Rokkaan: Ukiyo-e and Traditional Japanese Craft

Another fabulous shop that I visited in Kappabashi the other day, besides the cool wax food store, is a shop that was right next door actually! That shop is named Rokkaan Co. Ltd. 


Rokkaan specializes in rare and hard to find breath-taking beautiful Ukiyo-e prints and Japanese crafts.


Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Ukiyo-e: 

Ukiyo-e (浮世絵 literally "pictures of the floating world") is a genre of Japanese woodblock prints (orwoodcuts) and paintings produced between the 17th and the 20th centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, tales from history, the theatre, and pleasure quarters. It is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan.

Usually the word ukiyo is literally translated as "floating world" in English, referring to a conception of an evanescent world, impermanent, fleeting beauty and a realm of entertainments (kabuki, courtesans, geisha) divorced from the responsibilities of the mundane, everyday world; "pictures of the floating world", i.e. ukiyo-e, are considered a genre unto themselves.

The contemporary novelist Asai Ryōi, in his Ukiyo monogatari (浮世物語 "Tales of the Floating World", c. 1661), provides some insight into the concept of the floating world:

"... Living only for the moment, turning our full attention to the pleasures of the moon, the snow, the cherry blossoms and the maple leaves; singing songs, drinking wine, diverting ourselves in just floating, floating; ... refusing to be disheartened, like a gourd floating along with the river current: this is what we call the floating world..."

The art form rose to great popularity in the metropolitan culture of Edo (Tokyo) during the second half of the 17th century, originating with the single-color works of Hishikawa Moronobu in the 1670s. At first, only India ink was used, then some prints were manually colored with a brush, but in the 18th century Suzuki Harunobu developed the technique of polychrome printing to produce nishiki-e.

Mr. Kentaro Shimada, Senior Advisor to Rokkaan Co. Ltd. at his desk. Mr. Shimada speaks English too!

Ukiyo-e along the wall of Rokkaan. These beautiful works of art must be seen in person, up close, to be appreciated. Thusly, Rokkaan has a web page but encourages customers to come in and see the exact prints of interest because each one is one-of-a-kind and, even if the art is the same print, background papers can change colors or tones fade differently over time.

For those who love the Japanese traditional art but can't come up close to see it before spending money on it, or for those looking for a very tasteful present from Japan, Rokkaan sells traditional Japanese art designed notebooks...

...and postcards!

To see much more wonderful Japanese art, go to Rokkaan in person or visit their webpage below! Tell Shimada san that "Mike Rogers sent you!"


Rokkaan Co. Ltd.
東京都台東区元浅草3丁目18-5寺嶋ビル401
地図URL: http://yahoo.jp/L_WlRC

Office

Moto-Asakusa3-18-5-401

Taito-ku,Tokyo,Japan

Gallery

Asakusa1-9-1

Taito-ku,Tokyo,Japan

Tel / Fax: 03-6317-8099

(81-3-6317-8099)

Business hours: 11:00～19:00 irregular holiday

URL: http://www.rokka-an.com

Delicious Looking! The Most Expensive Plastic Food in the World!

I went to Kappabashi yesterday. Kappabashi is a place near Ueno and is famous in Japan for selling anything and everything that has to do with the restaurant business. Of course that means knives, fork, spoons, chopsticks and plates. But it also means "noren" (the cloths that Japanese restaurants have outside in front over the doorway to show that they are open); it also means "akachochin" (the red lanterns that restaurants have outside to show what kind of establishment the restaurant is; the plastic food you see in front of the Japanese and Chinese restaurants and just about anything you can think of including wine coolers, exhaust fans for restaurants and even the little signs that say "men" or "womens" for the rest rooms!


Kappabashi has everything for restaurants!


Since most of the shops at Kappabashi sell wholesale, they didn't allow me to take photos in their shops but two places didn't mind.... I think that's because their business kicks butt and they don't care about a little Internet competition!


One particularly interesting shop was "Maizuru Sample" (Cheat Sample). Cheat Sample is a shop that was just stuffed full of fake wax foods.... This place had everything!

The sign out front of the shop doesn't begin to show the, the, er, the delicacies within...

Ummm! Ice cold beer and spaghetti with forks floating in mid-air... Wait! What!? Those beers sell for about ¥5000 each (that's about $60!) Those beers had better taste good.... Or, in this case, at least look like they do!

King crab imported from Russia... and molded in a factory around the corner... I wonder what an artican gets to make one of these? And, just how does one get a career in making fake foods? "Mom! I want to work in the restaurant industry but don't like kitchens or fried food... Or even customers for that matter! What should I do?"

These lobsters are life-sized and look completely real...

....and they sell for $600 (USD) each!!!??? Holy Red Lobster! 

Well, there's no way I'm paying $600 for a lobster that's not even cooked and, even if it were, you couldn't eat it. When it comes to food that is poisonous anyway, I'm into Cup Noodles and instant ramen. Here's the wax version at a reasonable $80 a bowl (this is better than the real thing because eating ramen is very bad for you and fattening anyway!)

Prime cut USDA choice steak... Er, plastic...

Need to take a few sushi home with you? Sure, these are already wrapped. Put it in your packet... Oh, and make sure they don't stay there too long... Nothing worse than melted sushi....

I wonder if that plate is real or is that wax too? I should have asked.

Well, at $25 or more for a piece of sushi that, if you eat it, will cause you to go to the hospital to have your stomach pumped, I think I'll stick with the refrigerator magnets. They have tons of those!

It was a fun day at Kappabashi. Next time I'll try to be more sly and take more photos... Until then, I highly suggest that, before eating anything, knock on it to make sure that it isn't plastic.


When in doubt, refrain!


Here is Maizuru's webpage. They even take internet orders and you can order online!


http://www.maiduru.co.jp

Address: 〒120-0003
東京都足立区東和４－１５－２２

Tel:  03-3606-1665

Fax: 03-3606-1667

Map URL: http://yahoo.jp/DJRLwa