Oil paper umbrella
An oil paper umbrella is a traditional umbrella made of paper soaked in oil, originally from China . Later it spread to other parts of Asia such as Japan , Taiwan , Korea , Vietnam , Okinawa , Thailand and Laos . It used to be a commodity in these areas, serving as both a rain and a parasol .
He also played a role in traditional ceremonies. In China, for example, the maid of honor had to cover the bride with a red oil-paper umbrella during a traditional wedding when she arrived at the groom's family and the bride got out of the litter to ward off misfortune. Likewise, in the traditional Japanese wedding ceremony, the bride is covered with a red oil paper umbrella. Purple-colored oil-paper umbrellas are given away to the elderly, as purple means long life in tradition. White oil paper umbrellas are used for funeral services. In traditional Japanese dance , oil paper umbrellas are an important utensil. Oil-paper umbrellas are also used in the tea ceremony .
Oil-paper umbrellas played an important role in the Hakka tradition. Since in the Hakka language the characters 紙 (paper) and 子 (son) have a similar pronunciation, and the character 傘 (umbrella) contains the character "four" 人 (human), the bride always takes oil-paper umbrellas with her, which is so much how great offspring means. The open umbrella with its circular shape combined with the Hakku language symbols 油 (oil) and 有 (have) (same pronunciation), promises a prosperous and perfect life. For the same reason, men are given oil paper umbrellas when they reach the age of 16.
In the religious ceremonies, oil-paper umbrellas are often held over the litter of the gods or Buddha statues. Here, too, the umbrellas were used to ward off misfortune and demons, but also to protect the procession participants from sun or rain.
Today there are more western-style umbrellas in everyday life in Asia. Oil paper umbrellas are mostly sold as arts and crafts or souvenirs.
history
According to legend, the wife of the craftsman Lu Ban (魯班) invented the umbrella by “splitting bamboo into strips and stretching animal skins over them”. So she created a device that looked "folded like a stick, opened like a lid" (劈 竹 為 條 ， 蒙 以 獸皮 ， 收攏 如 棍 ， 張開 如 蓋). Initially, the umbrellas were mostly covered with feathers or silk. After the invention of paper, paper umbrellas also appeared. It is not known exactly when paper soaked in oil was used as a covering. There is evidence that this technique came to Japan and Korea during the Tang Dynasty . In the time of the Song , the name green oil paper umbrella came up. They were very common during the Ming Dynasty . The handicraft lexicon Tian Gong Kai Wu (天工 aus 物) from the Ming period mentioned the manufacturing process. Even Shen Kuo described in his book the production of oiled paper umbrellas. Oil-paper umbrella manufacture was particularly widespread in the Yangtze region with its rainy spring. In some literary works such as Madame White Snake (白蛇傳), oil-paper umbrellas also play a role.
Manufacturing steps
Every place and every manufacturer has its own manufacturing tradition. But in general the process can be broken down into four steps:
- select suitable bamboo
- Making the scaffolding: Bamboo is split and cut into strips, soaked in water and later dried under the sun. Then holes are drilled on it, put together, threads threaded through the hole and tied together with the umbrella holder and umbrella head
- Applying the screen surface: Paper is cut to size and then glued to the framework. Protruding edges are shortened, oil is applied and then dried under the sun. In principle, a screen can already be used in this phase.
- Painting the screen with pictures
Oil paper umbrella from mainland China and Taiwan
Oil-paper umbrellas from mainland China and Taiwan are mostly decorated with traditional Chinese painting . Birds and fish, landscapes and motifs from famous novels such as The Dream of the Red Chamber are often used as motifs . Often the umbrellas are provided with characters . The handle and frame usually retain their original rustic color.
Famous places of manufacture in China
Yuhang, Zhejiang
Oil-paper umbrella manufacture began in Yuhang (餘杭), a district of the provincial capital of Zhejiang Hangzhou , where Dong Wenyuan (董文 远) opened his workshop in 1769 . She produced several types of oil paper umbrellas of high quality, as only exquisite materials were used. The umbrellas have been weatherproof for several years against sun and rain, which has also made them a popular souvenir or gift.
