DigInfo –
One souvenir that is very popular with foreign tourists visiting Japan is the traditional Japanese umbrella.
Fujisawa Shoten offers traditional Japanese umbrellas in a wide variety of designs that feature distinct Japanese motifs such as cherry blossoms, wisteria, and sumo wrestling.
Each traditional Japanese umbrella is created by hand by highly skilled artisans including a “frame master” who creates the frame out of bamboo and a “paper stretching master” who stretches the Japanese paper over the frame.
Of the many handicrafts, the process required to create a Japanese style umbrella is particularly complex and involves nine major steps and altogether over 100 steps.
Artisans skilled in the techniques for creating traditional Japanese style umbrellas are growing old, and as a result, production in recent years of these umbrellas has been decreasing year after year. In addition, it is difficult to train successors because of the complex division of tasks. Fujisawa Shoten recognizes the importance of preserving precious traditions and culture and is devoting its efforts to the production of traditional Japanese umbrellas.
