Japanese Hand Craft owner blog

Nov 21, 2009

Shiro ( Japanese castle) Vol. 5 Inside of the castle

Entrance

Stairs in entrance

Door that covers the stairs

Storage for weapons

Storage for guns and lances

Inside of the castle
There are also some interesting devices in the castle. There are small stairs just inside the main front door. There is a door that covers the top of all stairs to prevent entry by attackers. All the stairways are built in the same style. The 2nd and 3rd floors have storage for weapons and also hidden storage spaces for when visitors would come to the castle.

Nov 14, 2009

Shiro ( Japanese castle) Vol. 4 Drop roof (murder hole)

Drop roof (murder hole)

Castles and gates feature drop roofs. There are also larger ones located on the outer corners of the castle. Defenders would drop stones, hot water and hot oil when enemies attempted to climb the stone wall.

Nov 7, 2009

Shiro ( Japanese castle) Vol. 3 Shooting Hole

on the wall (outside)

on the wall (inside)

In the castle

on the gate (inside)

on the gate (outside)

Shooting Hole

The walls also feature defenses. The walls and castle buildings have round and triangular shaped holes. These holes are used for shooting arrows and guns. The holes taper down in width from the inside to outside. This allows for more flexible aim from the inside and presents a smaller target from the outside.

Oct 24, 2009

Shiro ( Japanese castle) Vol. 2 Gate

1st gate with moat (outside)

Gate "Hishi" (outside)

Gate "Hishi" (inside)

Gate "I" (outside)

Gate "I" (inside)

Gate "Nu" (outside)

Gate "Nu" (inside)

The last gate (door of the castle)

Castle Gates

There are 21 gates in the castle area. There were 84 gates in the past. Attacking enemies would have to pass through more than 10 gates from the outer area of the moat before reaching the main building. The outside of the gate area are widened and shaped in an L-pattern. Enemies would have to pass the inner part of the L to reach the gate, but they would be attacked from all sides from the safety of high arrow-slits on the walls and murder holes where rocks or liquid could be dropped on them.Some gates feature another type of defense.

Some gates (gate Nu) have stone stairs and stone walls that slope down towards the gate on the inside. If enemies reached the front of the gate, defenders could break the stone stairs and put the stones behind the doors of the gate. This way the enemies could not breach the gate easily. The only way to pass the gate would be to break the door down first and then remove the stones. In this time the defenders could continue shooting them from above the gate.

Oct 20, 2009

Shiro (Japanese castles)

There are only 12 remaining original castles in Japan that are still standing since the 16th or the 17th century. The rest of the castles in Japan were rebuilt after being destroyed in World War II. Osaka castle and Nagoya castles are the most famous of the rebuilt castles. There many rebuilt castles and abandoned castles all over Japan. No fewer than 36 of the capital cities of Japan’s 47 prefectures were originally castle towns. In front of Tokyo station is the ruins of Edo castle. Edo castle was the biggest castle in Japan and was owned by the Tokugawa family. Now the area is owned by the Japanese royal family and they have been living in that area since Edo period ended.

Japanese castles were not only homes for warlords and nobles, but they also served as an impregnable fortress. Japanese castles have massive walls of stone, moats, several layers of gates and many other devices for protecting from enemies. I will present these using Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture as an example.

Himeji Castle is the biggest castle of the 12 of well-preserved original castles and it was finished in 1618. The castle is called Shirasagi-jo (white egret), because of its elegant white plastered walls and grouting. The white plastered walls and castle stone walls have been well maintained in their original forms. The building and the area has been designated by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO as one of the world heritages in Japan.

Oct 1, 2009

Urushi vol. 2

Teacup Saucer

I presented a story about Urushi in the past. This time I’ll continue the story.

Urushi comes from tree sap. When the trunk of the tree is cut, it produces a resin to try to repair the cut area. It is like a rubber tree. This resin is urushi. Because the resin can cause a rash if it touches the skin, it was commonly believed that urushi had special powers to ward off evil.

A single tree can only produce a few grams of resin each time it is tapped. Urushiware must be painted with many coats until the beautiful shining color appears. So, this sap is quite valuable due to its limited quantity. That is the reason urushiware is expensive.

Black and red colors are famous in urushi, because, the red is connected to Japanese custom. In ancient times, red was believed to be an auspicious color that kept away evil spirits and brought good luck.

Urushi is called Japanese lacquer in English. In the 17th century, urushiware was shipped to Europe. Europeans felt it was very graceful tableware. They held it in such esteem that it was called ‘japan’, as people call beautiful potteries, ‘fine china’.

Sep 23, 2009

Yasokichi Tokuda Dead

One of the living national treasures, Yaokichi Tokuda III, passed away on Aug. 26th. 2009. Pneumonia killed him. He was 75 years old.

Yasokichi Tokuda III was one of the best potters in the Kutani area. He developed 100 colors from the basic Kutani colors: Yellow, Green, Blue & Purple. His blue color is very famous. His gradation color from Blue to Green to Yellow is very beautiful. This gradation can be seen in his many works.

So, his works will never be made again. Their value will not drop, but will increase year by year. Of course, it will be increasingly difficult to purchase his newer works from my vendors.

My dad has one of his vases and a sake cup. I should inherit them. They are my family’s treasure!