In this blog I will give a quick overview of the development of Kamakura Bori in the different periods of Japan history. The origin of Kamakura Bori starts in the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) when the Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo establishe his military government in Kamakura on 1192 ... Continue Reading
Yesterday, we visited the studio of the Gotoh family. Normally, they don’t allow visitors to enter the studio, but we were very lucky and this was a big favor. The studio is behind the store and is like an old Japanese big house, all from wood with elevated floors for the a ... Continue Reading
Last week, I had an interview with the head of the Gotoh family, Gotoh Keiko. This family is one of the two families left who have been sculpting Buddhist images since the Kamakura Period and is heir to the craftsmanship handed down from father to son for 28 generations. But now ... Continue Reading
We met a wonderful man in the beginning of our stay here in Kamakaru. He was a writer and we had several nice encounters with him, his wife and some friends. He died of cancer in just six months and his wife had organized a Farewell Party for him yesterday. He often frequented th ... Continue Reading
And then last Saturday, learning what it was all about, we took a two-hour Experience class. The Masters Committee is headquartered in the Kamakura Kaikan, Assembly Hall, above the museum. The committee was established in 1961, and at present consists of twenty-one groups and s ... Continue Reading
Kamakura has of course a Kamakura Bori Museum: Kamakura Bori Kaikan. It is situated in the middle of the city on the main street on the way to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine, Kamakura’s most important shrine, which was founded by Monamoto Yoriyoshi in 1063, and enlarged ... Continue Reading
When Kamakura was the seat of power for the ruling Shogunate in around 1200AD, monk sculptors copied the technique of carving and lacquering wood imported from China into Buddhist images. This way grew and developed into the art of Kamakura Bori.* The first feature is the techni ... Continue Reading
I live in Kamakura (one hour south of Tokyo) and feel very fortunate. It is the ancient capital of the first shogun, Minamoto yo Yoritomo, of the 12th and 13th century, known as the Kamakura Period (1192-1333). A Shogun, “Commander in Chief”, is the military ran ... Continue Reading
Mount Koya (Koyasan) is a 900 meter high plateau surrounded by eight peaks. The eight peaks are thought to represent the eight petals of a lotus in bloom, which is suggestive of the core of a mandala with its eight deities arrayed on the eight petals of a lotus, and with the cen ... Continue Reading
We stayed at the Nan-in, the center temple of all festivities: meetings, eating, sleeping and performing art events. The Buddhist service started every morning at 6.30am and after that we had breakfast. At 9am we had a staff meeting. Ayako-san and Shinobu-san , the founders of Ha ... Continue Reading
