Kokontozai: KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts / [WOODEN SPOON — Miyajima Shakushi]
『カーサ ブルータス』2019年5月号より
May 8, 2019 | Design, Travel | KASHIYUKA’s Shop of Japanese Arts and Crafts
| photo_Keisuke Fukamizu editor_Masae Wako hair & make-up_Masako Osuga 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 takes her to a place she’s well acquainted with, Hiroshima prefecture, and on to a World Cultural and Natural Heritage site, the island of Miyajima. There she’ll visit a shop making Miyajima Shakushi, the wooden rice paddle for which this place has been renowned for centuries.
Inspired by the appearance of the traditional Japanese lute called the biwa, which, legend had it, was played by Benzaiten, one of the island’s guardian deities, the Buddhist monk Seishin began carving the shakushi for which this place is known in the 18th century, and taught the craft to local residents. Because they were said to be made from ancient sacred trees, people took pleasure in using these particular shamoji to serve rice. This spread to a more general belief that using the local Miyajima “shakushi” was a way of inviting good fortune. Even now, in Miyajima, the shamoji is exclusively known as the shakushi.