Tag Archives: top

女男つり独楽 (spousal string-release top)

koma, tops, transcripts, video, , ,
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Click to enlarge.

Title:

女男つり独楽 (meoto tsurigoma)
spousal string-release top

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These tops depict a husband and wife. They are a specific type of tsurigoma (string-release tops) called ijiwaru koma (unkind/wicked tops), so-named because they are particularly difficult to spin. The string of the top must be wrapped very precisely and the top thrown just right to get it to spin.

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Hiroi Michiaki: Umm this is an ijiwaru koma (unkind top). It’s not really named anything in particular. It’s a man and woman.

Paula Curtis: A married couple?

Hiroi:  Yeah. A spousal string-release top. An unkind top. I made it an “unkind” couple.

女男つり独楽

koma, tops, transcripts, video, ,
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.

タイトル：

女男つり独楽 (meoto tsurigoma)
spousal string-release top

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夫婦の独楽である。特殊なタイプのつり独楽で、いじわる独楽という。回すことがとても難しい独楽なのでこのような名前が付いた。独楽のヒモを正確に巻けなければならないし、独楽を正しく放たないと回らない。

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廣井道顕：ええ、これはいじわる独楽ね。特に何とかっつうことはないな。男と女の人だね。

ポーラ・カーティス：夫婦。

廣井：うん。めおとの、つり独楽。いじわる独楽。めおと意地悪してたんだね。

メディア・ポスト：秋保工芸の里へ

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ジャネルは日本にいる友人に会い、宮城学院でのホームカミングデーに参加するため、最後にもう一度だけ日本に行くことを決めていたが、その際ポーラとマリナも一緒に来ないかと提案してきた、廣井氏に直接インタビューし、コレクションの作品個々にまつわる話も聴くことができるから、と。数か月 資金調達に奔走し、キックスターターでのキャンペーンを成功させたポーラとマリナは、ミシガン大学日本研究センターの協力とキックスターター寄付者からの支援で2014年5月に1週間、ジャネルと共に日本の東北地方を訪れた。廣井氏の自宅がある秋保(あきう)工芸の里を訪ね、その熟練の業を目の当たりにした。2014年8月、ジャネルはフロリダ州デルレイ・ビーチへ向かい、モリカミ博物館・日本庭園へ足を運ぶ。コレクションの寄贈を受け入れてくれた博物館だった。

廣井先生のお宅と工房の写真です。それぞれの独楽のデザインを、基になった伝説や歴史の話を交えて説明し、独楽を回して見せてくれました。

Media post: Going to Akiu Craft Park

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Janell, determined to travel to Japan one last time to see her many friends and attend her homecoming at Migyagi Gakuin, invited Paula and Malina to join her so that they could interview Hiroi in person and share in the Japan side of the collection’s history. After several months of funding inquiries and a successful Kickstarter campaign, Paula and Malina were able to travel with Janell for a week in May of 2014 to northern Japan with the support of the University of Michigan’s Center for Japanese Studies and Kickstarter contributors. There they visited Hiroi at his home in Akiu kōgei no sato 秋保工芸の里 (Akiu Craft Village) and were introduced to his artisanry in person.

These photos show Hiroi-sensei’s home, store, and workshop. He demonstrated how to spin various tops. He also explained the legends and histories behind the design of each top. 

 

 

メディ・ポスト：ジャネルのインタビュー（2013年）

biography, koma, tops, , , ,
Janell and her collection at home in 2013.

2013年4月、テネシー州プレザント・ヒルに住むジャネル・ランディスの友人、ジェーン・ヘラルドは日本のアートについてGoogleで検索した。たまたま見つけたのが、ミシガン大学の大学院博士課程に在籍し中世日本の職人の歴史について研究している学生、ポーラ・カーティスが運営するブログ ”What can I do with a B.A. in Japanese Studies? （日本研究の学位があると何ができますか？）”※だった。「日本の江戸独楽のコレクションを安心して預けられる場所を探すのを手伝ってくれないかしら？」ジェーンからの最初のメールだった。

