Photo: Twitter/@enjiblossomlily
lifestyle

Japanese student creates traditional bicycle, brings new life to centuries-old craft

10 Comments
By Oona McGee, SoraNews24

Japan is often viewed as a glorious amalgamation of the old and the new, where hoodies are designed to look like traditional kimono and ukiyo-e prints feature "Star Wars" characters.

This restyling of old traditions is something that recently inspired one talented Japanese student to realize his own take on “Modern Japan” by building the bicycle of his dreams.

Setting it as an end-goal for his graduation project, Enji, who goes by @enjiblossomlily online, says he has now fulfilled his task of “melding a bicycle with a traditional craft”, and the result is a spectacular two-wheeler (photo above).

The handcrafted bicycle has been carefully thought-out from concept to finish, with the saddle, handlebars, tires and frame all designed to complement the star of the creation that sits in the middle of the piece: the lattice panel.

Lattice work like this is known as kitsuregoshi in Japan. This centuries-old woodworking craft can be seen on sliding door panels in traditional Japanese rooms, and on walls beneath the roofs of shrine buildings.

Enji has taken inspiration from the word kitsuregoshi, naming his bicycle “Kitsure“, the “Traditional Japan Bicycle." He says the lattice panel can be popped out like a shoji sliding door, so it’s possible for a different design to be mounted in its place in future.

And it’s not just the lattice section that’s impressive, as the entire frame of the bicycle was also made from scratch and melded together to make his vision a reality.

As soon as Enji shared images of the bicycle on his Twitter account, the tweet instantly went viral, earning over 13,000 retweets and more than 73,000 likes in just one day.

People were quick to heap praise on Enji for his remarkable concept, leaving comments like:

“This is so cool!!!!!! Riding this bike would definitely turn heads wherever you go!”

“You could fit a tablet in that section with moving images to really make jaws drop.”

“It looks just like the lattice work you’d see in a high-class tea ceremony room.”

“I can imagine [American architect] Frank Lloyd Wright would’ve loved a bike like this!”

“Omg this is so unique, I desperately want to buy one!”

While Enji is yet to let everyone know whether he’ll be working towards commercialising the Kitsure in future, there is one way we can see it for now, as the bicycle will be on display at his college’s exhibition for graduating students. Enji is a graduating student at Tokyo College of Cycle Design, a vocational school located in the city’s Shibuya Ward where students study the design, maintenance and building of bicycles.

With Japan recently championing innovative designs like the Walking Bicycle Club, we can only hope Enji’s Kiture will soon become available in stores. We’d love to see these bikes make their way en masse to the streets of Tokyo or Kyoto.

Exhibition Information

Sotsugyo Seisaku Tenjikai 2020 / 卒業制作展示会2020

Address: Tokyo-to, Minato-ku, Minami Aoyama 5-6-23, Spiral Aoyama

スパイラル青山 東京都港区南青山5-6-23

March 1-3. Open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. (until 6 p.m. on March 3)

Spiral Website

Source: Twitter/@enjiblossomlily

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

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-- Talented illustrator gives cast of Dragon Ball characters amazing samurai warlord makeovers

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© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

10 Comments
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dasai

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Why spec such an enormous chainring? Supposedly to compensate for the undersized wheels, but the tall gearing will force the rider's cadence to be unnaturally slow. Is it a fixed gear? Even with an internal gear hub (such as Shimano Nexus) the rider is going to be challenged. The square tubing was probably chosen for ease of fabrication, and because it is cheap; however the right-angle joints will cause fatigue cracks to propagate. Nothing has been gained by eliminating the seat stay tubes -- the venerable diamond frame design has proven itself over time.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@3RENSHO 60T chainrings must be a small wheel thing. These bikes look like they all have large chainrings.

https://freeel.bike/tienda/

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Maybe he could have put a piece of tatami on the seat.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Maybe he could have put a piece of tatami on the seat.

@Pukey2

Haha. That would have been perfect. In fact he should have made the whole bike out of bamboo. There is already someone who makes bamboo bikes out there, but to make it in a Japanese style would have been a step up, cool wise. I agree with 3RENZSHO about the square tubing, in fact, from the photos on twitter, the tubing hardly has and welding on it all, but I doubt a bike like this will go through the rigors that a racing bike would. Probably OK our light city use or perhaps it is for 'display only'.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

When were bicycles introduced to Japan? Or were they invented there as well?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It seems he’s trying to compensate for the gear ratio by raising the saddle. Penny-Farthing-style.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Damn Hipsters!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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