A whole life canvas bag
Many visitors to Kyoto struggle to line up to buy a "canvas" bag. A simple canvas bag of hundreds of yuan can gather such high popularity, rely on the inheritance of the craftsmanship of old craftsman people, the handwork of one stitch one line and the quality commitment of lifetime preservation... The century-old shop is famous abroad, but it has never set up shop outside Kyoto, the only one in the world. In local people's mind, it is equivalent to LV, everyone will have a canvas bag.
The exclusive shop of "yize sholang cloth bag" is near zhien hospital in dongshan district, Kyoto, Japan. If the shop is less than 100 meters from the shop, it will come to the home of yize hengsanlang. The uncle of the owner, masayoshi isawa, is ten years old this year, but still works in the small studio transformed from his wooden house. Wearing the glasses of heng sanlang, the movement is not slow, although the teeth lost a lot of, but the eyes behind the lens of the bright. He kept the hammer in his hands, beating the shape and line of the bottom of the cloth cover exactly on the canvas. Though he had been working in a cloth bag shop for 75 years, the old man did not stop to retire. The look on his face is a modern man's horse. His greatest achievement and satisfaction in life may have been to make a perfect canvas bag.
There are four craftsmen, old and young, working with heng sanlang. They were about fifty or sixty years apart, but they were all huddled together in a home studio, busy with cloth bags. This picture shows that the back of a crude cloth bag is not simple. It means the hard work of the previous generation and the continuation of the spirit of the next generation. A cloth bag is a combination of craftsmanship and tradition, as well as a connection between the two generations.
Two cloth bags in one family
Years ago, on his first trip to Kyoto, he went to the "one hun canvas" shop, located at tung tai road tong, near zhien yuan. Although far from the Kyoto station, this area is one of Kyoto's most vibrant areas.
The road is lined with low old wooden houses. "Yize canvas" shop and these sales calligraphy supplies, ceramics, toys, daily knife scissors grocery store, quietly and peacefully close together, quiet and low-key.
"Yize canvas" began business as early as 1853, the father of owner yize changjiro used to operate western laundry, to changjiro generation, that is, around the age of dazheng, began to make canvas bags, mainly for some pubs or milk shops. The canvas bag will be inscribed with the regular script. There was nothing to sell, only canvas bags of various original tones, but with an unmistakable quality of texture and handwork, and no fancy design. In order to facilitate long-term use by buyers, canvas bags can not only be cleaned by themselves with water and soap, but also be sent to "after-sale service" -- the customer can send back the damaged cloth bag for repair or replacement of the old parts, recycling, just pay the cost of materials.
Many years later, I visited yize canvas again. However, I found that not far from its exclusive shop, there was a new "yize xirang cloth bag", which was often crowded, making the original century-old shop a little cold. Behind the scenes, there was a family feud, and the watershed was the death in 2001 of the family's fourth owner, Joseph yusuf. According to his living will, the canvas bag family business was intended to be handed over to three sons who followed him to manage the shop for more than 25 years, but the elder son, who was originally in banking, suddenly found another will, indicating that his father had left the business to him in his lifetime. The court finally ruled in favor of the eldest son, and the loser had to turn over the workshop and the shop. However, the eldest son won the lawsuit but lost the hearts of the people, dozens of craftsmen in the workshop decided to resign, and together with shinichiro, and the long-term customer of "yize canvas" - the monks and elders in zhien hospital also decided to support shinichiro in dongshan district to open a new business, continuing the century-old tradition of cloth bags. The new cloth bag shop is separated from the old one by two bunks. Even starting from scratch, shinjiro's attachment to the ancestral home is self-evident. As the court awarded the name of "yize canvas" to the eldest son, so that the name of xinsanlang could no longer be used, xinsanlang simply named the shop as "yize sanlang cloth bag", and designed two trademarks of "xinsanlang canvas" and "xinsanlang cloth bag".
