Database / I I I I
Design Resources: Digital Archive
Holdings Classification (Registered Name)
Takamatsu Wagasa Wagasa doshi
Takamatsu Wagasa Wagasa doshi
- Category
-
- #Graphic
- Year of Production (First Edition)
昭和時代初期～昭和40年代（1925～1974年頃）
- Designer
Yoshimichi Sasaki
- Manufacturer
Not for sale
- Distributor
producer
- Dimensions
-
φ800 - 835 mm
- Materials and Techniques
Japanese paper. Thick Japanese paper coated with persimmon tannin. Depending on the design, multiple stencils were used, and techniques such as openwork and double pasting were combined to create the finished product. After World War II, the technique of silk-screening was quickly adopted to print patterns. The production of parasols in Takamatsu had been based on a division of labor since the prewar period, with Mr. Sasaki working as a “Kamiya” (paper maker) who made the paper for the umbrella body and others working as “Kokeya” (umbrella frame makers), with each component delivered to the “Kasa-ya” to be made into a finished product. In addition, while traditional Japanese umbrellas had long, thin sheets of washi pasted onto each bone, the Takamatsu Wagasa used a single sheet of body paper to simplify the process.
- Design Registration Number
Unclear
- Portrait and Publicity Rights Holder
Not Applicable
- Copyright Registration Number
No registration
- Inquiries
Seto Inland Sea Folk History Museum
- Data Source
Tadahiko Miyata and Michio Tada, “Industrial History of Kagawa,” 1978 Keio Araki, “This Road, This Person,” Shikoku Local Studies Association Book Series No. 2, 1979
Kagawa Prefectural Museum, Explanatory Sheet for Special Exhibits Vol. 57, “Takamatsu Wagasa – Its Beauty and Techniques” (2013)
Body paper of brightly colored parasols designed for domestic and overseas export in the prewar and postwar periods
Description
The Takamatsu wagasa (parasol) was one of Kagawa Prefecture’s major exports before and after World War II. According to “Kagawa’s Industrial History” (Miyata & Tada, 1978), around 1887, Iwakichi Kamiharu of Miyawaki Village (Takamatsu City) began manufacturing parasols by using handmade Japanese paper, which was then made in Takamatsu (a suburb of Takamatsu City), and bamboo from Shioe (mountainous area, present Takamatsu City), making the most of his manual dexterity. After World War I, the parasol industry was exported not only to Japan but also to the U.S. and other countries. In 1918, the Takamatsu City Umbrella Craftsman Training Institute was established in Higashiwawaramachi. In 1930, there were 100 umbrella makers in Takamatsu, 60 of which were export umbrella makers. The annual production that year was 914,400 parasols, of which 886,500 were exported to the United States, India, Indochina (at that time), Australia, and the United Kingdom, making it a flourishing industry. However, exports ceased around 1940 and 1941, and the industry suffered a major blow and declined. After the war, the industry shifted to the manufacture of rain umbrellas and also produced parasols for export, but from around 1950 to 1961, with the spread of Western-style umbrellas, the demand was limited to umbrellas for dancing. This document is part of a group of materials that consists of the paper for making parasols, paper patterns and tools for making paper patterns that were handed down in the home of a craftsman called “Kamiya,” who made the paper for making parasols. The creator, Yoshimichi Sasaki (1909-1978), was engaged in the production of body paper and paper patterns for parasols, including those for export, before and after World War II, and after the war he was commissioned by the Kagawa Prefectural Government to provide design guidance for parasol designs in the prefecture at the Kagawa Prefecture Commerce and Industry Promotion Hall. The paper for the parasols for export were richly colored because they did not need to be coated with persimmon tannin for waterproofing, and novel patterns were actively sought, such as new motifs, making them valuable as design materials for export before and after the war.