Wearing Cultural Styles in Japan: Concepts of Tradition and Modernity in Practice

8. Tradition and Modernity Merged in Tsugaru Nuri Lacquerware: Perspectives of Preservation and Promotion, Production and Consumption

171 Chapter 8 Tradition and Modernity Merged in Tsugaru Nuri Lacquerware Perspectives of Preservation and Promotion, Production and Consumption Anthony S. Rausch Aomori Prefecture, named after its “blue forests” of Japanese cypress, is the northernmost prefecture of the To – hoku Region. With a population of approximately 1.48 million, spread through three major cities, five secondtier cities, and 59 towns and villages, Aomori is clearly rural. The prefecture ranks low on most standard criteria of development and is experiencing a net loss of population, an aging population, and high social welfare dependency.1 On the other hand, Aomori is blessed with a strong agricultural and fisheries base and is a major domestic producer of apples, garlic, scallops, and yams. Aomori also boasts of natural beauty and historical importance, most notably the Shirakami Mountains (designated by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site), and the Jo – mon-period Sannai Maruyama archeological site (estimated to have been inhabited 5,500 years ago). Depending on one’s point of view, Aomori is either cursed with rural isolation, a function of its geographical distance from the political and cultural capitals and underdeveloped infrastructure, or blessed with abundant nature and a fiercely independent spirit, a carryover from its long status on the periphery of both old and modern Japan. There are two well-recognized districts within Aomori, the Tsugaru to the west and the Nambu to the east. Separated by the Hakkoda Mountain Range, which runs south from Mutsu Bay, these two districts are distinct entities , with separate histories, dialects, and festivals. Cultural representations of Tsugaru include Tsugaru Shamisen music, Tsugaru Koginzashi embroidery, the Tsugaru Kagura and Tsugaru Minyo – Te-odori dance forms, and Tsugaru Nuri lacquerware. This chapter discusses Tsugaru Nuri, the lacquerware of the Tsugaru District, presenting it as one means of examining the dimensions of tradition and modernity in rural Japan, played out in specific elements of the history, policies, preferences, and practices of lacquerware craftworkers, government agencies, and Japanese consumers. The various perspectives contextualizing Tsugaru Nuri, emphasized in the processes of traditionalization by government, market accommodation, craft innovation by lacquerers , and consumption by Japanese consumers, aptly portray both the dimensions of tradition and modernity (related to traditional representations of rural Japan), and the manner in which these representations are cast in specific cultural styles (as appropriate to the evolving objectives of these various groups). These perspectives, and the resulting cultural styles, reflect the variety of conceptualizations of traditional crafts in modern society : in the tension between tradition and merchandising (Chalmers 1992); in the contrast of tradition versus traditionalization; the creation of social meaning surrounding tradition (Staub 1988); and in the causality of modernity as a necessary precondition for the conceptualization of tradition (Sekimoto 2000). However, the traditionalization of Tsugaru Nuri as a craft, while understandable given increased recognition and valuation of traditional Japanese crafts that occurred in the 1970s, does little to ensure its future. It is rather in the true tradition of Tsugaru Nuri, a tradition incongruously based on a thoroughly modern model of market accommodation and craft innovation, that a future for Tsugaru Nuri will be secured. Tsugaru Nuri Lacquerware: Origins and Establishment Tsugaru Nuri itself is in many ways a mystery. Most locals of course know what it is: the locally made lacquered chopsticks, bowls, tie clips, and tables. However, few clearly understand its history, nor even how the distinctive Tsugaru Nuri patterns are created. As described by Sato (1977), Tsugaru Nuri is the “joining together of wooden base forms with precious lacquer sap in once secretive, now mysterious techniques, which, through a labor-intensive and time-consuming process of lacquering and polishing, result in a variety of lacquered goods with intricate and inexplicably detailed surface patterns and astonishing 172 Anthony S. Rausch longevity” (translation by the author). From the standpoint of the craft tradition , Tsugaru Nuri is a piece of lacquerware based on (a) the Tsugaru lacquering techniques, (b) any one of the four designated Tsugaru lacquerware patterns, (c) the traditional Tsugaru coloring, and (d) being of the Tsugaru District in origin. The pieces range from the ordinary and everyday— chopsticks, trays, and bowls—to the extraordinary and prized—a zataku (grand Japanese-style low table), a fubako (stationary box), and a suzuri (calligraphy set). The artistic and complex character of the four representative patterns of Tsugaru Nuri are varied: the mysterious and random multicolored speckling of kara-nuri; the minute uniformity of the circle...