After the Chinese Civil War , the manufacture of oil-paper umbrellas began again in 1951 . The umbrella workshop was one of the first socialist collectives in the province. However, with the advent of modern steel-framed umbrellas, paper umbrellas gradually went out of fashion, so that the manufacturing technique was almost forgotten.
When the plant closed, a citizen bought about 100 oil paper umbrellas. Since he did not master the manufacturing technique himself, he only kept the skeletons of the umbrellas for over 30 years. At the end of 2006, he persuaded the mayor of Yuhang to revive the craft and market it as a tourist attraction. Through newspaper advertisements, four old masters were found who revived umbrella manufacture and were able to train other craftsmen from then on. In 2007, the Department of Culture put oil-paper umbrella manufacture on the province's Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
The production of the Yuhang oil paper umbrellas requires a high level of manual skill. An apprentice needs at least three years to master the manufacturing technique. All tools are specially made. The demands on the quality of the raw materials are also high: only high-quality papers are used. The glue consists of crushed unripe persimmon fruits . Human hair used to be used as threads. Unlike the oil paper umbrellas in other regions, the umbrellas are first painted and then oiled. Drying takes place in the shade and not in the sun. Over 70 individual interventions are required for the entire manufacturing process.
Fenshui, Sichuan
The over 400-year-old tradition of umbrella production in Fenshui (分水), a community in the city of Luzhou (瀘 州), Sichuan Province dates back to the Ming period . The umbrellas produced there are relatively small and finely and colorfully painted: They can withstand strong gusts of wind.
The advent of modern umbrellas also brought about a decline in oil-paper umbrella manufacture. The complex and labor-intensive production makes them unattractive for younger people. In 2004 there were around 30 older masters who were still doing their trade, so that a loss of production technology is often feared. Due to public pressure and growing demand from the tourism industry, the handicrafts received funding from the city and experienced a revival.
The Fenshui umbrellas are made in over 70 individual steps, which are done by hand without a machine. Only traditional raw materials are used as raw materials. The seal that marks a Fenshui umbrella is over 450 years old. The choice of motifs for painting the umbrellas is subject to strict rules - depending on the intended ceremony.
The main buyers of the oil paper umbrellas are mainly members of ethnic minorities in the neighboring provinces who use the umbrellas as ceremonial utensils or gifts. Exports go to Japan, Singapore , South Korea , Hong Kong and Macau .
Jialu, Jiangxi
The umbrellas made in Jialu (甲 路), a village in Wuyuan County (婺 源), Jiangxi Province , have a rustic appearance and are famous for their robustness. It is said that oil-paper umbrellas have been made there since the Song dynasty . It is said that one day Emperor Kangxi came to Wuyuan in disguise. When it began to rain during an open-air theater performance, the front rows opened the umbrellas, which led to displeasure among the audience in the back. Thereupon a youth threw a stone at an umbrella; however, this paper and bamboo umbrella remained intact.
In 1943 the annual production was 250,000 umbrellas, the majority of them for export. At the beginning of the 2000s there were only three masters over 80 who had mastered the craft. The manufacturing process was then simplified. The manufacturing process has been reduced to around 30 steps. Incentives were created for the farmers to produce oil-paper umbrellas again. In 2006, there were four factories in Wuyuan. Most of the work is done at home; the final processing takes place in the factories. In 2006 there were around 1,800 umbrella manufacturers in the county, generating eight million yuan a year (the equivalent of around 800,000 euros).
Changsha, Hunan
Changsha , the capital of Hunan Province, looks back on an umbrella manufacturing history of over 100 years. The oldest manufactory was established at the time of Emperor Xianfeng . Other manufacturers were added later. The umbrellas - only coated three times with oil in midsummer - were of high quality.
In addition to traditional painting, attempts were made in the first half of the 20th century to use newer techniques such as printing and varnishing. The peak production amounted to 300,000 umbrellas annually. In February 1975, however, the factory and later other workshops were closed, so that today hardly any umbrellas are made in the city.
In addition to bamboo, paper, oil and wood, the factories in Changsha also used rope braided with hair and ox horn as raw materials.
