| Project by Jojo | posted 392 days ago | 405 views | 0 times favorited | 16 comments |  |
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I don’t think this can be actually considered a project as it’s just a casual restoration of an old piece of traditional japanese art.
A ”ranma” is a rustic kind of artwork that is hung on the top part of the inner divisions in a traditional japanese house. I resist calling them walls because, technically, they are not. Our old houses have no real walls and consist of an open plan subdivided with two kinds of light divisions. Those are: ”fusuma” or, as you know them, silk-screen doors, and ”shoji” or light-wood and rice-paper (often also with some thin glass panes) ones. One of those days I shall take some pictures and share them with you if there’s any interest in it. Those divisions cover the entire width of the room and there are often four of them for each “wall”. In rooms bigger than the usual, that number goes up, always in pairs. Funny thing is that they are only about 5 ft 7” tall… and I am 5 ft 11” so stop laughing please. The first weeks in the country you can’t stop banging your head each and every time you go from one room to another. Now, even when I am in a western country, I can’t help but duck before entering a room! Anyway, I digress, as always.
The top 2 ft till the ceiling is made of beams and posts filled with a quite raw mix of clay and straw. No drywalls here. And is just on that part that almost all the art of the home is placed. A couple of hooks and two intermediate small triangular pillows to protect it and a string or wire hanging from a nail on one of the beams is all you need for that matter.
Our home belongs to my in-laws and is around 100 years old. Nobody recalls anymore the origin of the piece you see in the pictures but it’s been hanging there for the last 50 or 60 years at least.
It’s just a simple big chunk of bark with some ”kanji” written on it and a three ”hanko” as signature. The ”kanji” are the signs used in normal writting here and the ”hanko” are the red seals we use instead of handmade signatures in any document. Obviously in this case it’s not only red ink stamped but all is carved and painted inside.
Due to the extremely humid climate in Japan the wood is badly rotten and I’ve not been able to do any kind of deep restoration. For starters, it’s unfinished and once I started the cleaning process some parts just crumbled under my fingers. So I decided to very carefully proceed to clean most of 60 years of dust with a soft brush and a wet rag for a few parts. Once that was done, I retraced the carving edges that needed it and repainted it all in the original white and red colors.
Finally I replaced the rusty wire used to hang it with a nice rope I did with raw string with some sailor’s knots and called it a day.
In the first picture you can see the ”ranma” resting on the tatami and leaning against a pair of ”fusuma”. Obviously is a “before” picture. I also included the japanese transcription of ”ranma” on the top right corner.
The second picture shows you the ”ranma” in it’s place on top of the very same ”fusuma” that close the living room. The third is a photoshopped detail of one of the sides with the top-half of the ”kanji” before and the rest of the image, background included, after. Due to the merging of the layers the colors on the old part are not exactly actual. On the other images they are real.
I apologize for not being able to post a “real” woodworking project but you already know what my signature says…
-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://www.japanese-woodworking-tools.com/
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16 comments so far
Karson
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12910 posts in 887 days
posted 392 days ago
Great set of shots. Thanks for showing them. And I’m interested in seeing some of your home.
-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com
Marge
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129 posts in 440 days
posted 392 days ago
Jojo,
Do not apologize, the work is fascinating, thank you for sharing not only the pictures but the background as well.
-- Marge, Colorado
Dadoo
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1536 posts in 477 days
posted 391 days ago
Tough project to restore Jojo. What does the “kanji” say? Good luck with it.
-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!
whit
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26 posts in 463 days
posted 391 days ago
Jojo,
Not all woodworking projects start with raw lumber. Some start with a previously significant piece and end up with a still-significant, more beautiful piece. That’s some very nice work that I’m sure will be much appreciated.
Whit
-- Even if to be nothing more than a bad example, everything serves a purpose.
