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Japanese Cultural Topic No.71
The Art of Paper-Cutting, Monkiri-Asobi |
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| The Art of Paper-Cutting, Monkiri-Asobi
Today I'm glad to introduce you the art of paper-cutting, called Monkiriasobi in Japanese. "Mon" means a crest and a pattern, and "Kiri" is a noun of "Kiru", that is, a cutting. And then, "Asobi" is translated as a pleasure.
It is said that it originally began as variety acts at a Japanese storytellers' hall(Yose) during the Edo period (1600 or 1603-1867). The cutting-paper performer used to fold a paper, and cut it immidiately with his nice talk, and would comply with the requests of the audience. He sometimes showed a traditional motif, sometimes familiar animals and flowers.
Here, let me explain the pictures below from no.1 to no.4. They are taken a making scene of a couple of faced cranes, called Mukaizuru. The legend has it that the cranes are so auspicious enough to live thousand years, and are supposed to be happily marriged.
The next design of no.5-7 is a circle pattern, called Shippoh, which is connected four arc with a circle. You maybe know, it is often used on a base pattern of Kimono or cloisonne ware.
The others are a wave like a ripple (Seigaiha), and a folding fan with a rising sun (Ohgi-ni-Hinomaru), a hitting arrow onto a target (Mato-ni-Atari-Ya). Why don't you try to cut your favorite paper, and enjoy to use it, pasting on a envelope or a lamp with a paper shade?
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[Photo 1] |
[Photo 2] |
[Photo 3] |
[Photo 4] |
[Photo 5] |
[Photo 6] |
[Photo 7] |
[Photo 8] |
[Photo 9] |
[Photo 10] |
[Photo 11] |
| | Written by Sayuri |
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