Goods Fair of Kumamoto

## Introduction

We visited Goods Fair during Taisei Houkan 150th anniversary Project on the way to ONE PIECE 20th x Kyoto at Nijo Castle.

##### **Taisei Houkan 150th anniversary Project**

http://www.taiseihokan150.jp/project-29/content-3/

I was very impressed with a demonstration of 肥後象嵌(ひご　ぞうがん[Higo Zougan]:Higo Inlay) at the Kumamoto Booth.

##### **肥後象がん: Higo Zougan**

https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=%E8%82%A5%E5%BE%8C%E8%B1%A1%E3%81%8C%E3%82%93&tbm=isch

## 熊本:Kumamoto prefecture

熊本:Kumamoto is "Hi no Kuni" where Ace visited during ONE PIECE 3oku Event in 2014.

##### **ONE PIECE 3oku Event**

https://www.shonenjump.com/j/3oku/

Mount Aso where Ace was standing on the above page is the largest active volcano in Japan, and is among the largest in the world.

##### **Aso City Tourism Association**

http://www.asocity-kanko.jp/en/top/

"ひ:Hi" in native Japanese usually means fire:火. It is usually written with 火:fire, 日:the sun, 灯:light, 陽:Yang.

"ヒ:Hi" from Chinese sound has a lot of meaning. One of them is 肥[féi]:fat, rich, fertilizer. The most simple one is 匕[bǐ]:spoon, ladle, knife, dirk.

## 肥後: Higo Province

    Kumamoto was called 肥後;Higo before Meiji era. Higo was one of the battle field during the last war of Meiji restoration, War of the Southwest in Japan.

##### **Higo Province**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higo\_Province

Higo-Kumamoto Domain is famous for 宮本武蔵:Miyamoto Musashi, a undefeated sword master who wrote "The Book of Five Rings."

##### **宮本 武蔵:Miyamoto Musashi**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miyamoto\_Musashi

##### **五輪書: The Book of Five Rings**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Book\_of\_Five\_Rings

##### **Kumamoto City Official Guide: History**

https://kumamoto-guide.jp/en/history/

> *Kumamoto is where Miyamoto Musashi, Japan's most legendary samurai warrior, spent his final years. Musashi made his way to Kumamoto in 1640 as a retainer to the Hosokawa Clan, and it was from this time until his death in 1645 that he studied the arts of calligraphy and painting, and penned his world-renowned treatise on martial arts, "The Book of Five Rings."*
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His patron was 細川忠利:Hosokawa Tadatoshi, a Japanese Samurai load of Higo-Kumamoto Domain in the Edo era. He was one of the sword masters who got the licence of the New Shadow school of swordsmanship and "Heihou Kadensho" by Yagyu Munenori.

##### **細川 忠利: Hosokawa Tadatoshi**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosokawa\_Tadatoshi

##### **肥後熊本藩:Higo-Kumamoto Domain**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumamoto\_Domain

Both of the important books of swordsmanship met at Higo-Kumamoto Domain in the very early Edo prieod.

## 肥後象嵌:Higo Inlay

Hosokawa Clan was also a patron of Higo Inlay.

##### **Kumamoto Prefectural Traditional Crafts Center**

http://kumamoto-kougeikan.jp/kougeihin/cn31/cn41/pg428.html

They promoted Higo Inlay as metal fittings for ornament attached on a sword. Remarkabley, Higo Inlay was famous for 鍔[Tsuba]: a handguard on a sword.

##### **Japanese sword mountings**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese\_sword\_mountings

##### **象嵌: Damascening**

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damascening

> *the art of inlaying different metals into one another—typically, gold or silver into a darkly oxidized steel background—to produce intricate patterns similar to niello. The English term comes from a perceived resemblance to the rich tapestry patterns of damask silk.*
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    Today, the excellent skill of Higo Inlay is applied to daily goods such as fine accessories, paperweights, frames, incense containers, family emblems, company emblems, badges, after the Sword Prohibition in Meiji era.

We had the good fortune to watch a demonstration of Higo Inlay by the master of traditional crafts at the Kumamoto booth.

He told us the process of 布目切り:cutting inlaying texture pattern with his chisel and presentation plates.

##### **manufacturing process of Higo Inlay**

http://kumamoto-kougeikan.jp/kougeihin/cn31/cn41/pg430.html

His working desk was dear to me.

Most of the members of our family were working for traditional crafts. They had their own unique tools on the desk. I liked playing with them while they were working in my childhood. They often scolded me because of danger.

    While I was watching his works with some nostalgia and regret for them, he showed me his special original tools in his tool box under the pamphlets. He told me that his oldest favorite tools, a pair of tweezers, were made by himself more than half century ago. They were very beautiful as much as his hands.

The skillful craftsmen usually have beautiful hands and tools, though they have been used for a long time. His hand was so agile that I couldn't take pictures well.

I found out an example sentence while spinning a top.

> *In nostalgic moments we may tend to think of childhood as a time of almost unbroken happiness.  - Tanaka Corpus*
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