Sudare Sunshade

Sudare have existed since ancient times and are still a familiar part of Japanese daily life. Two types of material are used depending on the purpose.

Misu is made from bamboo and is made using bamboo strips, so they have a finer finish than ordinary Sudare. In ancient Japan, Misu was an interior decoration separating people from gods and nobles from the common people. In addition, since ancient times, it has been customs for noble women in Japan not to allow anyone outside the family to see their faces, and when meeting with someone outside the family or someone of low status, they would hide their faces by separating them with Misu. Even today, more than 1,000 years later, Misu is still used in temples and shrines.

On the other hand, Sudare made of Yoshi (reed) were used by ordinary people to shelter them from the sun in summer, to prevent insects from entering the house and to prevent the inside of the house being seen from the outside. By hanging Sudare, the temperature in a room would drop by about 3-4 ℃. Even today, many households use Sudares, especially in Kyoto, where summer is very hot and humid. If you walk through the streets of Kyoto, you are likely to see Sudares hanging from the windows of every house. Sudare is a summer tradition in Kyoto. To learn about the various meanings of Sudare is to touch deep into the heart of the Japanese people.

Kyo-Sudare Kawasaki is one of the few workshops in Japan with weavers who weave Sudare by hand. They weave natural materials such as reed, bamboo and makomo (straw mats) from both domestic and overseas sources with threads and produces a wide range of handicrafts such as Sudare, Misu, lighting and so on.

"Kyo-Sudare Kawasaki workshop is located near to Kameoka Station, a 25-minute train ride from Kyoto Station. The workshop is a log house which has an exhibition hall as well, and when you enter the exhibition hall, you will find a wide range of traditional Sudare and Misu, as well as other bamboo blinds imaginatively made by craftspeople.

When you step into the workshop area, you will see a row of machines used to weave Sudare. The longest-lived of the sudare weaving machines is about 50 years old and is still used with great care. Since the machines used to make traditional Sudare are few and valuable, when other Sudare makers go out of business, the machines are sometimes given to this workshop. And there are no specialists who can repair the machines when they break down, so the crafspeople repair them on their own and carefully pass them on to the next generation to use, together with the wishes of the previous owner."