“Summit Conference on Winnowing Baskets ― Discussion of Weaving Techniques”
From the top: Oidara winnowing basket, Kizumi winnowing basket, and Ronden/Kumanashi winnowing basket
On November 13th, “Summit Conference on Winnowing Baskets ― Discussion of Weaving Techniques” was held at Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TNRICP) and over 80 people concerned participated from all over the country.
The winnowing basket is a farm tool to sort and carry grain. Although it was an essential tool in everyday work up until the high economic growth period, the demands then sharply dropped because of modernization of people’s way of life. As a result, the weaving technique is also facing the crisis of inheritance. Therefore, with the aim of holding a discussion on how to pass on such basket weaving techniques to future generations, among the winnowing basket weaving techniques that are the nationally designated as important intangible folk cultural properties (folk technique), we invited successors of the Oidara winnowing baskets from Akita City of Akita Prefecture, the Kizumi winnowing baskets from Sosa City of Chiba Prefecture, and the Ronden/Kumanashi winnowing baskets from Himi City of Toyama Prefecture to hold demonstrations and panel discussion.
The objective of this summit was to share current situations and to promote mutual exchange among various people who are concerned with winnowing baskets, including creators, sellers, users, fans, and researchers. With regard to inheritance of folk technique, although an investigative approach including research and recording is important, what these studies can contribute to actual succession of technique is very little. In order to inherit technique from one person to another, maintaining demands in the era is indispensable and, for that sake, it is important to change technique in line with the times in a flexible manner. In search of the solution, it is necessary to address the challenge by gathering, as extensively as possible, the wisdom of people who are concerned with winnowing baskets.
At the panel discussion, the current severe conditions in technique succession were introduced and many participants presented opinions on what efforts the sellers are making, what problems they are facing, what features of the winnowing baskets attract users most, etc. We would like to develop a network of the participants that was created through this summit, while continuing to discuss and work on inheritance of techniques of winnowing basket making.
(Details of the summit are scheduled to be published in the form of a report and will be also disclosed on the website at the end of the fiscal year.)