Why did he came up to be a Kiri Tansu craftsman?

Could you tell us about why you decided to become Kiri Tansu craftsman?

 

 One biggest reason was that this job was our family line. To be born as a first-son for the third generation of the family line was one of the big reason, and it was natural for me to succeed the job. Since we had Kiri Tansu from my youth, I usually sneaked in to the working space and cut /shaved the woods as for fun. As my training to get the skills, I first started to make my own equipment needed in the job, like sharpening the plane blade.

 

About “Kiri Tansu”

Could you tell us about the feature of Kiri Tansu?

 
 One of the best feature is that the wood used is lighter than the usual ones. Since these items often to be inherited after marriage, the simplicity to carry these items were important. In the old days, like a palanquin, Chest of Drawers were carried by using poles. Therefore Kiri Tansu used to have metal fittings to put the poles in. When people get married, they usually used this poles and carried for a long distance. Therefore, we put “sao (poles in japanese)” in the end of the numbers when we count the chest of drawers. Though, it is not used often these days.
 Also, paulownia (“Kiri”) is stronger to deal with moisture and also insects can be more avoided to come in than the usual wood. Since Japan has four seasons, in rainy seasons, chest of drawers will get damaged because of the humidity. When humidity get higher, paulownia get expanded and fills the blank spaces among the wood. This allows to save the clothes inside the chest of drawers. Another feature is that Kiri Tansu helps to prevent the spread of fire. It is strong with fire and it burns slowly. Since the wood has high density, water and fire are difficult to come inside.
 

Is it an idea from the old days to use paulownia to make chest of drawers?

 
 In Edo era there were so many fire accidents that people said “fighting and fire are the great attractive in Edo”. If the fire doesn’t disappear, Kiri Tansu would get ruined. However, since the Kiri Tansu burns slowly, there were many cases when even the house get burned, Kiri Tansu survives like a black charcoal and the things inside get protected with no harm. It strongly protects from fire enough that if the things inside are clothes, you may not even need to wash those closes. In the old days, there were businesses called “UchiBakoYa” that keeps money inside the Kiri Tansu. Safe is mostly made by metal and metals don’t burn. However, the things inside would be ruined because of the heat inside the safe. On the other hand, if you use paulownia box, it decreases the heat and things inside can be protected. It is useful when people wants to keep important things. Even nowadays, expensive safe contains paulownia.
 

Is Kiri Tansu long-lasting?

 

Kiri Tansu in repairing

  Paulownia change shapes unexpectedly only a little time. Even if the wood is hard, it is useless when it change shapes. Since the paulownia is the best wood that doesn’t change shapes unexpectedly, it last for a long time. When the wood get warped or twisted, the wood will get harmed and it will start breaking from that place.The Kiri Tansu made properly will last for 100 to 200 years. It will get darken while time passes but the color can be recovered by repainting the wood. Other wood has different structures so it cant be recovered as easily as this. Also, since Kiri Tansu doesn’t use metal nails, it can be shaved again after being assembled. If metal is used, we can’t use the plane after being assembled. Since Kiri Tansu uses wooden nails, it can be over-shaved. We still even get orders to fix the Kiri Tansu made 100 years ago.

 

What kind of design is popular in Kiri Tansu ?

 

 Kiri Tansu has its basic shape. By combining these shapes, the design can be made infinitely. In the old days, most of the Kiri Tansu was the one bride got from their parents. However, since the room became smaller, the needs for the short chest of drawers has been increasing. In the bubble era, designs with a gorgeous door was popular. Although, since the Heisei era became, more practical and cheaper designs became popular.

 

What kind of people buy Kiri Tansu?

 
 Many of those are people who already had Kiri Tansu before. They usually got it after marriage and because the one they were using became damaged, people decide to buy another good product after 30-40 years. Therefore, many 50-60 years old people buy this product. In the old days, there were only Kiri Tansu as a chest of drawers. However, it wasn’t always made by paulownia and was sometimes made by other woods.
 

Are chest of drawers not made by paulownia called Kiri Tansu as well?

 
Yes, indeed. “SouKiri” is made by 100 percent paulownia, but in “YomoKiri”, paulownia is only used in sides and in other parts, different types of wood are used. The cheapest KiriTansu is called “MaeKiri” and only the front is made by paulownia. Other parts, we use different wood like Japanese cedar. We now often use imported wood like lauan. We print the grain to these wood and therefore this product has all the same grains.
 

About the work-in-process

How does Kiri Tansu be made?

 

 First we cut the purchased wood roughly to the width of the chest of drawers. It is called “Kidori”. We don’t need any drawings and all of these have been input in my head. Chest of drawers also have a standard size, so when we purchase the wood, we buy them referring to these sizes.The important thing in Kidori is that to cut the wood in just the size needed. If we cut it too large, we would have to shave the wood many times and that is not preferable.For example, when we make the 50cm roof part, we need to put two 20cm wood and one 12cm wood together and make one big plate. Since there are grains in wood, we have to put it together as people think it is beautiful. This task needs techniques too. We make all parts thinking about putting it together.After the Kidori, we shave the wood and do the “Hagu”. This “Hagu” is a task to bond the wood plate. After the Hagu there would be a roughness so we shave this to be a good shape. First we do the Kidori, and then the Hagu. After putting it together, we cut it into the measured size. Then we make the “Bozo” and assemble all the parts.

 

Tell us about the finishing process.

 
 In the finishing, not to get interlocked grain, we shave and colorize the wood. Trees have grain and they are not supposed to be shaved in both ways. In coloring, we have “Tonokosiage” techniques from the old days. We also have other coloring technique that is to polish the wood after burning it. In this technique we first burn the wood that is not yet colorized by the burner and then drop the soot by the brash made by brass. After dropping the soot, we put the color in. It is more like putting the color inside the grain more than painting. First make a deep color and then spread it with the spatula. After that, make it waterproof and polish it using the wax. Like these processes there are many tasks to finish the work.
 The way of this colorizing by burning the wood is called, “jidaiage”. In other places people call this “Yakigiri” but our techniques are the original in Tokyo. The name of the technique is referred to the instrument Koto that was first used to be burnt. My Grandfather first came up the idea from this and first burnt the chest of drawers and contrived to make it usable. This way of “jidaiage” has been used about 50 to 60 years after war.
 

What do you think is the best part to show your skills?

 

 The most important thing is not to do the work rough and make it carefully. Although, even if you make it carefully we have to meet the deadline. I am not good at doing my work fast, but those making good product speedy is what I think is specialists.

 

Tools

Tell us about the tools you are using.

 

 They aren’t so many tools for us to use. We have a lot of same saws and 5 to 6 planes. Others, we have machine that correct the thickness of the work. It correct the strains by burning one side of the wood a little.