Only with long, long training could make a beautiful works possible. Takumi had usually sacrificed fun of his life to train himself to create fantastic works.
We have respevted Takumi as much as master priest, because of his attitude to create something new and old.
Today, we met a Takumi making FUROSHIKI, a wrapping cloth.
A Takumi that we introduce is living in a city facing the Sea of Japan.
He will soon be 70 years old. His eyes shines brightly like an innocent child.
He lived with his grandfather, who was a chief priest at a Zen temple. Every morning he would rise up early, then after cleaning and wiping the Hondo floors, he finally ate breakfast; he lived like a practicing monk.
He learned dye from an old man who lived in a cabin which was near the well inside the Zen temple.
“He told me stories about the korea peninsula and talked about philosophy while making tea with fresh water, but never taught me how to dye,” said the Takumi.
“As I watched and visually imitated his moves, one day he suddenly said, “Keep this,” giving me his favorite wax brush.
For the wax dyeing procedure, the Takumi uses nuts and the barks of trees from the hills of Sanin, and clear water from Daisen.
