November 12, 2018

MINGEI - Inami woodcarving Toyama

https://omamorifromjapan.blogspot.com/2011/07/toyama-folk-toys.html

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Uriwari-no-shimizu 瓜裂の清水 Split-Melon Clear Water
Shokawa 庄川 in Toyama Prefecture is a town dominated by water. Water runs from the Hida Mountains into the Sho River and through Mt Goka to appear again at the edge of Tonami Plain, where Shokawa is located. Abundant water also runs to Tonami Plain from mountains in Nanto. Waterfalls and clear water springs occur, too, at many places along the slopes and at the foot of the mountains.



Shokawa features one of Japan's 100 best water sites: Uriwari-no-shimizu, which means 'Split-Melon Clear Water'. To find this site in Shokawa, look for some Buddha stone statues in a shallow cave near the road under a hilly terrace in Iwaguro housing development. In the cave, clear water wells up under the gaze of the Buddhas.

About 600 years ago, legend has it that Shaku-shonin 綽上人, a founder of Zuisenji Temple in Inami, was visiting this area when one of his horse's hooves suddenly broke through the ground and released clear water.
The 'split melon' name refers to a story that a melon once split naturally when cooled in the water here. The water never stops even for extended periods of hot weather, and is thus worshiped as holy water.
富山県砺波市庄川町金屋
- source : nippon-kichi.jp -

綽如(本願寺5世、後井波瑞泉寺開祖)が、杉谷山(岩黒の奥山)の庵から地方へ布教にでかけた。当地で休憩した際、馬の蹄が陥没して、その後より清水こんこんと湧きだした。村人が綽如をもてなす為、この清水に瓜を冷やしたところ、瓜が自然に裂けた。その美味しさが格別であったので、綽如がこの清水を瓜裂の清水と名付けた。それ以来この清水は枯渇することなく、霊水として村民から憩いの場となっている(現地看板要約)

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Inami chookoku 井波彫刻 Inami Woodcarving, Inami sculpture



When the highly skilled carpenters of Inami were rebuilding the main worship hall at Zuizenji temple after it had been destroyed by a fire in the middle of the 18th century, some woodcarvers with official patronage were dispatched from Kyoto to help with the work and it is thought that the carving techniques they passed on to the local carpenters marked the beginnings of woodcarving here.
At first the Inami carpenters did both carpentry and woodcarving, mainly doing pieces of carving for temples. By the Meiji period (1868-1912), however, specialist woodcarvers had immerged and they began to produce items of a more general nature including transom for domestic housing.
The principal timbers now used are
camphor (Cinnamonum Camphora), zelkova (Zelkova serrata) and paulownia (Paulownia Sieb. et Zucc.). When making a transom, they carve from both sides to produce a deep relief effect which is often cut right through and use a variety of motifs including birds, flowers, people and landscape. This form of traditional carving requires a high degree of skill and using upward of 200 different chisels and woodcarving knives, they complete pieces of breath-taking intricacy and beauty.
- reference source : kougeihin.jp... -


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