Edo Patterns

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. Edo shokunin 江戸の職人 Edo craftsmen .
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Patterns of the Edo Period

The Pattern "Kama wa nu"
This design is based on a pun with words

kama the sickle
wa the circle
nu meaning not

kamawanu is a negative verb form, 構わない、かまわない　kamawanai, meaning "I don't mind, I don't care".

This pattern was a favorite of the Kabuki actor Danjuro, the Naritaya.
It comes on Yukata bath robes, tenugui towles and furoshiki wrapper cloths.


http://home.att.ne.jp/grape/wa/WA-JAPANESE%20PAPER.book.html




http://www.konan-gs.ed.jp/whats_new/2005/jouhou_kiso/C/kimono/_top.html

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Tenugui, thin hand towel



"KAMAWANU" means "we may not give you special service, but you are always welcome.".

http://www.geocities.jp/woof163eng/tenugui.eng.html


Another difficult to explain pattern is the

Kikugoro lattice, kikugoroo gooshi 菊五郎格子



Kikugoro the third was a famous kabuki actor.

The pun comes in the four parts
菊五郎（divided into : キ 九 五 呂）

KI katakana sign キ
KU meaning nine (counting the lines in the pattern)
GO meaning five
RO : furo no RO


Another version of a pun with KIKUGORO

菊五郎の「良き事聞く」模様も有名で、斧（よき）と琴（琴柱）と菊とを組み合わせている.

yoki koto o kiku, to hear a good thing

yoki meaning ax 斧
koto meaning the musical intsrument 琴
kiku meaning the flower chrysanthemum 菊



http://www.torito.jp/puzzles/211.shtml


And one more difficult pun :

Eye of a whale　鯨の目

This is a play of words with the proverb: mekujira o tateru
目くじらを立てる, lit. "the whale of your eye is standing upright"
to find fault easily with another person.
Maybe, to rise your eyebrows comes a bit close.

When you hold the towel horizontally, you do not find fault ! Your whale can not stand up.



Check this page for more !
http://www.geocities.jp/woof163eng/tenugui.eng.html


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Now back to Kamawanu and a Daruma !


http://arigatou.pekori.to/isetatsu/


Other wrappers from this store with Daruma as a pattern

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有が田やの「いせ辰コレクション」
Isetatsu, a Great Wrapper Collection


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More of my articles about this :

Puns, dajare 駄洒落　ダジャレ, だじゃれ

Puzzle pictures, Rebus of Old Edo, hanji-e　判じ絵

Kabuki Theater, Japan


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................ H A I K U


KAMAWANU ... haiku by Issa


是程の月にかまはぬ小家哉
kore hodo no tsuki ni kamawanu ko ie kana

taking no notice
of such a moon...
little house



正月の来るもかまはぬほた火哉
shôgatsu no kuru mo kamawanu hotabi kana

paying no heed
that spring is coming...
the wood fire



ぞくぞくと人のかまはぬ茸哉
zoku-zoku to hito no kamawanu kinoko kana

one by one
ignored by people...
mushrooms



行春にさしてかまはぬ烏哉
yuku haru ni sashite kamawanu karasu kana

paying no attention
to the departing spring...
crows

Tr. David Lanoue

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. asa no ha 麻の葉 hemp leaf pattern .


CLICK for more photos !

Edo komon　江戸小紋 small fine patterns of Edo

- quote
History of Edo Komon
The origin of the Edo komon goes back to the Muromachi period. Originally, the Edo komon was used for leather parts or kamons on armors. It is estimated that it was in the late Muromachi period when the Edo komon was started to be used for dyeing clothes including ordinary armors. The Edo komon was developed and widely spread in the early Edo period, when dyeing kamishimo (formal cloth of samurai) started. As the development of merchants’ culture in the mid Edo period, the komon has become widely accepted by general public beyond rank and time barriers up to the present day.
- Techniques of Edo Komon Craftsmen
- Techniques of Ise Katagami Craftsmen
tsukibori / kiribori / dogubori - gottori / shimabori
- - - - - The Edo komon has been handed down to generations by successors who have highly developed senses and techniques cultivated in a long tradition.
Edo komon ryomenzome
Ryomenzome (two-sided dyeing) is originated from summer kimono called “ro.”
It started with dyeing each side of one piece texture with different pattern and color.
Because the “r” texture is thin and sheer, it requires high skills.
Ryomenzome became possible by “shigokizome,” one of the unique dyeing techniques of the Edo komon.
Shigokizome, a technique that dyes with “starch,” dyes and dries only the surface of the texture.
By dyeing the back side of the texture after the surface is completely dry, shigokizome can avoid dye compounds penetrating to the other side of the texture.
This can be said as one of the unique technique of hand dyeing.
source :　www.komonhirose.co.jp/en

