Keeping Japan’s Ancient Temari Craft Alive
Preserving ancient traditions are a large part of Japanese culture. From kintsugi, the Japanese tradition of mending broken pottery with gold to nihonga, the classical silk painting, these art forms are well known. But you may not have heard of temari.
The art of temari – which loosely translates to hand ball – originated as toys for young children, according to the Japan Rail Times. The balls that were crafted from the scraps of old kimonos contain complex geometric patterns and kaleidoscopic designs. It takes years to master this art and like other ancient handmade crafts, temari could have been lost to modernity. But the ancient art form is being kept alive by dedicated artists.
Gaining new appeal
Today, groups of women sit in a circle stitching patterns on balls that are the sizes of oranges. According to AP News they are learning temari from Eiko Araki, a master of the Sanuki Kagari Temari. This ancient craft has been passed from generation to generation for more than 1,000 years on the island of Shikoku.
Each ball is a work of art that takes weeks or even months to finish. These beautifully patterned balls do not resemble the toys of the past, they are destined to be heirlooms.
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“Temari that might have been every day in a faraway era is now being used for interior decoration,” Yoshie Nakamura, who promotes Japanese handcrafted art in her shop at Tokyo’s Haneda airport, told AP.
The art form is having a resurgence among Japanese and non-Japanese alike. In fact, Caroline Kennedy took lessons in the ball-making art when she was the US ambassador to Japan.
Using natural materials
The region of Japan that temari came from has a climate that is good for growing cotton and the balls were made from this basic fabric in the past and still are today.
At Araki’s studio – which also serves as the head of the temari’s preservation society – there are 140 hues of hand dyed cotton thread. The colors come from flowers and other natural ingredients like soy juice, and the cochineal bug that lives in cacti and produces a red dye. Dyed thread is then hung up outside the studio to dry.
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Each ball begins by making a basic mold ball out of dried rice husks and then wound with thread until the round shape is finished. Each ball has lines to guide the stitching that has to be painstakingly precise and even. One line goes around the center of the ball and the other lines zigzag to the top and bottom.
The concept behind the temari is to create an elegant otherworldliness through this labor-intensive process. “Out of nothing, something this beautiful is born, bringing joy,” Araki said. “I want it to be remembered [that] there are beautiful things in this world that can only be made by hand.”
