On January 1, 2024, a severe earthquake struck Ichikawa Prefecture in Japan. The Noto Peninsula, including the city of Wajima, known to fountain pen enthusiasts and the unofficial capital of maki-e art, was hit hardest. Many renowned manufacturers, such as Sailor, have their beautiful fountain pens refined with urushi lacquer here.
After the earthquake, a fire broke out and destroyed almost the entire old town of Wajima. This completely destroyed many old workshops as well as the famous Asaichi Market, which had been known for 1,000 years for its Urushi lacquerware.
Japanese crafts such as maki-e, as well as sake and soy sauce, are practiced in many small factories, using traditional methods and traditional tools. Soy sauce, for example, is made with a ferment that has been refilled and reused for up to 200 years. Sake is brewed in old wooden barrels, which are rarely produced anymore because only three craftsmen still master the art of coopering. Maki-e is made with special brushes and stored in elaborate drying cabinets. All of this is likely destroyed.
Aid organizations and the Japanese government are, of course, helping to rebuild infrastructure such as houses and roads. But these ancient traditions and special tools must be reorganized by the many artisans through other means.
Why am I writing all this? My daughter has been living in Japan for three years now and has been attending one of the few craft schools in Ichikawa Prefecture for some time now, learning woodworking and the urushi craft. This means she lives less than 200 km from Wajima. She is fascinated and grateful that she was welcomed with open arms into the craft community and was able to learn so much about the philosophy and tools of Japanese craft. Therefore, she wants to specifically help those artisans affected by the earthquake. She has started a GoFundme campaign to raise money to replace these tools for these small workshops.
If you'd like to help, please donate to this campaign. You can do so directly via the following link:
https://gofund.me/98716fbd
In addition, we will donate 10% of the proceeds from every Maki-e fountain pen sold in January 2024 to this project!
PS: My daughter, by the way, was also slightly affected by the earthquake. She was just very happy about her first exhibition success: a work from her first year of training was exhibited at the annual Urushi exhibition at the Wajima Museum and even won a prize. This museum, along with the exhibition, was also destroyed...
