Live from Japan!

This past weekend we had the fantastic opportunity to go to Seki and take a traditional doll making class with Chisako. Chisako is a wonderful woman who is a good friend to the JET’s. In addition to being kind and friendly (and speaking FANTASTIC English), she is excited to share her skills with foreigners and teach them a beautiful Japanese craft.

We made our way to Seki in a somewhat roundabout manner. We have only been there one time before and that time we got a ride with a friend. This time we had to navigate and find our own way, and we were somewhat less than successful. Three trains and a cab ride later we had made it to Seki (as it turns out there is one bus that goes directly to Seki from Gifu, live and learn), we were a little crabby since we had had such a difficult time getting there, but Chisako’s warm attitude quickly changed that!

Once we were at her house and in her studio she quickly got to work with us. We got to choose which doll we wanted to create from all of her gorgeous samples displayed around the room. Being beginners, our choices were somewhat limited to those that could be accomplished with our limited skills. Aaron and I both chose two different dolls, he picked a three-dimensional doll and I picked a flat doll.

Next, Chisako went into her incredibly organized cabinets and pulled out files filled with paper already cut perfectly to the sizes needed to make the dolls. Aaron and I got to dig through all the choices and choose which papers we wanted to use to make our dolls. I ended up going for a bit of a purple motif.

Then, Chisako carefully explained how to go about making the dolls. I was so impressed at how patient she was in giving the directions, especially when we had to ask the same thing many times. But with her careful directions, the dolls began to take shape.

And then, after about an hour and a half, we both had beautiful Japanese paper dolls that we made (with Chisako’s help). They are so beautiful and they have added two more pieces of art to our house that has been pretty empty so far.

We were barely home five minutes before we had hung my lovely lady on the wall. Beautiful!

Next time we will be making paper dolls with Aaron’s parents on February 16th. Chisako is hosting a class just for the four of us and it should be a really good time. She seemed really excited to meet Aaron’s parents and will be taking us to a Japanese restaurant after the class for a Seki specialty. Looking forward to it!