by using chisels to perform engraving techniques. They sometimes do forging — striking metal with a hammer to give it a certain shape — and coloring. Coloring techniques include lacquering, smoking by burning cedar leaves and chemical coloring, in which metal ornaments are boiled in a mixture of chemicals to change their colors.
For many years, these tasks were divided among fellow craftspeople, each with their own area of expertise. However, in recent years, the number of metal ornament craftspeople has been decreasing, and there are only a handful of such craftspeople across Japan. There are dozens of different types of chisels used in Matsuda's workshop but only one craftsman in Aichi Prefecture who can be trusted to produce the tools.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Dozens of types of chisels are used according to the size of the pattern on the piece and the purpose.
In Matsuda's workshop, the work is done by the father-son pair. Matsuda is trained by his father and also visits other craftspeople to learn the techniques of engraving and chisel making. He does this to broaden his field of expertise for the future, anticipating that the industry will drastically transform due to changes in the environment and a shortage of workers.
He is also interested in the latest technologies and trends, including 3D printing.
In many cases, cultural properties cannot be taken out of the places where they are kept, and craftspeople have difficulty in making prototypes without sufficient exami-nation. It was under these circumstances that Matsuda started using a 3D printer. The technology has helped him create elaborate prototypes much faster and made dis-cussions with his clients go much more smoothly.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
An elaborate pattern is engraved with a chisel.
The company also started producing and selling copper coffee drippers, lanterns and other handicrafts for everyday use. The products are advertised on social media.
The company intends to offer a wider variety of products at a broader range of prices in the future.
'As I work on national treasures and important cultural properties these days, the skill requirement has increased,' Matsuda said. 'I want to work hard to meet those re-quirements.'
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