The main material of company Hakata Ori Textiles is silk. Japan has produced the best quality raw silk, which is often used for Japanese kimonos, after improving the breeding of silkworms for a long time. Hakata-ori textile is a beautiful silk fabric and one of the most well-known traditional Japanese craft arts, with a history of more than 770 years. These techniques are now used for interior products! 

When it comes to Hakata Dolls, locally produced unglazed clay is used to make Hakata doll figures and is colored very carefully by hand, so that the artisans can, in detail, furnish distinctive calmness and meticulous expressions to the Hakata Dolls. The themes of Hakata Dolls vary from “beautiful women” to “Kabuki players”. 

Are you interested in painting your own dog doll? Come join our workshop on Oct 26th! Find out more at our website: https://resobox.com/event/paint-your-own-traditional-japanese-doll/

RESOBOX will hold a Japanese craftsmanship exhibition on October 26th and 27th at their RESOBOX East Village location. Titled “Creations from Southern Japan: Traditional, Vibrant and Intricate Dolls and Textiles,” the exhibition explores the various textiles, dolls and other fine craftsmanship from the Hakata area in Japan. As so, RESOBOX is looking for a few people to join a focus group for the exhibition! Compensation will be $10 per person. If you are interested, please fill out the form below and show up promptly at your selected time.

Creations from Southern Japan Focus Group Sign-Up Form

What is Youkai?

It has long been told in Japan that when one encounters a strange or peculiar phenomenon he/she suspects that Youkai must be manipulating this.
It is said that Youkai not only punishes people for their laziness and selfishness but also teaches them to take good care of things and to respect nature and environment. Many Japanese have long been familiar with Youkai.

The traditional crafts from Akita introduced at this exhibition demonstrate the wealth of natural resources Japan, the long-established methods of the area’s craftsmanship, and the relationship between humanity and nature. As “crafts with local flavor” that incorporate all the region’s qualities, or as traditional tools that still prove useful today, they integrate easily into one’s lifestyle. In their pursuit of beauty and functionality, two artisans craft works of austere elegance and careful design that are made for utility.

This exhibition of traditional and modern crafts from Akita features two renowned Masters, Shunji Kurimori & Hiroyuki Hashino. Their works have been displayed at major national and international venues and have received prestigious design awards.

Mage-wappa is a traditional craft that originated in Akita Prefecture. It involves bending strips of Japanese cedar wood to make food vessels and other household items. Using straight grain Akita Cedar, Mage-wappa art craft was first developed in the beginning of the 17th Century. Its first form took the shape of a lunch box made by a woodcutter in the Odate area of Northern Japan. The Lord of Odate Castle then encouraged the technique in a samurai’s work and it grew in popularity. In recent years the craft has been used as a base for the development of new techniques and modern design. Popular for its straight grain and light weight, the Akita Cedar used in these products is more than 250 years old.

Shunji Kurimori is a mage-wappa artisan with 46 years of experience and an 18 times winner of the Good Design Award, and an officially recognized Contemporary Master Craftsman. Committed to using traditional craftsmanship to meet the needs of today, Kurimori has come up with several groundbreaking mage-wappa designs, including tapered cups and nesting food containers. A true innovator, he is driving the evolution of his craft.

Hashino’s unique and innovative designs are crafted from a rare hardwood tree whose wood has a very beautiful grain and texture. In Japanese this tree, a member of the Birch family, is called “Onoore Kanba”, which means “breaking the hatchet birch”. Hashino’s products are made with careful consideration for their materials, shape and function produce a more beautiful and timeless result.

Hiroyuki Hashino often travels to the United States to introduce his products internationally. In 2012, he featured his products at Cherry Blossom Festival at Sakura Park, and also exhibited at American Craft Show in New York. In 2013, he received the Good Design Award.  Hashino received the Gold Awards Omotenashi Selection 2016, 2017 and 2018. More than 30 years ago, Hashino produced his first wooden shoehorn and has been making these beautiful wooden tools with long, smooth carves ever since. In 2005, The Imperial Household Agency brought one of this signature pieces for the Emperor of Japan. Since then, three more sets of Hashino’s shoehorns have also been stocked at the prestigious Nara Hotel, where the Emperor regularly stays.

The exhibited works will include daily commodities; Hashino’s shoehorn introduced by the Imperial Household Agency to the Emperor and his twisted combs that he received the Gold Award Omotenashi Selection 2016 for, Kurimori’s female lunch boxes that he received the Good Design Award for and his sake bottles and cups he received the Long Life Design Award for, etc.

This joint exhibition plans to bring companies from Himeji City and Harima Province to expand their horizons and bring both new and old crafts around the world.

Find out more about Wa-gokoro at their Facebook: Wa-gokoro Facebook

Exhibiting Companies

Not content to simply document standard, more familiar character changes, Katherine posed Helen in compositions varying from meditative, reverse image kaleidoscopic manipulations, multiple faces of the same pose in different sizes, with a focus on the flexibility of gender roles unique to classical Japanese dance.

All of the photographs in the exhibit were taken before the advent of digital photography, and so were hand cut to create mixed media collages.

Special Tsugaru Shamisen Performance

Tsugaru Shamisen master, Kouzan Oyama and his student, Doanh Nguyen will be performing a few pieces during the opening reception on Thursday, April 12.

Kouzan Oyama Ozama has master grade license from the Oyama style Tsugaru Shamisen school. He currently holds Tsugaru Shamisen classes in New York. Website

Taisan Tanaka will hold his own live calligraphy performance during the exhibition’s opening party on January 25th at 7:00pm!

This art form, which has been said to have originated in Australia, has many colorful and pop-inspired impressions. In 2017, Moeco held her first exhibition in Japan titled “Tsuyaga (艶画)” and showcased pieces that no one has seen a chalk artist create before. Tsuyaga (艶画) is a traditional art that focused much on ancient Japanese life and oftentimes sexual desire. For Moeco’s exhibition, she decided to take the idea of female eroticism from Tsuyaga to create an art of her own. The main works of the theme revolve around women, beauty, lust and eroticism and captured the feeling of both exciting and shocking subjects. Even a quick glance at the pieces can pierce through one’s perception and cause a mix of emotions.

These pieces of work extract elements of traditional Japan as a homeland (和) and paint it, both realistically and fantastically, through an erotically drawn out perspective.

“Vermilion” or 「朱」 has been a traditional color passed down through the history of Japan. Rather than simply red, it is the vibrant yet subtle difference of vermilion that is portrayed through Moeco’s works.

The vermilion of lipstick, the vermilion of a kimono, the vermilion of a goldfish, the vermilion of a flower. These are the various identities that are brought together in harmony expressed by the artist. The moment vermilion is spread on the lips of a girl, she becomes a woman. Furthermore, a vermilion kimono represents the beauty of a woman, as well as nobility and lust.

Although the pieces seem to be calm and peaceful, there is a strong passion and tension, as well as elegance and eroticism that disappears behind each one. That is the myth that is released with each art piece, a sublime beauty from Moeco’s fingertips.