DESIGN

Kokontozai: KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts / Takarabune Kumade

『カーサブルータス』2024年12月号より

December 8, 2024 | Design | KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts | photo_Keisuke Fukamizu hair & make-up_Masako Osuga editor_Masae Wako　translation_ Mika Yoshida & David G. Imber

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 led her to kumade, sold at traditional Tori-no-ichi festivities in November. She visits a studio where these symbolic rakes are made using techniques handed down over many generations.

The image of the rake has served as a lucky talisman from ancient times, especially for those doing business. The thinking is that a rake “draws in” good fortune and prosperity. Here, with Ms. Yoshida Kyoko, 4th-generation director of Yoshida, where Takarabune Kumade [Takara-bu-neh Ku-ma-deh] are produced. These are symbolic rakes perched on a “boat of treasure” carrying the images of seven propitious demigods. “Even the teeny portraits are hand-drawn!” exclaims KASHIYUKA.

As year’s end approaches, thoughts of Tori-no-ichi come to mind. The festival takes place on the “tori” days, represented by a rooster on the ancient calendar, at shrines mostly in the eastern Kanto region. The grounds of the shrine are lined with small stalls selling kumade, and the sound you hear is energetic ceremonial clapping each time one is sold. Situated near the Ōtori Shrine in Asakusa, Tokyo, Yoshida continues to produce the rakes that set the tone for these seasonal festivities.

Purchase No. 79【Takarabune Kumade】This charm promises bright fortune and conveys the spirit of Edo artisans in the New Year.

“Our kumade are properly called ‘Takarabune Kumade’, as they bear a shimenawa, a sacred rope, in a shape that resembles a ship’s bow. The ornaments adorning them are the shichifukujin (7 propitious demigods), the karako (messengers of the gods), the mino (winnowing basket), beads, and so on,” says Ms. Yoshida Kyoko, the studio’s 4th-generation leader. The thin bamboo stakes are split by them, the thick paper is die-cut, and they hand-paint the figures with water colors. Many shops appear at Tori-no-ichi, but Yoshida is the only workshop still making kumade completely by hand, with techniques inherited from ancient times.