Thos. Angle
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3236 posts in 449 days
posted 391 days ago
JoJo,
That is an interesting project and it appears that you rose to the occasion. Please do a blog and show us all about the homes in Japan. I for one am interested in the culture and the traditions. I’ve seen some very wonderful pieces of Japanese woodworking and a friend studied it while stationed in Japan in the Air Force. Show us more.
thanks
Tom
-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon
Bob Babcock
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1807 posts in 572 days
posted 391 days ago
Very interesting indeed. I’d love to hear more as well.
-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org
Jojo
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345 posts in 458 days
posted 391 days ago
Thank you for your kind comments folks.
You know, it’s though not having neither the place nor the powertools to be able to attack “real” projects, specially when one is surrounded by so many inspiring examples of great woorworking. I try to employ my time observing and learning and putting those future designs in paper so, once we’ll move stateside, I could make them happen. I also have access to a lot of great books on traditional carpentry and home design… and so it goes for my budget! :o)
Karson, Tom & Bob, I definitely will be posting a series on the traditional japanese homes once I get around to finish the last post on the ”matsuri” series. Let’s hope I stop procrastinating and start doing it this week. Methinks there’s not much to blog about though but it could very well might be that, along the last couple of years, I just got used to live in them… so I promise I’ll try to look at it again with the eyes of a newcomer.
Dadoo, I knew this one was coming but unfortunately I can’t give you a complete answer. Here’s the deal though:
Those ”kanji” are written in callygraphic form and are not easy to understand for the common of the mortals, least for me and my limited knowledge of them. I can read those tiny little two white ones on the left, by the red seals. They could say ”ushiyama” -the “cow-mountain”- but this is not even sure because every sign has multiple readings and meanings and, even this is the most common of them, in this case we guess is the name of the artist. As for the rest, after consultation with my wife we decided that one of them is clearly ”oto”, which means “sound”, as well as other things, of course. The problem is most of the ”kanji” change it’s meaning and reading when paired with another one so, without understanding the whole pack, you can not tell what lies behind.
That’s the way life is here in Japan, you don’t question anything and, specially, you don’t try to understand it all. There’s no way you ever could. Even them, they can’t and don’t try.
Anyway, who cares about the original hidden meaning when the piece is beautiful?
Very true words of you, Whit. Thank you for them. I will try to remember that.
It’s time to go to the gym, guys. Talk to you later. Take care.
-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://www.japanese-woodworking-tools.com/
schroeder
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476 posts in 612 days
posted 390 days ago
Outstanding! – Thanks Jojo for showing. I too am very interested in seeing photo’s of your home or any other building showing traditional joinery – I spent some time in Japan touring mills many years ago – It was spectacular then and I’m sure now as well.
-- The Gnarly Wood Shoppe
MsDebbieP
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11929 posts in 647 days
posted 390 days ago
a wonderful project / undertaking!
You have done a wonderful job at restoring it – and the blog is well written and filled with lots of information. Thank you (again) for sharing.
-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
Todd A. Clippinger
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2536 posts in 586 days
posted 351 days ago
I am really jealous you are immersed in the culture.
-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com
Jiri Parkman
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559 posts in 299 days
posted 269 days ago
Interesting information and project.
-- Jiri
rikkor
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7687 posts in 361 days
posted 269 days ago
Fascinating.
-- Maplewood, MN
Jojo
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345 posts in 458 days
posted 269 days ago
Thank you guys, you all are way too kind, but I’ll take the compliments! ;o)
-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://www.japanese-woodworking-tools.com/
dennis mitchell
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2945 posts in 801 days
posted 268 days ago
clay and straw….interesting.
-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com
Jojo
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345 posts in 458 days
posted 267 days ago
Yep Dennis, by ‘traditional’ here one means really traditional! And sadly, very cold and with plenty of air drafts in wintertime. ;o)
-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://www.japanese-woodworking-tools.com/
scottb
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2944 posts in 813 days
posted 267 days ago
Neat project, and thanks for that info on your home. I wish our homes were built with the same open concept philosophy back then.
-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/