Uwajima is a port town, with a big marine industry. Yellowtail, sea bream, and pearls can all be found here. The industry has changed from one of going out and catching fish to a matter of aquaculture, but the fact that this is a fisherman’s town remains the same. It is here where Tsutomu Kuroda makes boat flags, called tairyoki. Mr. Kuroda’s stories have the same salty flavor as the sea itself.
Interveiwed by Takafumi Suzuki
Translated by Claire Tanaka
First off, what kind of flag is a tairyoki, anyway?
In the olden days, they were flown on fishing boats to show that the boat had just had a big haul. Now, they’re given as presents to boat owners by friends, colleagues, and business connections when a new boat is built. Fishermen like flashy stuff, so they like to have a lot of tairyoki on hand in their boats. Twenty years ago, it was a lot more active around here and there was a sort of a boat building boom, and we had orders of up to 120 flags per month.
One hundred and twenty per month adds up to about four per day…
I always start work at 5:30am, but when we were that busy, I’d be working until 9 or 10 at night without a break and still not getting everything done. Well, it sure was hard work, but after all it’s for a special occasion. You can’t go disappointing people. When we didn’t think we’d get it all done in time, we’d ask another dye shop to help out. There were five other shops back then, but now we’re the only one left.
You don’t just make tairyoki, do you?
That’s right, we also make a lot of koi nobori flags. We make pennants and happi coats too. If you can dye it, we can do it. In particular, we do a lot of koi nobori in the weeks leading up to Children’s Day.
Mr. Kuroda, who taught you how to draw the preliminary sketches?
I decided to become the fourth generation to take over the family business as soon as I graduated from high school. My father didn’t take over the business, so I took it over from my grandfather. At first I really went at it. If I drew something simple I’d give myself away, so I tried to cover for my lack of experience with really over-the-top designs. The fishermen customers were scary too. They’d say, “You drew this didn’t you? What’re you gonna do when your granddad’s gone?” In other words, “You’re lousy.” And that was really frustrating. I’d look at my grandfather’s notes and try and copy the way he drew, but it just wasn’t any good. With a simple design my inability really shined through. So I’d just keep adding stuff (laughs).
How many different tairyoki designs do you have?
There are countless designs, but I’ve got maybe thirty different types in my head. Among those, “waves and the morning sun”, “lucky mallet”, and “Ebisu“, the god who protects fishermen, are classic motifs. They’re flags to be used during auspicious occasions, after all. Customers are usually pleased with that, and hardly anyone complains. There are lots of people who have been coming around since my grandfather’s days, and we hardly ever get any first-time customers.
Nowadays, who does most of the work?
Me and my twin brother do most of it, then the part-time staff and five members of my family split up the labor, doing things like ironing and sewing. This place was founded in 1904, so for a little over a hundred years, we’ve been operating this as a family business. I think we were originally a fishing family, which is how we got into it.
I think it’s just wonderful that you can work on one thing together like this with your brother and your whole family.
Nah, my brother and I are constantly fighting. We don’t get along well at all (laughs). But family, in this day and age, is really important. If you can’t chat with your family it gets pretty boring. Eating together with family, stuff like that, if you don’t do it, kids don’t learn the rules of society. Mom and dad, grandma and grandpa all there, it’s easy to discipline, and kids might not understand what the adults are talking about, but they somehow get the drift of things, you know? In our business, we’ll be having a meeting and mom and grandma are in there chatting it up. It gets in the way, but in this age of the nuclear family, even in how I run my shop, I think it’s important to do it this way.
So, you’ll be expecting one of your kids to take over the business from you?
That’d be my son who’s in university in Tokyo right now. I told him, “Go have your four years of fun in Tokyo, but then you have to come back here and take over the shop.” My son said he wants to get into the tourism industry, but I just said, “I won’t allow it!” (laughs).
The flags at your shop have a sort of contemporary feel don’t they? Kind of psychedellic…
Hmm, I suppose so. I try to do my best. But there’s a contemporary artist, Shinro Otake, who sometimes comes here to use the studio. Otake pointed at the dye marks on the floor and said “That’s art!”
Wow, Shinro Otake is quite a big name in the art world!
Yeah, we hang out. We go to karaoke together and stuff. We both like collecting records, so we have a lot in common to talk about. I’ve got about 70,000 records. Rock, jazz, group sounds, mood music, I’ll listen to anything. I like listening to records while I’m doing my preliminary sketches.
70,000 records! Do you ever get inspiration from the record jackets?
I might have been influenced without realizing it. I’m a busy guy. I don’t have time to sit back and just play records, but when I have some spare moments I like to listen to music. But when you get to be my age, more than rock or jazz, it’s the mood music that really relaxes and refreshes (laughs).
So, your records are what help you get through your hard workday.
That’s just my hobby though, really (laughs). But now what really makes me happy is when I’m meeting with a client and our conversation really flows, and there is a moment when I can really connect with the customer at a heart-to-heart level. It’s hard to explain, but there is just a moment when the conversation clicks, isn’t there. I didn’t understand about that when I was younger, but that is what makes me the happiest now. That, and when I went to a boat launching ceremony and there were a bunch of my flags flying, when I saw that boat all decked-out, that sure made me happy. That’s not something you see too often. I’ll never forget it (laughs).
Kuroda Flag and Pennant
Sakae-cho 2 chome, Uwajima City, Ehime
Tsutomu Kuroda
Born in Iwajima City, 1952. Kinobori Craftsman.
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PingMag MAKE is the sister site to PingMag. We use an interview format to put the spotlight on a wide range of people active in rural areas. We document the voices of these unknown heroes and broadcast them to the world. It’s the Japan-based magazine about people and making things, coming out once a week. We’re passing on the passion, ideas, skills, and life stories of people who are building today and exploring tomorrow: craftsmen, engineers, entrepreneurs, and inventors. Stay tuned!
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awesome article. great to know that family businesses like these still exist ^__^
Posted by: nyankorita on April 18th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
The photographs are very beautiful; I especially like the ones of the inside of the shop.
Fishermen’s flags is a very interesting subject.
Thank you for posting this interview here!
Emma Howard
Kailua, Hawaii,USA
Posted by: Emma Howard on April 19th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I didn’t understand about that when I was younger, but that is what makes me the happiest now. That, and when I went to a boat launching ceremony and there were a bunch of my flags flying, when I saw that boat all decked-out, that sure made me happy. That’s not something you see too often. I’ll never forget it (laughs).
Posted by: burberry outlet on June 21st, 2011 at 5:44 pm
that’s just my hobby though, really (laughs). But now what really makes me happy is when I’m meeting with a client and our conversation really flows, and there is a moment when I can really connect with the customer at a heart-to-heart level.
Posted by: cheap oakley on June 21st, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Very Nice! makes me remind the coloured performance of the early pink floyd!
Posted by: christian louboutin on November 10th, 2011 at 10:41 am