{"id":1383,"date":"2009-12-02T12:04:15","date_gmt":"2009-12-02T03:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-12-02\/1383"},"modified":"2009-12-05T21:29:08","modified_gmt":"2009-12-05T12:29:08","slug":"nishimura-stone-lanterns-the-workshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-12-02\/1383","title":{"rendered":"Nishimura Stone Lanterns: the Workshop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 250 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWork in Progress<\/span>\nNishimura Stone Lanterns' workshop\nKyoto, Japan\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nMeasure Once, Cut Twice<\/span>\nor something like that\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAlmost Done<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Out on a photo hunt with Paul Barr yesterday, we happened upon a\nstonecarver's<\/span> shop, less than 200 yards from the site of the mysterious cut stones<\/a> I\nposted<\/span> about a few<\/span> days ago. There's a real<\/span> chance that they're related,\nthough at this point it still seems very strange. (UPDATE:<\/b> I later<\/span> asked, and\nfound out that the stones are sort of their overflow inventory.)<\/p>\n\n

The relatively modern (within the last 30 years) workshop is right on\nthe street, but without signage of any type....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWorkshop<\/span>\nblink and you'll miss it\n<\/div>\n\n

There's not much around there... a few<\/span> houses, a temple,<\/span> a pet<\/span> cemetery,\nand then the road just disappears....<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 66 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooking up the Mountain<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

But if you happen to look in as you pass, you see a simple<\/span> stone-carver's shop...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 560 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nLooking In<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I later learned that it's the “Nishimura Stone Lantern Shop” (\u897f\u6751\u77f3\u706f\u5442\u5e97),<\/span> now headed by Kenzo Nishimura, a\nfourth<\/span>-generation stone carver born in 1938. His oldest<\/span> son, Daizo, was\nborn in 1964. Both have achieved official designation as “artisan of\nJapanese traditional crafts” (\u5de5\u82b8\u4f1d\u7d71\u58eb),<\/span> an\nhonor bestoed on each after their first 20 or so years in the trade.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 640 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTools of the Trade<\/span>\nin a thick bed of stone dust\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 2000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nJust Like My Garage<\/span>\nexcept for the priceless stone lanterns lying around like old paint buckets\nand also except for the fact that living in Japan, I no longer<\/span> have a garage<\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nModern, Cutting-Edge Workshop<\/span>\nBreakers, Calendar, and Brooms\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/2, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nChisels.... Lots of Chisels<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Zeiss 100mm f\/2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 5000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPlans<\/span>\nfor a lantern that sells for about $90,000\n<\/div>\n\n

Driving back past the workshop after returning to my scooter, we saw\nthat the workmen (likely Mr. Nishimura and his son) had returned from lunch\nand were busy pounding away with mallet and chisel. We didn't have time to\nstop, having earlier already lingered as long as our schedule dare allowed,\nbut we intend to return later this week.<\/p>\n\n

I found this link\nto a video<\/span><\/a> of the elder Nishimura demonstrating stonecarving to a group<\/span>\nof video-challenged ladies. (Skip the first minute... I think<\/span> the lady\ndidn't realize it was filiming.)<\/p>\n\n

This area of Kyoto (kitashirakawa<\/i>) used to have a lot<\/span> of\nstonemason workshops, but over the years the number has dwindeled to three,\namong them only one (this one) still doing the work by hand.<\/p>\n\n

The Nishimura's sorta-modern workshop was interesting, but stone carving\nat this site dates back five generations to the Edo period (to at least\nprior to 1886), and so the areas on either side of it were *magical* for\nour cameras, littered with generations of lanterns and other stone-carved\nitems.<\/p>\n\n\n

Continued here...<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Out on a photo hunt with Paul Barr yesterday, we happened upon a stonecarver's shop, less than 200 yards from the site of the mysterious cut stones I posted about a few days ago. There's a real chance that they're related, though at this point it still seems very strange. (UPDATE:<\/b> I later asked, and found out that the stones are sort of their overflow inventory.)<\/p>

The relatively modern (within the last 30 years) workshop is right on the street, but without signage of any type....<\/p>

There's not much around there... a few houses, a temple, a pet cemetery, and [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}