It is said that when the new store opened, there were more than 2,000 people outside the store. Even though the craftsmen worked overtime for several days, the customers were limited to two each, and 15,000 cloth bags were sold out within two hours. Nearly three years have passed since the new store opened, and business is still brisk, with about 500 sales a day on weekdays and 1,000 on weekends. Only one in the world
Unknown people may be a little suspicious: it is just a canvas bag, though it is all handmade, why did it cause such a stir? In addition, the production and sales of canvas bags have always been only in Kyoto, not a multinational brand, why so popular or even well-known abroad? The eye letter is not just because of "long history" or the owner of a letter sanlang personal charm. When you carry a canvas bag in your hand, when you have the chance to walk into their workshop, the answer will be solved. "yize shulang cloth bag" sells the rigorous traditional handcraft, which also runs through people of different ages, who have a strong attitude towards life
Want to experience the spirit of cloth bag maker, want to understand whole cloth bag first from use material to the each process that manual place goes through. The waterproof canvas used for all the cloth bags came from okayama and was shipped to the factory in Osaka to be dyed with natural dyes. Currently, there are 15 kinds of colors available. The thickness of the canvas material is not to say, also can stand the time of ablution, and, after sunshine and washing, the color will become more natural, even more lasting than the brand new. The thread that cloth bag USES also wants firm much more than common cotton thread, cooperate the nest that makes copper again nail. However, to make a cloth bag, at least 10 to 12 processes. The workmen's sewing machines were not the fast, electric kind. Many were more than 60 years old, hand-stitched, hand-stitched. Although the rhythm is slow, but can sew a different line and style.
In addition to sewing machines, another important tool for making cloth bags is the mallet made of different materials -- heavier iron mallets facilitate the shape of cloth bags, while lighter and soft mallets fall on other more delicate parts to make the cloth bags more comfortable -- a process that cannot be ignored, and it takes at least one year to achieve perfect quality without mistakes. As for the "work permit" to operate the sewing machine, you need at least 8 to 10 years of work experience to get it.
The design of cloth bags hasn't changed much over the years. In an interview, Mr. Osawa said. No matter "yi ze canvas" or "yi ze SAN lang cloth bag", have never set up sales point elsewhere. "There's a lot of manufacturing going on around the world, but the relationship between the manufacturer and the customer is getting weaker. Maintaining the close relationship between the two is our priority, so we will not set up sales points outside Kyoto, if you want to buy, come to the capital!" Mr. Shinsolaro isn't trying to stress the value of the cloth bag. Instead, his grandfather's relationship with his clients didn't end when a bag was sold. Although this face-to-face service has now become impossible to take care of as more and more customers are coming, customers can still be seen in the workshop to take back the used cloth bags for maintenance, and the commitment of people oriented is always implemented.
Make happy bags
In addition to the studio created by the home improvement of hengsanlang, the larger production facility is actually located near Kyoto university, where 30 craftsmen work. Unlike Mr Heng, the average age of the "artisans", or "workers" as they are known in Japanese, is only 35. They were all divided into teams of two, working together to complete a cloth bag, one for sewing sewing machines and the other for shaping with a hammer, which could be up to 20 a day.
As for how "workers" are selected, the owner, masayoshi ichizawa, says he prefers young people who are keen on making things by hand, and that education or other qualifications do not matter: "I want them to be counted from one to fifty (because there is no need for mass production, as long as they can be counted from one to fifty or one hundred). To make happy cloth bags, they have to be happy themselves. And I'm not going to set any target indexes for them because they like their jobs and have requirements for themselves."
Looking down at the hard work uncle heng sanlang, the owner's wife said that the store does not have a retirement system, as long as he is willing. You can work until you die. As a result, hongguang and manxin yamaguchi, two other artisans in the workshop, are 69 years old and 64 years old. The former carpenter joined the shop seven years ago, while the latter worked in the shop for 20 years. The factory also adopts the system of teacher and apprentice, in which the elderly are responsible for teaching the young and the young, so as to pass down the craft from generation to generation. Each day, the finished cloth bags are delivered to the shop like freshly baked bread. Only 500 are made every day.
