{"id":12217,"date":"2023-04-09T23:45:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-09T14:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/?p=12217"},"modified":"2023-04-09T23:45:01","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T14:45:01","slug":"lola-simon-karakami-papermaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/2023\/04\/09\/lola-simon-karakami-papermaking","title":{"rendered":"Lola Simon: Karakami Papermaking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This semester, I studied a form of traditional decorative papermaking known as karakami<\/em> with Sugawara Fumiha, a karakami\u00a0<\/em>artisan based in Kyoto. Professor Melissa Rinne, who I took the class Kyoto Artisans and their Worlds<\/em> with, connected\u00a0me to Sugawara-sensei, who graciously offered to work with me for my CIP.<\/p>\n

I study visual art at Brown with a particular focus on printmaking. I hoped to learn something related to printmaking or papermaking for my CIP. Karakami\u00a0<\/em>is at the intersection of both! It involves using carved wood blocks to create patterned papers that are typically used to decorate\u00a0fusuma\u00a0<\/em>sliding doors or\u00a0shoji\u00a0<\/em>screens. Karakami<\/em>\u00a0came to Japan from Tang Dynasty China during the 8th century, so it is an extremely old art form that still maintains traditional techniques. This involves mixing pigments using mica,<\/em> a type of crystal found in granite, with gofun,<\/em> a white pigment made from ground seashells, and\u00a0funori,\u00a0<\/em>a type of glue that comes from dried and boiled seaweed. The ink is brushed onto a special sieve made of gauze, which is then pressed directly onto the woodblock to transfer the ink to the carving. Finally, a piece of paper is placed onto the block, and, using pressure from your palms, the design is transferred onto the paper.<\/p>\n

I was able to create and carve my own\u00a0karakami\u00a0<\/em>woodblock designs of bleeding heart flowers and blueberries. I learned how to mix inks, print the blocks, and cut and glue together the papers in order to create a continuous pattern. I even got to make my own karakami<\/em> panel which I can hang up in my room.<\/p>\n

This experience was one of the most meaningful opportunities in my study of both art and Japanese.\u00a0I learned so much from Sugawara-sensei, who was an extremely kind, generous, and patient teacher. Over the course of the lessons, I grew more and more comfortable talking to Sugawara-sensei in Japanese and was able to form a life-long connection. I was able to learn an art form that I never could have studied without my time at KCJS, and will be forever grateful for this experience.<\/p>\n

Advice to future students: if you have a particular interest you hope to pursue in Kyoto, go for it, even if it seems like something that could be difficult to find! I never thought I’d be able to study printmaking with an artisan in Kyoto, yet alone something as special as karakami. <\/em>However, after talking to\u00a0KCJS staff and professors about my interests in printmaking, I was able to be connected with Sugawara-sensei, who, despite having never taught lessons before, enthusiastically agreed to teach me. The KCJS program is\u00a0incredibly supportive and well-connected to Kyoto and may be able to find you opportunities you’d never expect.<\/p>\n

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Ink mixing!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Karakami paper laid out to dry.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Carving a design.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This semester, I studied a form of traditional decorative papermaking known as karakami with Sugawara Fumiha, … \u7d9a\u304d\u3092\u8aad\u3080 →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":595,"featured_media":12147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_locale":"ja","_original_post":"12146"},"categories":[50,160,8],"tags":[171,170,169,172],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12217"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcjs.jp\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}