Mon, Jun 26, 2023
The Kofuku-ji temple in Nara is providing space in a resting area of its precinct, where local artists and artisans can reach out to international tourists and exhibit or demonstrate Japanese art and craft. The temple is hoping to make the space a place where visitors from abroad can casually stop by and make their Japanese cultural experience memorable.
In a special event introducing Nara sumi, or the oil-soot ink of Nara, Atsushi Nagano, 45, the seventh-generation ink craftsman of Kinkoen (a sumi ink workshop in Nara city established about 150 years ago) demonstrated the shaping process of a traditional Japanese inkstick — raw sumi, made by mixing soot and nikawa glue, is inserted into a wooden mold before it hardens — before a group of international tourists. They let out a cheer when they saw a rectangular inkstick come out of the mold.
The event, which not only presented Nara sumi, but also put them on display for sales, was held at a resting area located in front of Nan’en-do hall — a government-designated important cultural property of Japan — in early June 2023 and lasted four days. Visitors did not just have to watch. They could also try out the inksticks themselves and experience calligraphy. Per hour, nearly 100 visitors, including tourists from Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia, gathered at the event.
A Spanish tourist, 40, who was there, had been interested in Japanese culture and knew a bit about inksticks, but “learning about the material used to make an inkstick and how it’s made, made me want to know more.”
According to legend, Nara sumi — designated by the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry as one of Japan’s Traditional Craft Products — originates in the Muromachi period (14th-16th century) when sumi made from soot gathered from votive light at Kofuku-ji became popular among the people.
Nagano says, “I am hoping to make known sumi and its appeals from here in Kofuku-ji, where Nara sumi is said to originate, and create more opportunities for people to pass on traditions.”
The resting area is in a single-story building located about 120 meters to the west of the Five-storied Pagoda — a designated national treasure of Japan — which is said to be the symbol of Nara. Given that the building is not far from Sarusawa Pond, a popular destination for tourists in Nara, the temple decided to use it as rental space for cultural activiites after the souvenir shop there was shut down in January. Rental fees will be kept low to attract young artists and artisans wanting to promote their art and craft.
The Five-storied Pagoda will go under major renovations starting in July. A temporary roof will totally hide the pagoda from view, thereby changing the flow of passersby. Having an event space near the pagoda (on the west side of the precinct) will likely keep the people flowing into the area rather than keeping them away.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun and other sources)
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