"Kijiguruma" play a key role in the local community.
lifestyle

Beppu Project revitalizes traditional industries in Oita

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By Kathryn Wortley

A brand set up by a non-profit group to promote goods from Oita Prefecture is boosting not only sales but also well-being in a community fighting the effects of rural depopulation and an ageing society.

By creating Oita Made, in 2013, the Beppu Project planned to support local producers by selling their goods across Japan while protecting their traditional way of life. After starting out as a creative initiative to fuse art and communities, the group saw first-hand the role that cottage industries play in fostering self-worth, intergenerational exchange and social activities.

Oita’s traditional artisans have been making goods successfully for years and in some cases even generations, but many lacked the packaging, marketing and IT skills to ensure the future of their craft. Oita Made is designed to increase the products’ appeal, thereby boosting the income of farmers, fishermen and craftspeople. About 70% of profits from sales are returned to producers, with the remainder going to the brand in order to continue its work.

“Local artisans are connected to the area through culture and the products they make,” said Shuzo Kumagai, a member of the Beppu Project. “If the number of small, local producers falls then the charms of the local area decrease so it’s important to encourage craftsmanship.”

More than 50 independent artisans have been brought under the brand’s umbrella. Their unique goods include gourmet items such as seaweed, sunflower tea, wild boar meat and Jerusalem artichoke cookies as well as practical ones: bamboo stationery, aromatic water and reed baskets.

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Craftspeople weave "shichitoi" to form tatami.

The story behind each product has proven a draw. In two years since launching sales, Oita Made has developed an online shopping website, opened a shop in Oita Prefecture and made sales via department stores and hotels in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. One pear jam maker has even reported a 100-fold increase in sales of his plain, cinnamon and walnut, and black pepper varieties.

After finding a following across Japan, Kumagai is confident of expansion. “We are going to reach out to the international market by translating our website and promoting our goods as souvenirs,” he said.

Awareness of Oita Made could also receive a boost under plans by one of the brand’s producers to tap into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The Shichitoi Promotion Association is in talks with local and national players to appeal for the Games’ judo tournament to be held on shichitoi (perennial grass) tatami, as it was for Tokyo’s 1964 Games.

Unlike the now common igusa (soft rush) tatami, shichitoi has been a much loved tatami material for centuries. Few people today, however, even know of its existence due to the industry’s decline.

The tiny peninsula of Kunisaki in Oita is the only area in Japan still growing the grass and using it to make tatami. Local people believe it is due to the hard physical labor required.

“Several prefectures around Japan used to make shichitoi but now we are the only growers left,” said tatami maker Toshihiko Hosoda. “As Japan has developed, so too have the number of jobs that can bring a stable income. This work is very tough so people have given up on it.”

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"Shichitoi" (perennial grass) is planted individually, by hand.

Hosoda’s household is one of only 10 producing shichitoi, a process that is done almost entirely by hand. In May, farmers plant the grasses one by one in rice paddies totaling over one hectare. In about three months, the grass grows 50 to 60 cm tall. It is then harvested by hand, dried by machine and passed on to craftspeople who weave it to form the surface of tatami.

“About eight years ago, it looked like shichitoi production and use was going to die out completely,” explained Hosoda. “We thought that if we were to lose it here it would be lost from Japan, so a few of us worked closely with a young farmer to keep it alive.”

Together they formed the Shichitoi Promotion Association, which works to attract industry workers, particularly young people; improve sales; and raise funds. They also joined Oita Made to promote their shichitoi tatami to a wider audience.

While the original members, who are in their 70s and 80s, are still active, locals in their 30s and 50s have since joined, bringing the total association membership to 70. For Hosoda, the addition of this young blood has been the best encouragement so far.

“We really want to protect shichitoi for future generations so the most important thing is that young people are involved,” he said.

Challenges remain, however. Given the labor-intensive nature of the work, shichitoi is two or three times the price of igusa, making sales difficult and salaries low. Some shichitoi producers therefore supplement their income with rice or shiitake mushroom farming but hopes are high that Oita Made can help boost the traditional product’s appeal.

Comfortable and pleasant smelling, shichitoi tatami is three times as durable as igusa tatami. As the grass matures, the tatami color changes from green to cream, and finally amber. Of the association’s 2,000 annual mat sales, most are to individuals who live in traditional houses, who want to use natural materials, or who simply prefer shichito to igusa.

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"Shichitoi" (perennial grass)

“It’s worthwhile work,” said Hosoda. “Our customers are always completely satisfied.”

It is this positive feedback and enjoyment of the work that is driving locals to put the grass on the map in 2020.

“People worldwide have a great interest in tatami and we want international visitors to see judo performed on this traditional matting,” said Hosoda.

Meanwhile, in the village of Onohara, craftspeople have joined Oita Made to help save a dying folk craft first made in the area 250 years ago: a pheasant-shaped toy known as a kijiguruma.

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Locals make the pheasant-shaped toy using an edged tool and chisel.

“They were once made by each and every family in this region but now there are only nine people left who can make them,” explained Toshimitsu Ishii, a member of the Kijiguruma Preservation Society. “We want to keep the culture alive by continuing to make them but, most important, we want to encourage young people to join our group.”

Although members are mostly in their 60s, four people in their 30s have joined, thanks to exposure from Oita Made. Most are skilled with their hands through skills gained in their full-time jobs as farmers, carpenters and architects but the new members include teachers and bankers. The group travels to nearby mountains to find the magnolia but limits collection to fall and winter in order to protect the area’s ecosystem. The colder months are therefore the society’s busiest period.

At monthly meetings, members gather to make the toys before spending time chatting and drinking sake: a vital lifeline in a village of 700 people.

“It looks like an easy shape to make but getting the balance right is difficult,” said Ishii of the making process. “It takes about one or two hours to make a kijiguruma but, for a first timer, it can take much longer.”

First, freshly cut magnolia is shaved using an edged tool. Next it is shaped with a chisel. The kijiguruma is then complete: thought to be the only one of its kind in Japan to be unpainted.

Ishii is delighted with the exposure from Oita Made, even though it brings in only small sales from events in Tokyo and Osaka as well as from roadside stations.

“We’re not doing this work to be a business,” he said. “We’re doing it to pass the culture on to the next generation, and we seem to be succeeding.”

© Japan Today

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I have enjoying watching "Cycling Around Japan" on NHK and especially enjoy watching all of these crafts that are in danger of being lost. Apparently, making tatami mats from shichitoi seems to be one of them. I wish and hope that this craft and many others can be continued on.

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