kinunomai

Ashigara embroidery

Kikuaki Ueda Work collection

"Kinu no Mai"

This work collection has been chosen from 40 masterpieces from his long activities(25years) This is the first work collection.

A4・48pages(40 masterpieces)
price:$25.00 (plus shipping cost)

You can buy this in the Hirai bookstore in Odawara City.

kinu no mai buynow
Coming season

Ashigara embroidery Kikuaki Ueda 2

━ When the Kozu station was built, did embroidery spread?
That came later, before that a railroad was laid from Tokyo to Sakuragi-cho in 1872.The embroidery industry in the neighborhood about Gumyoji and Kami-ooka area(the countryside around Yokohama) grew.
When a railroad was laid to Kozu around 1887, crowds of people worked in the sideline farm and fishing villages.
It was near to the harbor in Yokohama and there was not much other industry in that area.
━ You told me that your parents were doing embroidery in their home.
In my grandfather’s day, they lived in Hakone.
Then my parents moved to Odawara and were doing embroidery as a family business.
It is a post war story.
There were six of us (my parents, two elder brothers , an elder sister and me)
At that time, we were very busy working from morning to night.
We employed about 20 factory girls who worked on the 2nd floor.
We were also giving part time work to people in their homes.
I had to do collection and delivery to the part time workers as well.
━ You said you were helping your family business from the time you were 5 or 6 years old,
When did you start embroidery?
When I was a student, it was during war time so I didn't go to school much.
Children from grade 3 to grade6 went to the mountains with the soldiers instead of studying.
I got to help with the family business during that time and graduated from high school. I think I was 16 years old.
━ Was it natural for you to work in the family business ?
The work gradually dropped off and I could become an artist. The good thing is that I was doing the work.
━ Why did the embroidery industry in Odawara decline?
Even if it says a decline, when the war ended and the army occupied Yokosuka and Yokohama,
it was stunning business conditions and embroidery itself seemed frightfully good for 5 or 6years.
After the high growth of the economy, a variety of businesses came to Odawara.
People gathered to embroidery because Odawara didn't have big factories and there wasn’t part time income either.
However, orders declined from 1955.
The work died out naturally because the factory girls aged and with that there weren’t people willing to take over their roles.

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These are the people who supported this Aori project.

[Print cooperation] Bunkado print Co.Ltd. [Transration cooperation] Kidsman English / Yuji Koma,Shane Pole

[Odawara City] KAGOSEI Co.Ltd / Hirai Bookstore Co.Ltd / Takahashi construction Co.Ltd / izumi jewery Shimano / cut salon e-hair / space experiment atelier FACTORY[Minami Ashigara]Pixera Co.Ltd [Kaisei Town]Osakana Shokubou Wahanaza [Manazuru Town] Junksnet [Ninomiya Town]Kojima dental clinic [Yokohama City]Medicare.Co.Ltd.