今週は竹細工師・石原文雄さんをお迎えして、ものづくり研究会の１年生は竹かご編みの技法を学んでいます。
森林文化アカデミーのものづくり研究会では、木工を中心に技術を学ぶのですが、蔓、竹、紙など異素材についても積極的に取り入れています。その年の学生がどんな素材を学びたいかリクエストできることになっていて、去年は竹とフエルトでした。竹は人気で、石原さんには毎年お世話になっています。
We invited Mr.Fumio Ishihara, a specialist of bamboo craft, for the bamboo basketry lesson to the first year students.
The Craft and Furniture Making Dept. of Gifu Academy provides the students with mainly woodworking skills, but also skills on some other materials like vine, bamboo and paper. Students can make a request which material they want to learn, and they chose bamboo and felt craft last year. Bamboo is a popular material and we invite Ishihara every year.
竹ひごの幅決め
ripping the bamboo strip to width
岐阜といえば鵜飼が有名ですが、石原さんは鵜を入れる籠など、鵜飼の道具を作る全国でただ一人の職人さんなのです。
後継者はなく、いまでは鵜飼の道具だけでは食べて行けないとおっしゃるのですが、こうした消え行く伝統技術をなんとか残せないものか、技術を受け継ぐ人材をアカデミーから輩出できないものかといつも思っています。
Ishihara is now the only maker who produces baskets for traditional cormorant fishing. Our area Gifu is Japan's most famous cormorant fishing place and it has more than 1,300 years of history. He has no successor of his technique because the demand from cormorant fishing keeps declining and he can't rely his living on it any more. I always wonder if we could keep those traditional skills from dying out, and if we could produce successors of those skills from the Academy.
各地の講座で竹工芸の魅力を教えておられる石原さん。その人気の秘密は「褒め上手」なのです！
「ふつうなら１ヶ月かかるところを半日でやってしまうなんてあんたには本当に驚いた！」などと褒められ続け、１年生の２人はあっという間に小さな竹かごを編み上げました。
Ishihara now teaches at various places and attracts people with bamboo craft. I am sure he is a popular tutor wherever he teaches, because he praises the students so well!
He often praises you like "I am astonished by your skill! Ordinary people takes a month to do it and you've done it in half a day!"
Our students finished a small basket in a day thanks to lots of Ishihara's compliments.
