The bright art of Sunago-shi, a daily decoration

Art featured on Fusuma sliding doors is a unique aspect of Japanese interiors. Fusuma are an important part of traditional house design, and onto this canvas are painted scenes of water and mountains, portraiture, flowers and birds or animals in motion. These designs create a special atmosphere in the home, and the Yushima Art workshop are masters in making it. Craftspeople who work with gold leaf, silver leaf, or both mixed into a powder form and applied to decorative designs are known as Sunago-shi. Yushima Art was established by one such practitioner in its eponymous district, after being schooled as a Sunago-shi in the Kanda area of Tokyo in the mid-Meiji period. Nearby to Ueno in Tokyo, with its artistic heritage, Yushima Art’s founder was also influenced in interactions with the great artist Taikan Yokohama and others who practiced in the area. The subsequent second, and current third generation leaders of the business have both been awarded official recognition as traditional craft practitioners in their field of decorations applied to fusuma paper. Yushima Art are masters of numerous techniques such as ‘Kinginpaku-sunago’ (finely ground gold and silver leaf sprinkled on paper), ‘Deibikishi’ (gold and silver leaf spread with mud-like pigment using a brush), ‘Hakebiki’ (sunago powder applied with a brush) ‘Kushibikigami’ (paper onto which a single colour is applied, and then altered with a comb like tool to achieve a pattern) among others. From its roots in artistic designs for fusuma paper, the workshop today retains, but is not limited to this, and has developed many paper products to fit the modern home.

Yushima-art Limited Company.
945 -448,Toyoshiki,Kashiwa,Chiba 277-0863
Tel:+81-47-144-3136
Fax:+81-47-144-2669
Kiyoshi Isshiki
info@yushima-art.co.jp
http://www.yushima-art.co.jp/