Yosegi Zaiku

Hakone:  Japan's mountain retreat with onsen (hot springs), azure lakes, spring green flora, and sweeping view of Mount Fuji.

Hakone is a popular destination, with full trains and a bustling train station.  We struggled to make our way through the crowd at the train station, with the construction-created narrowed walkway hindering our progress.  The taxi stand, like the train station itself, was packed.  Taxis were packed bumper-to-bumper in a tiny area, fitting together like puzzle pieces, maneuvering skillfully to get in and out of the taxi stand.  After we successfully got our four suitcases in the trunk, and four of us piled into the cab, we took off to our ryokan, the Hotellerie Maille Coeur Shougetsu.

Once the cab climbed a narrow, steep, curving road a few hundred meters outside of the main downtown Hakone area, we arrived at the ryokan.  There, we were greeted with glasses of fresh orange juice--quite refreshing on the hot summer day.  Since it was only around 1:00 p.m., our rooms were not yet ready.  We left our luggage at the front desk and took a short walk in the few block area around the ryokan.

This was a predominantly residential area with a few small neighborhood shops scattered here and there.  The structures were small and wooden with aluminum roofs--similar to the residential area near our ryokan in Nikkō.  There was a small Shinto shrine nestled in the neighborhood.  Both the main building of the shrine and the bell building had a foot-thick roof made from natural grasses and sticks.   There was a unique square stone path leading from the main building to a small graveyard.  At the graveyard was a beautiful moss-covered stone jizo-san.

These small neighborhood shrines are special.  There is nothing elaborate or lavish about these shrines, in the sense of the highly touristic shrines such as Tōshō-gū.  But these small shrines are those that locals visit regularly, at which they pray and worship.  While these small shrines may not have much historic or architectural significance, there is so much personal significance.  That personal significance is the beauty of travel, now, isn't it?

Two blocks down the street from the shrine, we came across a tiny little woodshop, where we saw a local artisan at work.  He was making yosegi zaiku, an intricate, unique wood craft dating from the Heian period.   This is a rare art form, carried on by only a few artisans today, exclusively in the Hakone area.  The natural colors of local woods are used to create a beautiful mosaic pattern, which is sliced into paper-thin sheets, then used to decorate boxes, chopsticks, toothpick holders, and other items.  Most fun are the puzzle boxes, which appear seamless due to the outstanding construction, but require a tricky series of 12 moves to open--it feels like you're opening an old secret chest containing the Holy Grail when you slide the box open!

This website has some good information on Hakone yosegi zaiku:
http://www.hakone.or.jp/english/alacarte/hakonezaiku.html

We stopped in to the artisan's shop, and he was happy to allow us to observe him working and take photographs of his craft.   It was a small, cramped space, and everything was covered in sawdust.  There were a few shelves where he had some of his products for sale.  He sat cross-legged on a platform about a foot above street level.  There, he had his tools and press set up, and he was surrounded by so many pieces of wood and yosegi zaiku in different stages.

I watched in awe as his thin fingers adeptly worked over the thin sheets of yosegi zaiku after he pressed them.  In his very limited English, he showed us the various steps, or stages, in the process to make the zaiku.  He also showed us his a larger woodshop, in a detached building right behind his front shop.

We decided to buy several items from his shop.   I ended up with several pairs of chopsticks, multiple magnets and paper clips, a handful of key chains, and a 12-step box.  That was just me.  My mom and sister bought an equal share of omiyage.  Before the man allowed me to buy the 12-step box, he taught me how to open it, and quizzed me on it--he didn't want me to buy it without being able to use it.  After I picked up the 12-step pattern and successfully opened and closed the box twice, he called me "smart" and let me buy it!  He was so thankful for all of our purchases, and gave us two of his "reject" 3-step puzzle boxes, claiming they didn't pass his stringent quality control.  But I've looked those things over time and time again, and have found such minor flaws in them--that says a lot about the level of quality he is proud to produce.

This experience was the highlight of my trip to Japan!  So unique and special.   We later saw these yosegi zaiku items for sale in many Hakone shops, as well as in our ryokan's little gift shop.  But all of the prices were at least twice what we paid the artisan directly!  I suspect that he and the other zaiku artisans sell their goods to a distributor, who then places them into the tourist gift shops.  There were some items he had in his shop that I didn't see anywhere else, and there were a few items in the tourist shops that he didn't have in his shop.  Thus, I think each of the artisans specializes in different items.

In downtown Hakone, observant visitors will notice the yosegi zaiku pattern in the sidewalk tiles.  This is a very famous wood craft, and Hakone is quite proud of it.   I definitely recommend every visitor to Hakone to purchase this type of woodwork!  It's easy to find in the Hakone shops, but much cheaper if you buy directly from the artisan.

We checked in to our ryokan, where we had Western-style rooms this time.  It was nice to have a bed available if I just wanted to lie down before dinner, though the room wasn't quite as plush as the Japanese-style room we had in Nikkō.  We had two pieces of manju, a local specialty, in our room--think of the little pieces of chocolate left on your pillow when you get a turn-down service.

Dinner at the ryokan was similar to the prior two nights' in Nikkō--a traditional and formal ten courses of intricate, artistic dishes.   The ingredients were fresh, picked or caught that morning.  Plating was superb, with a mountain potato and tomato dish served in an art nouveau margarita glass with blue rim.  My favorite dish was a large bowl of fresh tofu, served family-style over ice.  When I say "fresh tofu", I mean hand made at the ryokan that afternoon.  Yes, incredible.  It had a much softer, smoother, creamier consistency than any other tofu I've ever had, but it was DIVINE!  More divine than the dessert!  But the dessert deserves its due--a summery parfait of fresh berries, raspberry sorbet balls, and miniature cream puffs, topped with a huge puff of pink cotton candy.  Cartoony, cute, and tasty!