In 1864 a master from Changsha moved to Wuhan , the provincial capital of Hubei , where he established a workshop. At peak times, he sold 700 umbrellas a month, high quality products that lasted eight to twelve years on average and were extremely popular. At that time it was also customary to buy two umbrellas from the workshop at the wedding, with the groom wearing a red and the bride a blue one. The workshop was closed in 1970, and the art of umbrella making has died out in Wuhan since then.
Fuzhou, Fujian
The oil-paper umbrella-making process in Fuzhou , the provincial capital of Fujian , brought in war refugees from Zhejian and the Yangtze region during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms .
Oil-paper umbrellas used to play an important role in local life. They were called "the umbrella in the luggage" (包袱 傘), as it was an indispensable tool on every trip. At the end of the Qing Dynasty , there were over 300 workshops here.
The production of the oil paper umbrella was extremely complex, the entire process consisted of 83 different steps. At the World Exhibition of 1915 in San Francisco , the jury found that an oil-paper umbrella from Fuzhou still showed no signs of use after being opened and folded 1170 times, withstood winds of up to 5 without visible damage, and even boiling water neither peeled off nor dissolved the paper.
A peculiarity in Fuzhou was that there was specialization due to the large number of workshops. There were workshops that only made the skeletons, or only the sticks, or only the painting.
During the great leap forward , the individual workshops were administratively combined to form a combine. At the same time, competition from modern umbrellas grew. After the cultural revolution , the textile-covered umbrellas prevailed, the oil-paper umbrellas gradually changed from everyday objects to art objects, the combine suffered increasing sales losses, while innovations and more modern production methods did not help either.
In 1997 the combine was finally closed, so that only a small workshop in Fuzhou produces mainly for the Japanese market. Most of the craftsmen had to take up other work.
In addition to Fuzhou, there are other oil paper umbrella manufacturers in Yangkou (洋 口) municipality in Nanping city . In order to avoid competition, the company has specialized in small-format umbrellas that are only made as arts and crafts or souvenirs. A large part of the production is intended for export.
Xingyang, Yunnan
In the village of Xingyang (滎 陽), Tengchong County , Yunnan Province , there is a small-format oil-paper umbrella manufacture based on family farms, which can already look back on over 200 years of history. In 1952 there were 60 families in the village with 90 craftsmen who made umbrellas, the products were sold as far as Myanmar . Today there are only four families with five craftsmen (three of them are old) who still make oil-paper umbrellas during the agricultural rest period.
A craftsman needs an average of half a day per umbrella.
Traditions of oil paper screen use in China
Bridal gift of the Hakka
Formerly included the oil-paper umbrella, the symbol-rich progeny such as satisfaction and prosperity an indispensable component of the dowry of a Hakka -Wedding, on the one hand the other hand, served as a useful commodity as a symbolic object to ward of evil. In addition to the umbrella, five-colored underpants, dressing table, foot wash basin, bedside tableware, door curtain, wooden box and leather box were part of the bridal gift. Wealthy families added jewelry, silk, and blankets. The bride also brings lucky vegetables such as celery , garlic , leek and garlic-chives . The vegetables are tied with red ribbons.
This custom is still widespread among the Hakkas in Taiwan and Southeast Asia today .
Hakka funeral
At the burial of the Hakka, who mostly live in the Chinese mountain regions, the dead are initially buried on the mountain without a burial mound or grave plaque. After three, five or more years, the bones are buried in a formal ceremony. Every August 1st of the Chinese calendar , the grave digger opens the grave and coffin. Then the bones are removed from under an oil paper umbrella and cleaned with camellia oil and then reburied in the real grave.
Yao engagement
The Yao living in Hunan use the oil paper umbrella as a sign of engagement. If a marriage is planned, the man's family sends a representative to the woman's family to secure an engagement. The first time the commissioner does not bring any gifts; it is only an expression of will. If the woman's family agrees, the representative will bring a red oiled paper umbrella on the second visit. When entering the woman's house, he places the shim in front of the divine altar. If the wife's family agrees to the engagement, they take off the umbrella and weave colored ribbons and silk balls onto the umbrella. Then the umbrella is folded up so that the bands protrude about 10 cm at the lower edge. The representative then carries the umbrella - he is not allowed to open it on the way - to the husband's family as proof that the engagement has taken place. In the event of a divorce, the husband must return the braided ribbons and balls to the wife's family.
