DESIGN
DESIGN Kokontozai: KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts — Kōshu Hand-Carved Stamp
『カーサ ブルータス』2025年5月号より
| Design | KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts | photo_Keisuke Fukamizu logo design_Akihiro Kumagaya 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 time her travels took her to Kyū Rokugōchō in Yamanashi prefecture; a place known as the “home of the hanko”. In this small town she delved into kōshūtebori-inshō, the handcrafting of the signature stamp.
At the studio of Mochiduki Kōga, an artisan who makes hand-carved wooden stamps in Kyū Rokugōchō, Yamanashi prefecture. The specially-designed business card stamp he made for KASHIYUKA is 7.5 millimeters square. “Such skill and design in such a very small space. I feel very attached to it,” she says.
I have a strong emotional response to hanko, the traditional wooden signature stamps that are still used on official documents today. On arriving in Tokyo I was told that had to have one to work, but you can’t purchase one commercially for a somewhat unusual family name like mine. I still recall the joy I felt receiving the one I’d special-ordered. This object was mine alone. It seemed a very special sensation.
“Crystals have been mined on Mt. Mitake in Yamanashi prefecture since ancient times, and in the Edo period [1603 – 1868] the techniques for processing them were developed in and around the city of Kofu. There were seal engravers there, well-versed in characters and typography. That entire region, called Rokugō, was a well-established center for distribution of goods, as a result of its flourishing market in tabi footwear. All these factors fell together to establish a production center for hanko made of crystal, boxwood, buffalo horn, and so on,” says Mr. Mochiduki Kōga, third-generation head of his family’s hanko workshop.
“Crystals have been mined on Mt. Mitake in Yamanashi prefecture since ancient times, and in the Edo period [1603 – 1868] the techniques for processing them were developed in and around the city of Kofu. There were seal engravers there, well-versed in characters and typography. That entire region, called Rokugō, was a well-established center for distribution of goods, as a result of its flourishing market in tabi footwear. All these factors fell together to establish a production center for hanko made of crystal, boxwood, buffalo horn, and so on,” says Mr. Mochiduki Kōga, third-generation head of his family’s hanko workshop.
Purchase No. 84【Kōshu Hand-Carved Stamp】A handcraft born of typography and wood carving, from the “home of the hanko”.
“In elementary school, about half my classmates were from families that worked in the stamp business. In our yearbook, the most popular entry under ‘future occupation’ was stamp maker.”
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