At a Karacho’s Karakami (woodblock-printed paper) workshop

23,Sep 2013 News

Next time you visit our ryokan, please ask us about the golden panel covering the wall just behind our reception desk.? The story that this mesmerizingly beautiful piece of art tells goes a couple of centuries back in time.? The karakami artists, Akihiko Toto and his wife Aiko Senda are the 11^th generation of the karakami maker whose workshop was established in Kyoto in 1624, now the only one of its kind left in Japan.

Before the workshop, Mr. Toto talked about the essential difference between a design made of various patterns which just looks good and a monyo, a symbolic pattern of each karakami woodblock.? Monyo is a deep prayer, Mr. Toto says.? Each monyo has a meaning reflecting Japanese ancient spiritualism where people believe that, in each and every thing that surrounds them in their natural environment, there lives a spirit or a god.? All the monyo, therefore, are positive and are made to bring good fortune and everlasting happiness into one’s life.? During his talk, Mr. Toto directed everyone’s attention to the light that the mica mixed in the pigments was giving off.? “This sparkling light will always be there.“

The process of printing a paper was simple enough for a 3 year-old, but again, it is about how deep your prayer is accompanying every move from brushing the pigment onto the mesh sieve, pressing the paper onto the woodblock to finally lifting the paper off the block.? In today’s workshop, we made a paper to hold an offering for our ancestors in preparation for the traditional Obon festival, a time every year to remember and honour our ancestors.

For me, the workshop was not just about printing a pretty piece of paper but inspired me to live with heightened awareness and a deeper sense of appreciation for everything around us.? There were many gems in Mr. Toto’s words which were the keys to how every one of us can make our ordinary life into an extraordinary one from NOW!