Summer in Japan is damp, hot and moist.
If I didn’t know Japan well I would advise visitors to stay away from the hot summer months of July and August but having lived in Japan for most of my life (I’m 21 right now), I can say with confidence that summer is, in fact, the best time to visit.
Creativity flows in and out of Japan during the summer - the fireworks at Edo River, the “matsuri” (festival) in Asakusa, eating shaved ice and the way Japanese people find bliss during the heat.
The use of “Edo wind chimes” is just one of the many ways of finding bliss during the summer.
The process of making “Edo wind chimes” began way back when there were no air conditioners and electric fans.
Wind chimes were brought in from China along with Buddhism as a way to keep misfortune astray. But wind chimes gradually became a symbol of summer; the feeling you get listening to the high tone “ring ring” sound made from the wind chimes is a feeling akin to sitting under a full grown tree on a hot summer day at the park. So when it’s hot, you’ll find these Japanese-style wind chimes hung in front of many residences.
The Shinohara family has been making “Edo wind chimes” for over 100 years.
A present master of these creators of Japanese wind chimes is the “Edo wind chime”-maker, Shinohara Hiroshi.
Their factory is nestled in a modest corner of Tokyo in an area called “Mizue”. Along with two others, I visited their factory on April 21st early in the morning.
Arriving at the Edo wind chime factory and store, built on the corner of a street filled with residences, we were led right into the factory located behind the store by a man who was moving buckets of ash out.
As soon as we entered the factory, there was the artisan in front of a moderately sized kiln, probably in his late fifties, blowing into a hollow long metal rod with heated glass on the end. The bright red blob on the end of the rod quickly turned into a perfectly round glass ball as the artisan continued to blow, turning the rod at a set speed.
To be honest, the process looked pretty easy. All it took for him was a couple minutes to finish the basis for what was to become an “Edo” wind chime. But of course, it was a different story when I tried.
After an exchange of greetings, the artisan, Hiroshi Shinohara, passed me the hollow metal rod into which I quickly blew into. The glass grew into a overblown circle, before promptly breaking right in front of the artisan.
Sporting a grin, the artisan said,
“It takes three years to be able to make a glass ball – 10 years to make it perfectly round ”
He clearly knew how easy he made it look.
Feeling ashamed at the level of underestimation I had for this art, I tried again with the help of the artisan. He spun the hollow rod around as I blew into it until the glass became something close to a sphere. After the artisan took the glass off the rod with a pair of scissors-like tool, we walked back into the store to wait for the glass to cool and to look at wind chime designs.
The store has the appearance of a family house. There’s even a small living room inside where another worker pulls thread through a hole in the finished glass spheres. At the back of the store is a glass shelf showcasing some of the best wind chimes they’ve made in the past.
The design extends from simple paintings of gold fish to elaborate pictures of “Kabuki”* performers. Amused at the contrast between the traditional appearance of the store and the latest Japanese pop music playing from the store’s small radio in the living room, I tried to form an idea of what I was going to paint on my wind chime.
* Kabuki (Wikipedia)
Returning to the factory, we began painting our wind chimes. 30 minutes later, after another worker pulled thread through the glass sphere, my wind chime was complete – my very own wind chime.
The whole process took about an hour.
An hour is just about the right amount of time for this activity, I told myself as we left the store – my stomach rumbling for lunch amongst the ringing sound of the wind chime I just made.
You can make your very own wind chime here:
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