Takato Town, Ina City, Nagano Prefecture, overlooking the ruins of Takato Castle, one of the three most famous cherry blossom viewing spots in Japan. In this small town, there is a craftsman who makes frying pans that attract many customers from all over Japan. He is Takashi Kawarazaki, who moved from his birthplace in Tokyo to Takato Town and set up his own workshop.

Work that confronts oneself

Mr. Kawarazaki’s motivation for becoming a blacksmith was simple. While working at a department store in Tokyo, he grew tired of the crowds in the city and of dealing with customers at work. Then, why not do manufacturing?” He then visited various craft studios. He then toured various craft studios and pondered what he wanted to do. As a result, Mr. Kawarazaki became interested in forging, which involves striking heated iron to create products. After finding what he wanted to do, he quit his job at the age of 35 with his “can-do” spirit. He moved to Nagano Prefecture to attend a technical college, and after graduation studied under a blacksmith in Tomi City, Nagano Prefecture.

Not a work of art, but a tool for daily life.

In 2002, he opened his own workshop in Takato-machi, Ina City. Of course, it was not all smooth sailing for him immediately after he opened his workshop. There were times when he could hardly call it work. However, he thought, “Let’s keep going until I reach 40 years of age, and then we can see what happens next. As mentioned above, Mr. Kawarazaki himself did not set out to become a blacksmith for any great reason, and he does not think of what he makes as a work of art, but rather as a tool for daily life. That is why he thinks that his work is more like a tool for daily life, rather than a work of art. If it doesn’t meet the needs of the world, I will update it to meet them. If it doesn’t meet the needs of the world, let’s update it to meet the needs of the world. This attitude had a great influence on his encounter with the famous ceramic artist Noriyuki Yamamoto, who has published books and photo collections, which led to the introduction of Mr. Kawarazaki’s works to the world. When he first greeted Kawarazaki with the words, “I will make anything out of iron if you ask me to. Yamamoto was amused by this and exhibited his work in his studio, giving me the opportunity to see it. This attitude of listening to the voice of the consumer and applying it to manufacturing, like that of a manufacturer, has gained widespread sympathy.

Time and effort are what craftsmen’s handiwork should be about

That said, Mr. Kawarazaki’s works cannot be mass-produced like industrial products sold in mass merchandising stores. Unlike cold forging used in metal product factories, Kawarazaki’s works are made using hot forging, in which the metal is heated one by one. Although it is not suitable for mass production because of the time and labor required, it can be formed into complex shapes, and can be finished to the shape that is envisioned. Of course, he does not have a fixed concept of what his work should look like. However, he believes that this is the proper handiwork of a craftsman, and he has always been dedicated to it, no matter what time of day it is.

A wok I made by chance opens up new possibilities

Listening to consumers and careful craftsmanship are two ideas that coexist. The coexistence of these two ideas is one of Mr. Kawarazaki’s strengths. The story of the birth of the first hit “wok” is a perfect example of this. One day, his wife asked for a wok, and Mr. Kawarazaki went to a department store to look for one, but after walking around for a long time, he could not find the ideal one. Then, he decided to make a wok, so he listened to his wife’s request and produced it. The result is a handmade product that is lightweight, conducts heat well, and can be wielded by people of any height without discomfort. The wife’s reaction to the product was positive. This led to the sale of the product as an actual product, which received an unexpectedly strong response. The spirit of making everything from Japanese nails to staircases, as long as there is a request, is expanding the scope of his work and creating the possibility of further hit products.

The Value of “Takashi Kawarazaki’s Frying Pan

The result is a frying pan that is now hard to find. Like the wok, the frying pan was created in response to consumer feedback, but since it was first sold to a well-known lifestyle store in Tokyo, it has quickly gained popularity due to its functionality and warm texture, which is only possible with hand-forged products. Furthermore, the use of the product in a video distributed by a popular camping-related YouTube star led to the acquisition of users such as young people and men, who were not previously the purchasing base for the product. Demand for the product has grown even more, and now customers wait more than a year from the time of order to the time they receive the product.

The Arrival Point and the Road Ahead

Even today, when the company is attracting a large number of customers from all over Japan, what it does remains exactly the same as when it first opened its workshop. He heats an iron plate as he always does, and then he forms it by pounding it with a wooden mallet as he always does. The only thing that has changed a little is that he now has eyes. Because you can’t take measurements during the forging process, when I started as a craftsman, it was difficult to make the same thing all the same size, even if I was making the same thing in the same process.

However, as I made more and more pieces, I began to be able to make the same shape without having to think about it. And now that he can sell as many as he makes, he feels that he has reached the point where he can produce as many as he can. I am producing as much as I can, so I can’t make any more. Therefore, it is impossible to increase his income any further, and he does not want to do so much more. I want to continue the same blacksmithing business I started because I love it, even 10 years from now. With this wish, Mr. Kawarazaki continues to hammer iron today.

The post Kawarazaki Takashi, a blacksmith who listens to the voice of the user and carries on the handiwork of a careful craftsman / Ina City, Nagano Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.

