Hato in my dictionary is either pigeon or dove. Considering how the bird depicted in this folk art offering symbolizes peace as well as love, I’ll opt for it being a dove.
That established, this Nagano-ken toy is called a HATO-GURUMA or dove cart. It was first produced about 130 years ago in Nozawa-shi by Anshin Kawano but production stopped after his death and wasn’t resumed till nearly the end of the Meiji era (about 1900). Nozawa is in an area abounding with onsen (hot springs) and Zen temples. Many flock there all the year round to indulge themselves in either one or the other. Visitors always want to bring home some remembrance of their travels and so hato-guruma were reborn.
The full name is Zenkoji Hato-Guruma which reads Good Light Temple Dove Cart. Whatever its religious implications, the two-wheeled woven bird is appealingly evocative of the way in which a dove pecks while eating. Loosely axled wheels gives it a rolling gait that combines with a trailing bumper to recreate a sense of naturalness. The repetitive action of searching out food that the dove and pigeon make gives them the appearance of being hard working. Hato-guruma are thus associated with industrious effort. Ownership of one of these handmade toys will purportedly bring you copious good luck and good health every day of your life. With that kind of come-on, who wouldn’t want to have one just in case?
Woven of natural fiber, the current problem in Nagano (especially nearby Nozawa) is the lack of the proper vine called akebi.
The akebi’s hard sinewy vine makes for durable goods of many types. Anything made from the vine falls in the category of akebi-zaiku including hato-guruma. Autumn finds collectors of this vine combing the hills. The long strands are then cleaned and debarked. It’s white understands resemble raffia, and likewise are made easily pliable when put into water for a short time. They are woven when damp.
Hato-guruma come in two sizes, the smallest easily cupped in your palm, while the largest is lifesized. With two black specks for eyes and a sharpened branch for a beak, hato-guruma lack only a pair of spindly legs to fully resemble the real bird. But then, if you had two very fine wheels, you probably wouldn’t need legs either.
| 16 | KANAGAWA |
| KOMA | |
Not far into Kanagawa-ken lies the village of Isehara where Oyama koma are made. Koma means top, and there probably isn’t a country in the world where spinning a top isn’t part of a child’s growing-up memories.
In Japan, the number of top styles figures nearly 100. The differences are mainly in painted designs, much like the major differences between kokeshi is not in their shapes but rather their painted stylizations. The Oyama koma is a rather sturdy type having a large solid wood disk with two protruding spindles. The upper portion is where one loosely attaches the spinning rope while the lower one is a spinning point upon which the weighty top will dance madly to its own circular patterns.
There’s something about the balanced, circuitous dance a top follows to its final anxious twists. When it finally does stop, hardly anyone can resist giving it another throw to start it off once again.
All of my childhood tops were plain colored and the excitement of seeing them spin was more in knowing what they were doing than in actually visualizing the movement. Japanese tops tend to have patterns of concentrically painted, multicolored circles. Oyama tops offers a broadside view of rich purple while its top has assorted circular widths of red and purple. The thick hemp rope is perhaps one of the more surprising aspects of the Japanese top and no doubt one of the hardest-to-master features. The dexterity of small children with such a bulky rope amazes me yet.
Formerly, tops were popular gifts at New Year’s (shogatsu) when the children had to play inside more often due to the harsh weather. In fact, a children’s song sung prior to the coming of shogatsu used to wistfully dream of new spinning tops and hoping the days until the holidays will quickly pass so their new toys will be in hand.
If you get a top whilst traveling, you’d best get some expert instruction on how to properly wind it and set it going its merry way. It’s no do-it-yourself trick and the frustration of having it constantly falter, instead of dance as hoped, is enough to make one cry.
Koma come in all sizes but most are at least fist-sized while many are a great deal larger. Almost without exception are they ovoid and smoothly finished.
| 17 | YAMANASHI |
| KOSHU-INDEN | |
KOSHU-INDEN is made of softened deerskin onto which has been stenciled a thick design of lacquer. The Koshu portion of its name comes from the former designation given the prefecture now called Yama-nashi-ken.
The making of this peculiar art work dates back 13 generations (and perhaps even farther in other areas.) Some of the earliest examples of this lacquer strengthened leather work is to be found in yoroi (ancient Japanese armor). Large plattens of deerskin and sometimes pigskin were thickened and thereby toughened by coating the outer surfaces with fine designs of colorful lacquering.
When armor was widely used, production of inden was rather widespread. The end of the warrior era forced many inden makers to either quit or find new outlets. Yamanashi makers turned to the production of inro or cases for medicine and/or personal seals. These items became much sought-after for their unusual styling as well as their serviceability. Yamanashi makers kept abreast of the times and as changes in style and need occurred, production of related inden articles took new directions.
The drawing shows a rather finely decorated change purse. The tiny white dots represent its lacquered design while the black background is a very soft-to-the-touch dyed buckskin. Lacquer coloring resembles the variety of the spectrum although only one shade is used on a single work. The backing leather is similarly dyed in single tones and the combination of the two colors is usually a most compatible contrast.
The range available these days tends to be an assortment of bags — from small pouches for hanko through change purses shown here to large handbags with pull-string closures. Several sizes of wallet along with comb, meishi and teiki cases make up the current goods available in traditional Koshu-inden.
Practical and lightweight, inden is a modernized mingei with an undeniable link to Japan’s romantic historical past. Simplicity and function — two inherent aspects of folk art that are surely applicable to this 20th century updating.
| 18 | TOYAMA |
| YANAGI-GORI | |
One has to have lived long in Japan to have memories of this folk ware. Almost every family looked forward to the annual visit of the medicine peddlers from Toyama-ken who came with a rather huge but extremely lightweight box of supplies on their back. The trunk along with its inner goods are traditional products in this Japan Sea coast prefecture originating near and in the city of Toyama itself.
Made of willow wands with edges and corners reinforced with strips of cloth or lacquered leather, the broad expanses of willow are woven on the same type loom used to make goza (tatami coverings) but differ in that warps are spaced farther apart. They are occasionally four-hettle loomed allowing the weaver to create intricate patterns dependent on the spacings of both warp and weft.
To get back to the medicine peddler, they usually made a set round of villages visiting each home at about the same time annually. With a large furoshiki of green and white covering a payload of medicines, their yearly arrival was typically announced by a chorus of village children singing any of a number of nonsense songs, some quite rude, about Toyama kusuri. Unwrapping his main YANAGI-GORI (willow wand case), he must have seemed to be some kind of magician to the children crowding around when an array of ever smaller willow boxes was displayed. The housewife usually brought out that particular kusuriya-san’s company bag which hung in a closet and had