Weekly News Digest
産経オンライン英会話 ニュースディスカッション教材
Summer is coming, and water fans from Gifu's Sumii Tomijiro Shoten are a beautiful and graceful way to keep cool while saving energy at the same time.
It's just before the beginning of the rainy season, and Sumii Tomijiro Shoten is rushing to make mizu uchiwa. They are called "water fans" in English, because Japanese used to dip them in water and cool off with the vaporized water.
Located in Gifu City along the Nagara River, Sumii Tomijiro Shoten is a long-established manufacturer of these traditional Japanese implements. This year the company is producing 500 of the popular fans, decorated with refreshing seasonal designs of cormorants, fireflies, and morning glory flowers.
Each fans is handmade using thin translucent paper made from the pulp of Japanese gampi shrubs. The paper sheets are then fixed to bamboo fan structures and coated with natural lacquer.
Readying them for market takes 10 days of indoor drying in early summer, when the temperatures are rising but the humidity is still low.
"I hope people will enjoy the fans, and use them to cool off through the hot summer," says 60-year old Kazunari Sumii, the fourth generation owner and craftsmen of the company.
梅雨入りを前に、岐阜市の長良川近くにある老舗うちわ店「住井冨次郎商店」で、伝統の「水うちわ」作りが大詰めを迎えている。鵜飼いや蛍、朝顔など涼しげな絵柄と水のような透明感が人気で、今年は５００本制作する。
竹の骨組に薄い半透明の雁皮紙を貼り、天然由来のニスを一度塗る。湿度が低く気温が上がる初夏の時期に、室内で１０日ほど乾燥させて完成。店主の住井一成さん（６０）は「暑い夏を乗り切るため、視覚で涼みながら使ってほしい」と語った。