Dai memorial service
The Dai living in Yunnan believe that the screen can guide the soul of the dead to heaven; it is therefore an indispensable burial object. This is not about the utility umbrella, but rather special ceremonial umbrellas, which have to be covered with locally produced special paper and soaked in sesame oil .
Taiwan
The oil paper umbrellas produced in Meinong (美濃) Township , Kaohsiung , are a cultural symbol of the Hakka in Taiwan .
history
About the origin of the handicrafts in Meinong, one theory has it that during the Taishō period ( Taiwan under Japanese rule ) , local companies hired mainland Chinese masters to pass the technique on to local artisans. After another, a master from Meixian (梅縣), Guangdong Province , moved to Meinong, where he settled down and brought the technique with him. Earlier factories always included the character Guang (廣, short for Guangdong Province) in their names. In the 1960s , oil paper umbrella manufacturing reached its peak. A total of 20 factories produced over 200,000 umbrellas annually. With the increasing industrialization of Taiwan, the machine-made modern umbrellas prevailed and became a Taiwanese export hit. This went hand in hand with the closure of numerous traditional factories.
In the 1970s, the BBC covered the oil-paper umbrella-making tradition in Taiwan in the documentary series The Long Search . A television series filmed in Meinong, which enjoyed great popularity in Japan, made the Meinong oil paper umbrella popular in Japan, which led to increased demand from Japan and thus bridged an economic crisis. In the 1980s, with the economic boom and growing prosperity, so did the domestic demand for art objects. Oil-paper umbrellas became a symbol of local culture.
Material and manufacturing process
A special type of bamboo that grows in Taiwan and is characterized by its high elasticity serves as the skeleton . The bamboo poles are watered for a month to lower the sugar content, then dried in the sun, split and processed as a skeleton. In Taiwan, the paper is first oiled and then painted.
Hakka dance
The umbrella dance is a traditional Hakka dance. In this dance, the dancer wears a paper umbrella and the traditional blue robe of the Hakkas.
Japan
Oil-paper umbrellas became common in Japan during the Edo period . The holder and the skeleton of the Japanese oil paper umbrellas are usually painted black, occasionally in other colors. The screen surface shows traditional Japanese painting.
history
The paper umbrella came to Japan via the Korean peninsula during the Asuka period . Originally it was only used as a Buddhist ceremonial device. During the Heian period , improvements were made in paper making and bamboo processing. In the Muromachi period , people began to spread the oil on the paper, so that the umbrella got a water-repellent quality and developed into today's Japanese oil paper umbrella.
During the Azuchi Momoyama period , umbrella covers were introduced from the Philippines . During the Edo period, oil paper umbrellas became widely used. Entrepreneurs painted the umbrellas with advertising and gave them away to guests when it rained. At the same time, the kabuki began to use umbrellas in their performances. Even some unemployed samurai weren't too happy to take up the umbrella-making profession. This is how the famous manufactory in Nagano Prefecture began .
Western-style umbrellas began to spread from the Meiji period . The production of Japanese oil paper umbrellas declined rapidly. Today there are only a few factories left.
Famous places of manufacture
Kyoto
The umbrellas produced in Kyoto - all handcrafted and of high quality - strongly emphasize the Japanese style elements. As a rule, a master makes fewer than ten to twenty umbrellas in two months. A special variety with a white unpainted edge is called a snake-eye umbrella (蛇 の 目 傘).
Gifu
Umbrella production in Gifu began around 1750. The complex production required over a hundred individual steps. Today around 10,000 umbrellas are produced annually.
In Japanese culture
In Japanese culture, oil paper umbrella is ubiquitous. In many traditional performances, such as geisha , oil paper umbrellas are used.
Thailand
Chiang Mai in northern Thailand can look back on 200 years of oil paper umbrella manufacturing history. The umbrellas made from local bamboo varieties are decorated with colorful motifs such as plants, animals, people or landscapes. In addition to round umbrellas, there are also square-shaped ones. In addition to professional manufacturing companies, numerous farmers produce the umbrellas as popular tourist souvenirs during their free time.
history
According to tradition, the oil-paper umbrella making technique came to Chiang Mai via Myanmar. According to this, a monk named Pra Inthaa from the Wat Bo Sang monastery north to the border with Myanmar is said to have received an umbrella as an offering from a man that he had made himself. He took a liking to the umbrella and learned how to make umbrellas from the man. The monk wrote everything down. On his return he collected material and tried to get the inhabitants of the surrounding villages to make the umbrellas. After initial skepticism, the residents were convinced by the practical products and found good sales opportunities.
