No 124

Dear Customers and Friends
Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.124.Our office is closed for Sunday, and Yuka and younger daughter went out for shopping. Yesterday I went to the downtown to drink with a few old friends, and noticed that it is on the Christmas season, and downtown and department stores were verycrowded. It reminded me the days when I worked for a department store. It must be crowded today also for sure, and they will come back extremely exhausted. As I wrote in the previous mail, I visited a bamboo artisan in Oita a week ago. I will introduce him first at our new site, ' Tour J Artisan'. He is very friendly and lovable person, and his bamboo bag is said to be the best in Japan. I am very excited to be able to introduce him and sell his bags. Please anticipate his supreme hand works. Now he is in Hawaii to attend the Honolulu Marathon - I can't believe his vitality ( He is 50 years old! )Three days ago, I visited Kiyohara Weaving Company, who are weaving tsuzure ori fabrics. The company is in Shiga prefecture, near Biwa Lake. CEO Kiyohara san welcomed me very warmly. I will introduce this visit and his merchandise precisely at our new site. Modern Tsuzure weaving items are very expensive, as you know. Tsume-tsuzure is woven with nails one thread by one thread, and only making small fukusa, it will take nearly a month to be completed. In addition artisan must train for 12 years before they become to be able to weave at that professional speed! 12 years training, one month for a small fukusa! But when I saw their weaving scene, I marveled at their technique and fully understood. I will show you some photos at our new site.I also was very astonished to hear the market price of tsume-tsuzure fabrics. Very small tsume-tsuzure fukusa are selling at about 3000 USD! ( I don't mistake the figures of zero). Piece as belows.http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=86335And if the size are large, and its design and colors are complicated, the price will be two or three MILLION DOLLARS! We showed a best tsume-tsuzure fukusa to a person who came to our office from Kiyohara weaving company two weeks ago. He was very astonished its quality and he said if we made this fukusa now, cost would be more nearly five million dollars. http://www.ichiroya.com/item/list2.php?number=86886Seeing their works, now we completely understood why the tsume-tsuzure fukusa is so valuable and expensive. To weave he piece like above one, they select the best weaver, and let her concentrate on the piece for more than three months. We can calculate the labour cost of artisan, and in addition we must put the cost of distribution and profits of participants.
A staff showed me the best piece now they had. It was in the heavy wooden box, and she removed the lid, and removed the cover fabrics. Its design was from Kourin, and has exceptionally gorgeous pattern - I got extremely excited and had an exclamation in spite of myself. And --- I found three very small saliva bubble drop on the supreme fukusa.They seemed not to notice, but I indicated and said I was very sorry that I made it. She was astonished and hurried to patted with the wipe. Bubbles were removed, but three very small stains remained in the pale color parts. She said, 'Salid is only the water, and stains will disappear, don't mind ---'. But I couldn't feel confidence in her voice. Three small saliva stains on the 5 million dollars fukusa. I couldn't concentrate on the baraza after that time. What can I do for 5 million dollar fukusa? If I buy it, can I sell? Are there some technique to remove small stains from tsuzure weaving.She said 'don't mind', and covered the fukusa with fabric again. About 30 minutes later, I went to the fukusa box, and removed the fabric slowly.And I found that stains disappeared completely! How I relieved to see it!
We discussed what items are best for ICHIROYA and foreign customers. Their main items are obi and fukusa, but both of them are not used in foreign countries. We suggest formal bags - black or silver background, large impressive kamon pattern on them, and a tassel on it. The price must be more than 1000 USD, but it must be exceptionally unique, gorgeous and sophisticated bag for specially formal occasion. How do you feel, if a very skilled artisan weaves a special formal bag for you, and it will take a moth to be completed!
And anyway I decided to buy every vintage tsuzure-ori items if they are offered at the auctions. They are extremely underestimated compared to its real value.
Thank you very much for reading to the end. Today we will list some kimono, furisode, antique items and bolt abut 5 hours later from now.
Ichiro & Yuka WadaKimono Flea Market ICHIROYAhttp://www.ichiroya.cominfo@ichiroya.comaddress:Koyodai 3-3-10-109Tondabayashi city, Osaka, 584-0082 JAPANPhone & Fax ****(international number)-81( country code)-721-29-5446