No 70

Dear Friends & Customers Hello from Japan! This is Kimono Flea Market ICHIROYA's News Letter No.70. How are you? Recently we got lots of uchikake at once luckily, and there is no room for kimono stock at office. Approx 120 uchikake and bride furisode have come, and some of them are already listed to our site and e-bay. We are going to list them everyday mainly to e-bay, so if you like uchikake, please check the e-bay items. When we started to rent this office, it seemed to have enough space, but now we feel it is not enough for our business. I remember the days when we started our business at our condominium building. At the end of the days we had to sleep at the very narrow space between stack of boxes, and we could not to open bathroom's door without moving piled boxes. As I wrote before, I was a buyer and sales manager of table wear department of Daimaru department store nearly ten years ago. I managed both Japanese and Western table wears, and came to know the difference of crafts of Japanese and Western. I love the original beauty of high-end brand of Europe, like Meissen , Baccarat, Ginori, Wedgewood and so on. Compared to European product, I think the feature of Japanese crafts is the monomaniacal fixation to the accuracy. For example, if we pile the some plates of Meissen and see the side part, its interval of hem will be not equal. On the other hand if you pile the plates of Okura Toen ( high end brand of Japanese porcelain ), the interval must be equal finely. And if you carefully check the cut lines of Baccarat glass, you will find some lines don't meet at the places where they should do. But if you check the Satsuma Kiriko, most famous cut glass in Japan, you will know its geometric lines are monomaniacal precise, and all lines cr!oss and end where they should be. I don't mean Japanese craft is superior to Western one, but the monomaniacal fixation to the accuracy must be the distinct feature of Japanese craft. Talking about textile, kasuri fabric like Kagasuri ( mosquito pattern kasuri ) must be the discriminative product of Japanese feature. I especially came to like 'sometsuke', blue and white wares. Its patterns and colors are exotic and cool, and they fit also with ai dyed cotton. http://www.genjirou.com/aiseikastu/ There are many kinds of sometsuke, but some of them have dyed with very skilled touch, and its patterns are cheerful and exotic. Just as same as yuzen dyed kimono, rich and elaborate pattern have more value and high prices.Situation of the sometsuke production is the same as other Japanese crafts. If we want to get hand dyed sometsuke wares, we must pay about 50 USD for a medium size plate. It will be 250 USD for 5 pieces set. Ordinary customers of department store seems to had thought it was too expensive for ordinary use. So the price lines of most selling were 30 USD(3000yen) or 50 USD(5000yen) for 5 pieces set, which have printed pattern. Print technique is developed and very sophisticated now, and ordinary customers may not be able to distinguish it. Frankly said, though I had been a buyer of Japanese ware for three years, sometimes it was difficult to distinguish them only looking one piece. 50 USD for one piece is not expensive, if we consider the all process of the h!and work. And to paint the vivid and spontaneous pattern, painters must be trained for long years. I often visited their craft center, and looked how they woodturned and painted. It was really marvelous to see how they did complicated works easily. So we knew about it, but it was difficult work to let the ordinary customers know the value of handicraft, and sell them a lots. We always want craftsmen supreme work, and at a time endurance of low wages like for craftsmen in Edo period. But recently I noticed that the vintage sometsuke ware was becoming moderate prices. Vintage sometsuke ware often have very skilled touch, and have rich pattern, which must be very expensive if recently made. But following the collapse of the speculation bubble, the prices of antique and vintage sometsuke ware dropped, and I am often astonished by its prices when they are sold at kimono auction ( sometimes not-kimono items are also sold ). If we pay 20 USD, we can get very charming piece. I had been looking for modern sometsuke ware, so I feel the prices are way less compared with their value. We may offer them in future. Do you interested in sometsuke ware? Today we have listed some kasuri, obi, karinui and bolt. We ave very happy if you coud check them.http://www.ichiroya.com/item/search.php?md=1115Thank you again for reading to the end. We wish you a nice autumn Sunday!
Ichiro & Yuka Wada Kimono Flea Market "ICHIROYA" http://www.ichiroya.com e-mail: info@ichiroya.com address: Asia-shoji Bldg.301 1841-1 Nishi 1 chome Wakamatsu cho Tondabayashi city Osaka 584-0025 JAPAN TEL&FAX ****( international number ) - 81-721-23-5446