- quote
Edo komon　江戸小紋 Stencil (paper pattern) dyeing.
As the patterns are fine and of single color, the dyed fabrics look plain.
- source : www.kimono.or.jp/dictionary


- quote
It is said that Komon was originally a mold-dye for creating very intricate patterns.
Edo Komon, with roots in the traditional samurai garb, is included with Kyoyuzen and Kagayuzen as one of the 3 major pattern dyes of Japan.
The major characteristic of Edo Komon is that, from far away, it looks like a plain pattern. If one were to take a closer look at it, you would find a breath-taking delicate pattern.
- source : www.jcrafts.com/eg/shop


One of the small patterns is the
uroko 鱗（うろこ）fish scale pattern


- source : dearbooks.cafe.coocan.jp/wagara

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katatsukeshi 型付師 pattern maker for Edo komon
There were three different types of patterns,
the large, middle and small size (komon). The middle size was mostly used for Yukata.
The washi paper (katagami　型紙) was usually hand-made in Mino and prepared with kakishibu 柿渋 "persimmon dye" .
Three or four layers of this paper were glued together to make it strong.
Next the
katahori shokunin　型堀職人　pattern carver
begun his work


source : thecovernippon.jp
江戸小紋型付実演 - Exhibition 2014

katatsuke, kata-tsuke 型付 pattern stamping, pattern dyeing
with paper templates and a special glue

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伊勢型紙　　Ise-Katagami
Ise-katagami is a Japanese traditional handicraft handed down for about 1.000 years in Mie Prefecture. Katagami is Japanese paper stencil patterns for kimono. Kimono stencil has been called Ise-Katagami because it was made primarily in Ise province (present-day Mie Prefecture) and the stencil paper making was protected by the Kishu domain in the Edo period (1603-1868) as the industry of the domain’s outland territory. They were sold all over Japan by itinerant traders called Ise Merchants.

Ise kimono stencil is made of Japanese washi paper with a persimmon stringent liquid, onto which elaborate and elegant kimono patterns are hand-carved. They are mainly used for dyeing kimono such as Yuzen, Yukata and Komon. Today they are also used for drawing patterns on pottery ware, glass ware, and goza-mats as well as for the background mon-gara patterns for newspaper names.

伊勢型紙 糸入れ　Ise-katagami ito-ire　
Itoire Technique of Ise-Katagami
Itoire (literally meaning “thread insertion”) is a technique employed in the making of Ise-katagami (paper stencil patterns), which is a traditional handicraft handed down in Mie Prefecture. Ise kimono stencil is made of Japanese washi paper with a persimmon stringent liquid, onto which elaborate and elegant kimono patterns are hand-carved.

In the case of patterns such as stripes, where there are substantial spaces between the uncut areas of the stencil, threads are fixed to the stencils to strengthen them and prevent movement during use, which technique is called “itoire.”

As itoire is an elaborate technique to require a long period of training and painstaking efforts, successors of this technique are decreasing in number and the technique using silk gauze (called “sha-bari”) are now replacing it. The itoire craftsperson Mie Jonokuchi was designated as a Living National Treasure together with 5 other Ise-katagami craftspeople in 1955; regrettably all have passed away now.
- source : nippon-kichi.jp/article -


. Ise katagami　伊勢型紙　Ise pattern paper from Suzuka .



source : someichie.jp/hpgen

江戸小紋の世界

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. Edo shokunin 江戸の職人 Edo craftsmen .

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