ジェーンの隣人であり友人でもあるジャネル (88歳)が日本の宮城県仙台市にある宮城学院女子大学で（1953年から）30年以上教師をしていたこと、その間に江戸独楽を専門とする工芸職人、廣井道顕氏に弟子入りしていたことをジェーンは説明した。江戸独楽は独特な様式の伝統的な木製の独楽で、日本で歴史が長い。 ジャネルは日本で生活していた歳月の中で廣井氏の作品である独楽を100個以上も集めていた、どこか独楽を寄贈できる博物館を見つけたいと思っていたのだが、どこも見つからない。『どこかジャネルのコレクションを引き取ってくれる博物館を紹介してくれないかしら？それか、何かほかにできることがあれば教えてくれない？こんなに綺麗なものを物置に押し込むようなことしたくないのよ』

その意見に賛同したポーラは、何人か知り合いにあたってみたが、独楽の寄贈を受け入れてくれる博物館を探すのは骨が折れるかもしれないと気がかりであった。そこでポーラはパブリック・ヒストリー※研究者マリナ・ローズ・スーティに連絡を取り、口述歴史記録プロジェクトとして、珍しい例であるジャネルとコレクションの経緯について取り上げ、見込みのありそうな博物館に独楽の受け入れを働きかけることができないか話し合った。2013年10月、ポーラとマリナはプレザント・ヒルにあるジャネルの家に招かれ、３日間にわたりジャネルにインタビューし、美しい独楽のコレクションを見せてもらった。

ジャネルの家を訪ねた際の写真です。ポーラとマリナに自分のコレクションや独楽を回して見せてくれました。

Janell and her collection at home in 2013.
Janell pulls out some of her favorite tops.
Janell demonstrates how to wrap the string of a top.
Janell shows off many different types of tops.
Janell encourages Paula and Malina to master top spinning.
Malina, Janell, and Paula.

※”What can I do with a B.A. in Japanese Studies?”（日本研究の学位があると何ができますか？）は日本研究をしている学生や日本研究に関わったことのある人たちが、留学・研究・仕事などを通して経験したこと、日本の文化や習慣なども含め、あらゆる情報の交換を目的として記事を提供しているブログ。

※パブリック・ヒストリーはアカデミックな歴史とは逆に、実生活における応用の歴史を保存、博物館展示、口述歴史として記録する分野の学問。

 

Media post: Interviewing Janell in 2013

biography, tops, , ,
Janell and her collection at home in 2013.

In April of 2013, Jane Heald, a resident of Pleasant Hill, Tennessee, and friend of Janell Landis, took to Google for help on information about Japanese art. By chance, she stumbled across What can I do with a B.A. in Japanese Studies?, a blog run by Paula R. Curtis, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan working on the history of medieval Japanese artisans. “Can you help us find a home for a beautiful collection of Japanese Edo Tops?” her email began.

Jane explained that her neighbor and friend Janell (88) taught at Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University in Sendai, Japan for over thirty years (beginning in 1953), and during that time was apprenticed to Mr. Michiaki Hiroi, an artisan who specialized in Edogoma 江戸独楽. Edogoma, a particular style of traditional wooden spinning top, have a long tradition in Japan. As it happened, Janell collected over a hundred of Hiroi’s tops over the course of her time in Japan, and though she hoped to find a museum to donate her collection to, thus far they had no luck. “Could you recommend another museum that would like to receive her donation? Or advise us another way to proceed? These beautiful objects shouldn’t be suddenly shoved into storage on short notice,” Jane wrote.

In full agreement, Paula contacted several colleagues, but worried about the time it might take to find a museum willing to accept the donation. She then contacted public historian Malina Rose Suity to discuss the possibility of an oral history project that would both preserve Janell’s unique history with the collection and promote it to potential museums. In October of 2013, Paula and Malina were invited to Janell’s home in Pleasant Hill, where they conducted interviews with Janell over the course of three days and were introduced to her beautiful top collection.

These are photos of the interview trip at Janell’s home, where she showed Paula and Malina her collection and how to spin her tops.

Janell and her collection at home in 2013.
Janell pulls out some of her favorite tops.
Janell demonstrates how to wrap the string of a top.
Janell shows off many different types of tops.
Janell encourages Paula and Malina to master top spinning.
Malina, Janell, and Paula.