Art Village Created in an Environment Rich in Nature

Nakagawa Village in Kamiina-gun, Nagano Prefecture, overlooking the Japanese Alps. It is a village rich in nature with a pristine landscape that has been called the most beautiful village in Japan. However, it is not widely known that Nakagawa Village also has another aspect as an art village. Various artists, including painters, woodworkers, art framers, and glassworkers, live and have their studios here. In addition to the government’s active promotion of the affinity with art, such as by introducing artists’ activities, the rich natural environment may have stimulated creativity, resulting in the establishment of a culture in which the community and art coexist. The activities of a diverse range of artists also motivate people who are considering moving to the area from a cultural perspective, such as art and production, and this has directly led to an increase in the number of young people moving to the area.

Roots in glass as hippie artwork

Mr. and Mrs. Taira, who have “STUDIO PREPA,” a studio that makes tableware, vases, and other household items using air-blown glass, are another couple who fell in love with the atmosphere of Nakagawa Village and moved to the area. The scenery, which changes its expression at sunrise, sunset, and different times of the day, is extremely beautiful. They decided to move to the area because they felt at home in such an original landscape. However, contrary to the scenery, when you step into the workshop, it looks like an American garage with piles of American-made daily necessities.

That is as it should be. The roots of the Taira couple’s work lie in the hippie culture of the 1970s. The glass works of Mr. and Mrs. Taira, which follow the technique of air-blowing that was popularized as hippie artwork, have a warmth and stylish outline that is distinctly different from the old Japanese-made glass. In addition to being handled mainly by major select stores such as Ron Herman and Margaret Howell, they have received many inquiries from popular restaurants in Japan and abroad. They also participate in craft fairs in the U.S. so as not to neglect their studies to update their ideal style. Based in Yosemite National Park, they stay there for several weeks, sometimes more than a month, to experience the local atmosphere firsthand, which leads to inspiration for their work.

Home Decor in the U.S.A.

Did you know that the U.S. is a leader in glass crafts? From windows and cups to smartphones, glassware is so much a part of people’s lives that it would be difficult to live without touching it. In Japan, there are traditional glass crafts such as faceted glass and beadlocks, and if you look around the world, you will find that glassware is widely used in all regions, from traditional crafts such as Venetian glass and Turkish lamps to famous glassworks such as Galle, Baccarat, and Swarovski. Although the United States does not seem to be a leader in glassware, it is the leader in the field of home décor, he says.

Aiming for warmth expressed through glass

Home décor refers to tableware, vases for arranging flowers, and other products that add color to daily life. The Taira’s workshop also makes tableware and glassware, as well as vases, lampshades, and other glassware designed for use in daily life. The glassware made by Mr. and Mrs. Taira is particular about its thickness. They once received a wooden glass from a friend, and when they drank water from it, they were astonished at how delicious it tasted. She then tried drinking water from a glass cup she had around her in the same way. However, the water was somewhat spiky. I wondered why, since the water came from the same faucet, but the cause seemed to be the shape of the drinking cup. The thin, dignified glass was beautiful to look at, but it did not make the usual drink taste even better, like a wooden cup. After realizing this, I began to think that I wanted to make glassware that expressed the warmth of wood.

Completed when it is filled, that is our policy.

The products made based on this policy are completed when the contents are added. The glassware must be at least 20% empty when it is just a container, otherwise it will be too hot when the contents are added, whether water or flowers,” says Mr. and Mrs. Taira. Mr. and Mrs. Taira.

Since the dishes are used in daily life, they are not meaningful only as vessels. They believe that glassware that brings out the best of the materials is what they should make.

Another thing that Mr. and Mrs. Taira are committed to is to stick to a style that can only be achieved by air-blowing, and to products that can only be made by air-blowing. They sometimes use cold work such as mosaic or fusing to express colors (cold work is made of hardened glass, as opposed to hot work made of molten hot glass such as air-blown glass), but they do this only to add value to their creativity, and they do not stray far from that category. I try not to stray too far from that category. Although we have been doing nothing but air-blowing for nearly 20 years now, there is still a lot that we don’t know about manufacturing and its characteristics. But that is what makes it interesting for them, according to Mr. and Mrs. Taira. The world of glass is so deep that even the two of them, whose products are recognized for their excellence not only in Japan but also around the world, have not yet fully grasped it. The inquisitive minds of Mr. and Mrs. Taira, who want to learn all they can about this world, will continue to produce even more wonderful products.

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Cider Brewery Draws Attention in Nagano, the Apple Capital of Japan

Nagano Prefecture boasts the second largest apple production in Japan. As a result, the prefecture also produces a large number of ciders, which are made from apples. In the past, many wineries and sake breweries in the prefecture produced ciders as souvenirs, but recent years have seen a surge in the number of breweries specializing in ciders with a spirit of craftsmanship, driven by the recent trend for ciders. The first brewery in Nagano Prefecture specializing in ciders, Kamoshika Cider Brewery, is a pioneer in this field. Located on a hilltop in Ina City, Nagano Prefecture, with a scenic view of the Japanese Alps to the south and north, the modern design of the facility might make you think it is a café. However, the ciders brewed here have been highly acclaimed in many prestigious competitions, including winning the top prize “Trophy” at the Fuji Cidre Challenge, a world-class cidre competition.

