Bill Tokyo
Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2007
- Messages
- 83
Thanks to Sam, I got an introduction to Mr. Hijikata, a Japanese engraver, and went over to see him yesterday.
Mr. Hiijikata engraves in Japan's traditional hammer and chisel style, and tecahers engraving and stone setting. When I say "hammer and chisel" I'll bet you are all thinking in terms of our European style planishing hammer and hammer driven graver tyle of work, which is now being largely displaced by pneumatic powered gravers.
Well, you couldn't be more wrong. Japanese hammer & chisel work developed independently of European style, and is completely different. to start with, the chisel, which is only about 6 cm long (that's three inches for all you metrically challeneged types out there) is grasped vertically in the left hand using three fingers, and driver by a hammer weighing only around 15 grams that is not "held" in the right hand, but rather rests on the ball of the palm.
But the greatest difference is in the form of the graver ("tanagne" in Japanese) which unlike European gravers , which have a slight heel or even no heel depending on the type of graver, is all heel, and no point at all. The heel of the gravers (the heel is variously shaped, depending on the graver) is about four to five times as long as the "point" which is never pointed, but flat and raked back. Because of the angle and length of the heel, the tnagane can be held very comfortably anywhere from 15% ro almost 90% to the work, and will cut with ease. In fact, as a rank beginner, I found it almost impossible to make the tagane jump out of the practice plate and skip. Making it do curves and so on is another matter, but this comes with loosening up and getting accustomed to holding the tool.
The tagane itself is made out of anything ranging from regular low carbon steel up through HSS and tungsten carbide, depending on the degree of brightness wanted in the cut. As no tools are available commercially, everyone makes their own.
Japanese engraving places a much stronger emphasis on three dimensional carving than European engraving does, and there is also a very much wider variety of surface finishing practiced.
After Mr. Hijikata showed me the basics and let me practice some on a practice plate at his home, he took me over to the school where he teaches to observe the Friday night class.
At present, around 20 student study each day on Thursday and Friday split into day and evening classes, with another teacher as well as Mr. Hijikata. although this is obstensibly a stone setting class, which is the main use for engraving in Japan today, many of the student were concentrating on engraving for it's own creativity. the class was equally split between men and women, and they seemed a very talented bunch.
While engraving florishes in the States because of the wide call for engraving on guns and knives, in Japan, ownership of both guns and knives is strictly limited by law, so there are few engraving jobs for either. Engavers mainly concentrate on jewelery, but there are also some outstanding engravers who specialize in cigarette lighters, doing some truly exceptional work.
The school, located in Okachimachi, Tokyo's jewelry district, was well equipped, and is one of three jewelry schools in Tokyo that teaches engraving. Each school has a slightly different emphasis. All teach stone setting, but Mr. Hijikata's school also emphasizes engraving, while the other ones are stronger on metal coloring and
repousse work.
This may not be the last report you read on Japanese style engraving, as I'm going to sign up for the school. Other than Mrs. Hriayama, a German trained European style engraver that has a studio outside of Tokyo there is almost no one in Japan doing European style engraving. So it looks like I'm going to end up learning Japanese style engraving. If you see me holding my graver upside down from here on out, you'll know why.
Mr. Hiijikata engraves in Japan's traditional hammer and chisel style, and tecahers engraving and stone setting. When I say "hammer and chisel" I'll bet you are all thinking in terms of our European style planishing hammer and hammer driven graver tyle of work, which is now being largely displaced by pneumatic powered gravers.
Well, you couldn't be more wrong. Japanese hammer & chisel work developed independently of European style, and is completely different. to start with, the chisel, which is only about 6 cm long (that's three inches for all you metrically challeneged types out there) is grasped vertically in the left hand using three fingers, and driver by a hammer weighing only around 15 grams that is not "held" in the right hand, but rather rests on the ball of the palm.
But the greatest difference is in the form of the graver ("tanagne" in Japanese) which unlike European gravers , which have a slight heel or even no heel depending on the type of graver, is all heel, and no point at all. The heel of the gravers (the heel is variously shaped, depending on the graver) is about four to five times as long as the "point" which is never pointed, but flat and raked back. Because of the angle and length of the heel, the tnagane can be held very comfortably anywhere from 15% ro almost 90% to the work, and will cut with ease. In fact, as a rank beginner, I found it almost impossible to make the tagane jump out of the practice plate and skip. Making it do curves and so on is another matter, but this comes with loosening up and getting accustomed to holding the tool.
The tagane itself is made out of anything ranging from regular low carbon steel up through HSS and tungsten carbide, depending on the degree of brightness wanted in the cut. As no tools are available commercially, everyone makes their own.
Japanese engraving places a much stronger emphasis on three dimensional carving than European engraving does, and there is also a very much wider variety of surface finishing practiced.
After Mr. Hijikata showed me the basics and let me practice some on a practice plate at his home, he took me over to the school where he teaches to observe the Friday night class.
At present, around 20 student study each day on Thursday and Friday split into day and evening classes, with another teacher as well as Mr. Hijikata. although this is obstensibly a stone setting class, which is the main use for engraving in Japan today, many of the student were concentrating on engraving for it's own creativity. the class was equally split between men and women, and they seemed a very talented bunch.
While engraving florishes in the States because of the wide call for engraving on guns and knives, in Japan, ownership of both guns and knives is strictly limited by law, so there are few engraving jobs for either. Engavers mainly concentrate on jewelery, but there are also some outstanding engravers who specialize in cigarette lighters, doing some truly exceptional work.
The school, located in Okachimachi, Tokyo's jewelry district, was well equipped, and is one of three jewelry schools in Tokyo that teaches engraving. Each school has a slightly different emphasis. All teach stone setting, but Mr. Hijikata's school also emphasizes engraving, while the other ones are stronger on metal coloring and
repousse work.
This may not be the last report you read on Japanese style engraving, as I'm going to sign up for the school. Other than Mrs. Hriayama, a German trained European style engraver that has a studio outside of Tokyo there is almost no one in Japan doing European style engraving. So it looks like I'm going to end up learning Japanese style engraving. If you see me holding my graver upside down from here on out, you'll know why.
