Part II of my piece on Japanese hand made paper went up on Papersky International Blog (HERE). This one is about Shouji Kazunari who crafts one of the key tools required for making washi – the ‘Keta’. Kazunari is one of only three remaining Keta makers in Japan, and he has no successor. His situation raises important questions about government funding for aging ‘Shokunin’ (craftsmen, kind of – read HERE for a good article). Kazunari does not have the financial security to support himself, his family and an apprentice.

In New Zealand and Australia there a significant amount of funding for the arts (for research trips, gallery shows, publications, recordings, theatre shows etc. etc. etc.), via government bodies such as ‘Creative NZ’ and the ‘Australia Council’, but there are no real equivalent bodies in Japan. Shokunin culture is disappearing, not adapting. Increased funding is essential as it would help traditional crafts merge more naturally with the contemporary world. Without a natural evolution from generation to generation these traditional crafts risk becoming reduced to clichéd simplifications of themselves. In that possible future the rich knowledge and history embedded into the hands and tools of Shokunin would be flattened into linear entries on Wikipedia and crass re-enactments for tourists. A folk dystopia.

Photos of Kazunari’s medium (wood propped up against a window) and his byproduct (a barrel of wood shavings).