The familiar taste of Inadani apples

Kohei Irikura, the head of Kamoshika Cidre Brewery, was born in Tokyo. His great-grandmother’s house in Ina City used to send apples to him, so he was familiar with apples from a young age, but as an adult, he spent some time without having anything to do with them. One day, however, the delicious taste of Ina Valley apples that he used to eat at home suddenly came to mind. Since then, Mr. Irikura has been thinking about what he could do with apples, and moved to Ina City, which had all the right hooks. He studied brewing techniques at a brewing school in Tokyo and at a brewery in Nagano Prefecture, and in 2016 he opened the Kamoshika Cider Brewery.

Encountering a brewed variety that was being grown for research

After opening the brewery, he took on a variety of challenges in pursuit of the cider taste he envisioned. The apple has established a firm position in Japan, and has become a major fruit that has earned the right of citizenship, yet many ciders made from apples have yet to break out of the realm of souvenirs. The reason for this is that apples for fresh consumption began to spread during the Meiji period (1868-1912), and at that time, varieties for brewing were no longer imported.

Later, it became even more difficult to import brewing apples due to quarantine issues and other problems, so the only way to produce ciders was to use varieties that had been improved for fresh eating in Japan. In other words, ciders made from popular local apple varieties make excellent souvenirs. However, it may be more akin to wine with a regional promotion element, using grapes that are not specifically wine varieties, such as Kyoho grapes or Shine Muscat.

Of course, these are also delicious, but in the same way that wineries in Japan are all focusing their efforts on cultivating popular wine grape varieties from around the world, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, there are also many varieties of apples that can be eaten fresh, such as the sharply acidic Benidama (Jonathan in English) and the refreshingly sour green apple Granny Smith, which is native to Australia. Cider, with its astringency and acidity not found in fresh eating apples, has its own variety of apples suited for cider. However, it was not easy to brew cider using these varieties because they could not be imported through quarantine.

However, Ina, where the brewery was located, happened to be home to the Faculty of Agriculture of Shinshu University, which had grown for research purposes Virginia Crab, a native of the United States, Greensleeves, a native of England, and other valuable brewing apple varieties grown on the home farm of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States. were grown for research purposes. Mr. Irikura immediately asked the professor to share branches of these varieties and cultivate them in his own vineyard. He began producing apples that were a combination of the brewing variety and the fresh eating variety.

Second fermentation in the bottle, a labor-intensive pursuit of flavor

Cidre is not made by industrially adding carbon dioxide gas like carbonated beverages, but rather by secondary fermentation in the bottle, like champagne, in which sugar and yeast are added to the wine and fermented again in the bottle. The apples used change with the seasons. From a star-studded list of apple varieties, the brewery went through a process of trial and error to find a combination that would allow them to confidently introduce their ciders to the world, using only what is in season during the harvesting season.

Kamoshika Cider Brewery aims to create a cider that is uniquely Ina Valley

The concept of the cider that Mr. Irikura is aiming for is freshness and fruitiness. Since apples oxidize easily, he is careful to keep the juice from oxidizing as much as possible. However, according to Mr. Irikura, 80% of a cider’s flavor is determined by the quality of the ingredients. This is why Nagano Prefecture is one of the largest producers of apples in Japan, and the brewing of cider in Inadani, which is famous for its high-quality apples, is an advantage. The brewing environment and yeast, which is said to have the second largest impact on flavor after the ingredients, are prepared by using yeast imported from France for Champagne brewing and egg-shaped brewing tanks that allow for easy flow and mellowing of acidity.

The ciders thus produced are brewed according to the harvest time of the varieties used.

The ciders are brewed according to the harvest season of the variety used, and are available in six classic etitettes: “La 1e saison,” “La 2e saison,” and “La 3e saison,” each with sweet and dry flavors. All of them are made with second fermentation in the bottle. All of the ciders feature fine bubbles created by secondary fermentation in the bottle and a robust flavor with the natural fruity acidity of apples.

Our goal is to create a place where people gather with cider as a hook.

Six years after its establishment, Kamoshika Cider Brewery has become one of the top cider breweries in Japan, both in name and reality, by continuing to make ciders that take advantage of its location. In the meantime, more than 10 breweries specializing in ciders have opened in Nagano Prefecture, and we feel that the gap between domestic ciders and world-famous ciders has become smaller compared to wine. This is probably evidence, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, of the increasing number of cidery breweries in Japan with a spirit of craftsmanship. This facility is a driving force in the Japanese cider world. The goal is to create a cider with such appeal that it will become a visitor center for the area and attract more people to Ina, using the cider as a hook to attract more visitors.

The post Kamoshika Cidery Brewery, a leader in domestically produced ciders, taking advantage of its location in Inadani, Nagano Prefecture / Ina City, Nagano Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.