In 1941 the Bo Sang Umbrella Making Cooperative Ltd. was founded in the village . founded. From 1957, the Thai Center for Industrial Promotion for the North supported the villagers in improving and modernizing their technology.
Material and manufacture
The paper is made from mulberry bark. This is softened in boiling water, washed, crushed, washed again and then bleached. This process is repeated several times. The paper is dried in the sun. The umbrella is made by hand. The painting was also entirely manual work, but the painting is done with oil paint.
Umbrella festival
Every year in January or February, the villagers celebrate the popular umbrella festival with dance performances and an umbrella competition.
In culture
- A key scene in the well-known story of Madame White Snake in China was borrowing an oil-paper umbrella
- In the Shinto religion there is a small ghost in the form of a broken oil paper umbrella ( 傘 の お ば け )
- The shape of an oil-paper umbrella is reminiscent of a ghost, which is why it was previously believed that ghosts liked to attach themselves to the umbrellas. There were numerous ghost stories related to oil-paper umbrellas in the East Asian cultural area, and therefore many corresponding films and television series.
credentials
- ↑ 浪漫 的 藝術 - 美濃 油紙傘 ( Memento from June 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Chinese National Geographics, 2007, No.3 ( Memento from January 25, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) (Chinese)
- ↑ The Intangible Cultural Heritage of Yuhang ( Memento of October 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ 寻找 制伞 师傅 恢复 “余杭 纸伞” ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ 余杭 纸伞 亮相 市 “非 遗” 保护 成果 展 ( Memento from March 8, 2008 in the web archive archive.today ) (Chinese)
- ↑ 余杭 纸伞 等 亮相 市 “非 遗” 保护 成果 展 ( Memento from February 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Luzhou Oil Paper Umbrella Making Technique May Be Lost (Chinese)
- ↑ 泸州 油纸伞 资深 的 时尚 ( Chinese ) Archived from the original on May 28, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
- ↑ Umbrella from Jialu ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ 婺源 传统 产业 迸发 新 活力. Retrieved May 8, 2011 .
- ↑ 百年 老店 －－ 苏恒泰 伞 店 - 百年 老店 - 世界 经济学 人 ( Chinese ) start.iwxo.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved on May 8 2011th
- ↑ History of Hanzheng Street (Chinese)
- ↑ Paper umbrella from Fuzhou (Chinese)
- ↑ 纸伞 文化 - 福州 精美 的 纸伞 工艺 ( Memento from February 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Where is the spring of Fuzhou oil paper umbrella? (Chinese)
- ↑ 福州 将 申报 “脱胎 漆器” 之 都. GJArt, January 17, 2006, accessed March 17, 2019 (Chinese).
- ↑ The Last Keeper ( Memento from July 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Paper umbrellas from Xingyang ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Tengchong ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ The last umbrella manufacturer ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Traditional Hakka wedding in Meizhou ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Burial traditions in China ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Yao Wedding ( Memento from July 23, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Yao Wedding (Chinese)
- ↑ Detailed description of the handicrafts of the Dai and Naxi (Chinese)
- ↑ Meinong Oil Paper Umbrella ( Memento from July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (Chinese)
- ↑ 創始人 簡介 ( Memento of October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Manufacturing process in Meinong ( Memento from May 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Hakka Dance ( Memento from July 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ 喬木 村 〈た か ぎ む ら〉 ( Japanese ) spacefan.net. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
- ↑ http://www.ylib.com/travel/notes/rv020121.htm (link not available)
- ↑ Gifu Oil Paper Umbrella ( Memento from September 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Japanese)
- ↑ Thailand ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Chinese)
- ↑ Chiang Mai umbrellas (Chinese)
- ↑ A History of Umbrella Making In the Past (English)
- ↑ Pictures of the manufacturing steps
- ↑ Bo Sang Umbrella Festival