修了作品展の写真 Photos from the Graduating Exhibition

芸訓練支援センター竹工芸科の、平成２１年度修了作品展。おかげさまで、基本課題作品は全部売りきれ、会場はたくさんの観客で賑わいました。友達や久々に会っていなかった知り合いも、初対面の方もたくさん観に来てくれ、私たちのこの1年間の活動について熱く語る機会に恵まれてとても嬉しかったです。修了生の中にはお客さんから注文を受けた人もいましたし、対話やアンケートでたくさんの貴重な意見をいただきましたので、別府ではなく大分で開催した甲斐も感じられました。 これからは、学校でではなく、社会（世界）に出て竹製品産業に関わる活動をみんな自分なりの形で続けていきますので、今後ともご愛顧、ご支援のほどよろしくお願いします！

Here are a few photos from the 2009-10 Graduating Exhibition of the Oita Prefectural Bamboo Crafts and Training Support Center. It was great to see friends and old acquaintances at the exhibition and have the chance to talk to them about our year-long work. Some of my fellow students received special orders for baskets, and we all received a lot of valuable input from bamboo craft fans about their individual design preferences. This year the show was held in Oita's Tokiwa Wasada Town rather than Beppu Tokiwa, as was done in previous years, a decision that turned out really well. With the school year finished, now students will go their separate ways, some working for local companies, some working independently, some studying other styles of bamboo crafts in other parts of Japan, and a few will continue studying at the school in 2nd year program. I owe a great deal of thanks to everyone who came to the show for their patronage and support, past and future.

静まり返ったまだ薄暗い開店直前の会場。基本課題作群は竹製品ファンの殺到を待ち構えている。

The basic assignments, neatly stacked or lined up on tables, await the store's opening. When the doors opened at 10, a flood of customers, some running, rushed to grab their 3-items-per-person maximum.

実演コーナーでは、内原さんが「四海波」（しかいなみ）の製作工程をひご取りから最後のひごの指し込みまで披露してくれた。
At the demonstartion corner, Mr. Uchihara shows the entire process of making the Shikainami (四海波) basket, from splitting the bamboo to tucking in the last strip.

基本課題作について解説してくれた石田さんと観客。右手前の、昔「豆腐かご」と呼ばれていた今の「ランチボックス」が一番人気が多く、アッという間に売れてしまった。

Mr. Ishida (yellow jacket) talking with customers about the basic assignments. The lunchbox (called "tofu basket" long ago, named for its primary function), was the most popular, selling out within minutes after opening.

（上、下）応用課題作。網代編み、よろい編み、亀甲編み、束ね編み、輪弧編み、花六つ目編み、縄目編み、などなど、実に多様多彩な作品が飾られた。応用というだけのことあって、それぞれの製作するに当っての難しさが違う。４～６週間かけて丁寧に作られた応用課題作は２万弱～３万円、学生にとっては現実的でない、お客さんにとっては非常に嬉しい価格で販売。本当の相場が10万円以上のものが多い。学生に限って可能な価格なので、1年間学校で身につけてきた技術をどんな風に生かして生活しいくのか、つまり、良質な竹製品をどのようにして作れば現実的な価格で販売できるのかが、これからの大きな課題なのだ。

(above and below) These are some of the special assignments, called oyo kadai （応用課題) in Japanese, literally meaning "applied problem." Skills learned throughout the year in the basic assignments were "applied" to make a new and different, more complex basket. Each student took 4-6 weeks to make his/her own work, with a total of 18 unique products being exhibited. Each type of new weave, or variation on a weave we had already learned, challenged us in new ways. Special assignments were sold at prices between 18,000 and 30,000 yen (about 200-300 US dollars)--a steal considering the market prices for items like these are well over 100,000 yen (1000 dollars) a piece. Considering how long it took to make them, however, the real problem we students face after graduation is how to make high-quality bamboo products likes these at a much quicker pace.

私が製作し、提出した応用課題作品：市松編み小物入れ。厚み０．３ミリのひごを2本寄せて、１すくい１押さえの四つ目編みで編組し、芯巻きの当て縁で仕上げた。角の保護処理のために籐かがりが巻いてある。このかごについては、ポストを改めてアップするつもり。

This is the basket I made and submitted. I'll show more images of this basket and explain the process of making it in another post.

お孫さんのお気に入りということで、私の作品を買ってくださった藤塚さん。ご自宅の玄関で大事に花を飾っているらしい。
Mrs. Fujistuka and her two grandchildren who bought my basket. I was told recently that she is using it as a flower basket in the foyer of her house.