otemae
Official site released
Hidden under a Simple Stone is
a Trace of an Experienced Craftsmen
a Trace of an Experienced Craftsmen
Stonemason Isamu Chiba (Inuzuka Sekizai Honten)
JP / EN
──Okazaki city is famous as a stone capital but how did it turn out that way?
Chiba : There is a saying that when the Okazaki Castle was built, many stonemasons were brought together to build it. A lot of the stonemasons stayed in this area afterward and it has led to how it is today.
──Located in such Okazaki, what does Inuzuka Sekizai Honten normally make?Chiba : We usually make gravestones. We are willing to make anything else when we receive an order such as stone lanterns, but we do outsource difficult orders to specialized institutions. Since we are in a position of wholesale too, try not to turn down offers unless it’s very complicated.
──So there are different specialized areas even in stone shops. Is design also done here?Chiba : Yes, it is. We use CAD to draw a plan and he has an operator here. For easy items we sometimes handwrite but for complicated layouts we use CAD.
──When you think about it, it's hard to imagine but how do you collect stones?
Chiba : We light a fire on top of bedrock on a rocky mountain and then pour some water. With that, even natural hard rock cracks and we collect it from there. Stones are not something that we can grow so we need to use it wisely as a limited natural resource.
──By the way, what is the vital point of a stonemason’s work?Chiba : When making something with a curb, the shape needs to be ground to become uniform, and that is something difficult. Also, grinding is a crucial process but its former process of making the foundation is also important. If there is a dent, it becomes difficult to evenly grind.
──How long does it take for a stonemason to become full-fledged?
Chiba : It depends on what kind of skill or field you aim for but to become full-fledged is something rather difficult. The training period used to be about 3 to 4 years back in the days but if that's the case, you won’t be able to fully learn the whole job.
Starting from your 2nd or 3rd year you can gradually start working but it will still be far from being able to call full-fledged.
Chiba : Yes exactly. And since domestic fabrication is decreasing nowadays, there isn’t a lot of opportunities. For example, we teach how to make pagodas to apprentices in training and although it looks very detailed and complicated, If you can follow the work process one by one it's something you can learn to make.
However, if you only make it once or twice you easily forget how to. There is a difficulty in securing how many times you have a chance to make it. Simple repetitive steps such as grinding are something easy to learn on the other hand.
──I see. It’s not realistic to make so many pagodas just for practice…
Chiba : It must take about 10 years to become a full-fledged craftsman that can do anything. I have been doing this for 45 years but that doesn’t mean I can make a stone-lantern or anything asked. I can do my best to try to learn by watching others but it’s not a simple task.
──How do you feel about the change in your surrounding circumstances in the 45 years in this world?Chiba : What we used to do by hand has now been mechanized and it has become possible to make complicated shapes. New tools and machines have been made to comply with the new items we make.
However, when I talk to my fellow stonemasons, I hear we are going back to things that are simple in the end. With new tools and machines, the prices are not cheap for the most part but it doesn’t’t mean the pricier the better. After all, it seems as shapes from the old times are good enough.
──We have collaborated in making ‘Craftsmen’s craft stone weight’ for otemae, a small stone weight made out of natural stone that can be used for preparing miso in ordinary households. How was it to actually make this?
Chiba : This time there was a specified weight but it was necessary to actually make the real thing to determine the diameter, so I repeated the process of measuring and grinding. There is no going back when working with stones, so I made so many test pieces to eventually reach the final specification.
Noda : Since it is a stone weight specifically for preparing miso, it was very important for the proportion to be balanced and that it presses down evenly. One of the small things I was concerned about was how to sand down the edges.
Chiba : We changed the shape from square to round in the process. It was a first to make a stone weight for miso so we had numerous discussions.
Noda : That’s true. I’m a professional miso maker and I have never heard of such thing either.
Chiba : Each stone has different hardness and absorbency and what I’ve chosen this time is called Urban Gray, a stone material that is hard and has low absorbency from India.
Noda : During the aging process of miso, a liquid called tamari develops and so we wanted something with low absorbency.
Chiba : Not at all. Its shine comes only from grinding.
Noda : When I first saw it, I also thought the shine comes from some kind of chemical but I was surprised that it comes from grinding. It was very good looking that I wondered if it was made from real stones. Since it’s something that touches food directly, I’m very grateful that nothing extra is used to make this.
Chiba : When the original pattern of the stone is homogenous, even I as a professional sometimes doubt if it’s really a stone or not. By changing the grinding stone and by grinding it carefully, it turns out really nice.
Chiba : Of Course by hand.
Everyone : laughter
Chiba : When the shape is this simple, it’s not necessary of course.
