DESIGN

Kokontozai: KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts — Bamboo Colander

『カーサブルータス』2023年9月号より

September 7, 2023 | Design | KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts | photo_Keisuke Fukamizu hair & make-up_Masako Osuga editor_Masae Wako

Searching all of Japan for handcrafted items that express its heart and soul, our proprietor, KASHIYUKA, presents things that bring a bit of luxury to everyday life. This trip took her to the Shimoina district of Nagano prefecture, a verdant area surrounded by Japan’s Southern Alps, to look into a strainer made by a 21-year-old green bamboo craftsman.

Near the Wachino River, a tributary of the Tenryu River that runs through the entirety of southern Nagano prefecture, at the studio of Mr. Waku Inoue, a green bamboo craftsman who moved here with his family. “I’ve been to several bamboo crafting studios, but in this place the lush, green bamboo used seems fresh and very new to me,” says our proprietor, KASHIYUKA.

Wending steadily along the heavily green mountain path, an eye on the tributary of the Tenryu River running alongside it, you suddenly come upon a wide landscape lined with handmade huts. Mr. Inoue Waku, maker of bamboo colanders and baskets, lives in the Shimoina district of Nagano’s Minami-Shinshu region. Surprisingly young at 21, he was born in Tokyo in 2002.

Purchase No. 64【Bamboo Colander】A tool for everyday life made of lush green bamboo, cut by the crafter himself.

“I’ve loved making things with my hands since I was little,” he says, “when I was 12 or 13 I wanted to build my own house.”

Eight years ago he moved to Nagano with his parents, who were interested in developing a self-sufficient lifestyle. While living in Oita at age 14 he’d become fascinated by the bamboo crafts there, and visited crafting studios throughout Kyushu to study the skills and techniques.