Take Sumi

B's never ending journey into the world of Japanese culture has this time let to a Take Sumi class with the Chigiri-e group.

On the country side amongst rice fields a retired man has set up a work shop to keep him self busy in his golden age. It is quite common, that Japanese men tend to find a hobby after retiring from their ordinary work.



So what is Take sumi? 'Take' means bamboo and 'Sumi' means burned. Take sumi is bamboo left in an earthen charcoal-burning kiln for a week. Hereafter you can make tons of stuff of the black bamboo. The end result is common in Japanese homes as it is used in baths (for health benefits), in rooms or cars to remove bad smell or simply for decoration.

It was a great fun day accumulating in a birthday celebration for my chigiri-e teacher, and the end result after a hard days work was this thing for the wall - a sort of kabin for flowers. Very Japanense!