Newspaper article 新聞記事: Setting out to restore traditional wooden toys 伝統の木地がん具復元にかける

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Hiroi-sensei has also appeared in newspapers as a well-known Edo top maker. Below is a translation of an article entitled “Setting out to restore traditional wooden toys” that ran the newspaper Asahi Shinbun on January 14, 1982. See the original Japanese article at the link below.

廣井先生はよく知られている江戸独楽の職人として新聞記事で特集されています。1982年1月14日、「朝日新聞」が廣井先生についての記事を掲載しました。以下のリンクでアクセスできます。

Click here for the original article: 歴史記事はこちら。

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Setting out to restore traditional wooden toys

In Sendai, there is an artisan whose work appeals to people who love toys made from wood; he continues the restoration of these traditional objects. An artisan turning pulpwood on the lathe and making toys, Hiroi Michiaki (48) is a specialist* even among woodworkers. At the New Year, his “sulking dog (sune inu)” top was brought back.

Hiroi was born in Tokyo’s shitamachi in Honjo Fukagawa. Hiroi is a third-generation [woodworking] specialist ; his grandfather did [woodworking] as a pastime and quit his job as a doctor to become a specialist. Hiroi is an artisan who inherited the tradition of Edo-style wooden toys. He was evacuated [during WWII] to Sendai.

The world of making wooden toys on lathes is vast. Many of the items that Hiroi produces are technically difficult and take a great deal of labor to make. In the time that he could make three kokeshi, he often can only make a single [wooden top]. It takes a month and a half to make about one hundred tops. “I’m deprived of free time,” he laughed. He recalls how to make many of the toys by muscle memory. There are no diagrams or exemplars. One by one, the toys are resurrected from what the body remembers. Asked by a Tokyo-based admirer [to make them], Hiroi began to create the wooden tops with the goal of restoring one hundred types over fifty years. “When the lathe spins, your hands naturally begin to move, and the shape [of the top] appears.”

“The  first dream of the new year (hatsuyume)” is [a top with] a falcon spinning at the summit of Mt. Fuji. “Monster (obake)” is one where a monster leaps from a well when the top stops spinning. There are many stylish, refined tops that seem to embody Edo toys. On the stand of the “sulking dog” top for the New Year there is a pattern of a tengu with his [elongated] nose and an okame with her [open] mouth, designed to complement one another. The dog is sulking about their good relationship.

Hiroi’s admirers come to his shop to receive his toys and enjoy conversation with him while playing with the tops. “Everyone is carefree and cheerful.”

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* The term used in the article is 紅物師, which is slightly unusual. The 紅 character refers to a deep red color, and akamonoshi 赤物師 (赤 meaning red) is another word for a kokeshi maker. So here the use of 紅 might be a play on characters to mean a much deeper talent.

Media Post: Photographs of Hiroi by AriTV　メディアポスト：AriTV撮影の廣井先生

koma, tops, , , , ,

These are photos of Hiroi-sensei taken by ariTV, a high-quality internet-based television station supporting the promotion of events and cultural traditions of the Sendai area. 

仙台地域での伝統文化やイベントを紹介するインターネット配信をベースとする放送局であるariTVが撮影した廣井先生の写真

Media Post メディアポスト: Photographs of tops by AriTV (AriTV撮影の独楽)

tops, , ,

These are photos of Hiroi-sensei’s tops taken by ariTV, an internet-based television station supporting the promotion of events and cultural traditions of the Sendai area.

ariTVが撮影した廣井先生の独楽。ariTVは仙台地域の伝統文化やイベントを紹介するインターネット配信をベースとする放送局

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Media Post メディアポスト: Photographs of tops by AriTV (AriTV撮影の独楽)

koma, tops, , , ,

These are photos of Hiroi-sensei’s tops taken by ariTV, an internet-based television station supporting the promotion of events and cultural traditions of the Sendai area. 

ariTVが撮影した廣井先生の独楽。ariTVは仙台地域の伝統文化やイベントを紹介するインターネット配信をベースとする放送局

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