Interview with Sagawa Keizo, Chairman of the Minki Isozaki Commemorative Society
We asked Sagawa Keizo, Chairman of the Minki Isozaki Commemorative Society, how to enjoy Minki Isozaki Memorial Hall and what its highlights are.
The memorial hall is where Isozaki Minki spent the early days of Kinkanen
So this is the place where Kinkanen was developed.
Sagawa (honorifics omitted)
Yes.
This building was built in 1875 (Meiji 8) as a research laboratory for Kinkanen. Chayamachi Elementary School in Kurashiki City, nearby, opened in 1873 (Meiji 6), so it was about the same time.
Before inventing Kinkanen, Minki had invented a way of weaving Kokura-ori that made it easier to weave using thread imported from overseas. He apparently made his fortune then, and built a house in this place, where he was born.
After that, he shut himself away on the second floor of this building for as long as four years, devoting himself to developing Kinkanen and begrudging even time for sleep. He had no income during that time, so his wife apparently struggled, selling household goods and the like.
It is said that Minki hit upon how to weave Kinkanen thanks to a remark from his wife, and she is remembered as a devoted spouse.
Minki spent the early days of Kinkanen in this place until around the time he turned sixty, when he built a new home in Funadomachi, Okayama City.
Kinkanen, which won fame as an export product overseas
Please tell us about the characteristics of Kinkanen.
Sagawa
First, its characteristic is that fine, delicate patterns are woven in twill weave. Because it uses rush grass, it is thick.
It was named Kinkanen because it was a patterned rush mat like brocade.
However, weaving one tatami mat's worth of Kinkanen took nearly a month, so it was poor value for money and became a very expensive patterned mat, so it apparently had to be sold to wealthy people and for export.
Because the meaning of "Kin" (brocade) is hard to convey to people overseas, it circulated as a product called "HEIWA-SHIKI."
Kinkanen, which was patented out of wariness of industrial spies but was not passed down
Why did Kinkanen stop being made?
Sagawa
There are two main reasons.
The first is that the manufacturing technique was lost.
Minki was extremely afraid that the technique for making Kinkanen, which he had worked so hard to invent, would leak outside and that inferior versions of Kinkanen would appear on the market. For that reason, from the research stage the second-floor workshop did not even have windows, and he was said to be more wary of industrial spies than anyone, even teaching the craft to people in prison and having them do the weaving.
As a result, the number of people who could inherit the manufacturing technique was limited.
Under these circumstances, patterned rush mats, which were Japan's third-largest export item in the mid-Meiji period, came to be subject to high tariffs because of the damage they caused to the American carpet industry. As life in Japan gradually shifted to Western styles, many businesses switched to industries with lower tariffs or to making patterned rush mats for the domestic market.
Even so, the "Isozaki Seisenjo" (Isozaki mat-making works) that Minki founded continued to produce Kinkanen while enduring hardship, but it closed in 1934 (Showa 9). With skilled workers from the Meiji era dying one after another, weaving stopped and the manufacturing technique was lost.
The second is that no loom capable of the weaving method described in the patent survives.
After the mat-making works closed and the skilled workers passed away, the surviving looms aged year by year and eventually not one was left.
Fortunately, there were loom blueprints that had been included in the patent application, so the only looms reconstructed from them are the ones in this hall and at the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art.
So is Minki something like the "father" of the patent system?
Sagawa
That's right.
With a fervent wish to "protect technology," Minki reportedly proposed a patent system to the government.
Of course, he was also the first to apply for a patent, but the ones actually granted were the 23rd for the loom and the 24th for Kinkanen itself.
We especially want local people to see it
Please tell us the highlights of Minki Isozaki Memorial Hall.
Sagawa
First, I would like visitors to enjoy the steep staircase leading up to the second-floor exhibition space.
Minki was an ideas man who invented not only Kinkanen but also a new way of weaving Kokura-ori. It is said that he devised this steep staircase himself to carry heavy rush grass and looms.
Local elementary school children who visit on field trips all walk up this staircase with great interest. However, running is dangerous, and valuable Kinkanen is displayed on the second floor, so if you visit with children, please make sure they do not run or touch the works.
And above all, the highlight is the valuable original Kinkanen works, which are no longer made today.
Twenty-seven works are designated Important Cultural Properties of Kurashiki City, and they have been used as an industry representing Okayama Prefecture, for example as the floor covering of the Enyotei at Korakuen Garden when Emperor Meiji visited Okayama, and as an offering at the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Showa.
Overseas, it seems to have been used not only for purposes such as carpets but also as tapestries.
Are there any points to be careful about when viewing?
Sagawa
Rush grass crumbles bit by bit when touched, so please do not touch it. It is also weak against moisture and fire, so eating, drinking and smoking are strictly prohibited.
For these reasons, the second-floor workshop has no air conditioning, so please come prepared for the heat or cold.
What would you like visitors to feel?
Sagawa
You can get close to the original Kinkanen to view it, so I would like you to see its fine detail with your own eyes.
Also, if you look at the first-floor exhibition space as well, there are many materials that convey Minki's "importance of striving without giving up," so please take your time viewing them while thinking of his hardships.
Please tell us about current challenges and future prospects, if any.
Sagawa
The building itself is from the Meiji era, and the Kinkanen on display cannot avoid deteriorating with age. There is no one to pass the craft on to, and no new Kinkanen will be woven in the future, so the big challenge is how to carry the existing materials into the future.
However, they are without doubt very valuable materials, so I would like more people to see them.
Finally, a word for our readers, please.
Sagawa
This facility is within walking distance of Chayamachi Station, where trains bound for Kojima and Shikoku also stop. Many people come to view it while waiting for a train connection.
I would like the people of Kurashiki, the local area, to learn more about the valuable surviving Kinkanen. Please do come and see the footsteps of Minki, who embodied the saying "effort pays off."
From the Writer
The Kinkanen at Minki Isozaki Memorial Hall is valuable material, but it is not placed in glass cases or the like, and can be viewed just as it is.
However, because of the nature of rush grass as a material, protecting it is extremely difficult, and many challenges remain, such as how to preserve the surviving Kinkanen and how to honor it.
People often say, "Support your favorite while you can," and Kinkanen, too, can be called a cultural property for which it is important to "view it while it can still be seen in its current state."
Kinkanen, created by Isozaki Minki, who is also called the father of the patent system, is a must-see cultural property that residents of Kurashiki City should see at least once.
Articles about Japan Heritage in Kurashiki City
Minki Isozaki Memorial Hall Information
| Name | Minki Isozaki Memorial Hall |
|---|---|
| Address | 195 Chayamachi, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Contact | 086-428-8515 |
| Parking | Available |
| Opening hours | 9:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. |
| Closed | Mondays Year-end and New Year holidays |
| Admission (tax included) | Free admission |
| Reservations | Available Groups and those wishing to try weaving mushiro mats should make a reservation by phone in advance. |
| Smoking | Entirely non-smoking |
| Restrooms | Western-style toilet |
| Website | Kurashiki City Isozaki Minki Memorial Hall |
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