July 3, 2021

Kaga Metal Inlay Translation Handbook Published

Metalworking craft comes up in writing about art and craft all over Japan and editors and writers hunger for reliable bilingual reference materials, preferably with illustrations. Such a guide is now available online as the Kanazawa Craft Arts Translation Handbook: Kaga Metal Inlay. This fine resource focuses on Kaga zōgan, one of the crafts for which Ishikawa prefecture is well known. It is the fruit of two years of collaboration by craftspeople, specialists, translators, editors, and others teamed up under an organization called The Creation of Japan (CoJ). Niigata-based translator, writer, and editor Zackary Kaplan—who recently joined SWET—was in charge of English editing, writing and translation for the handbook. Cooperation was provided by numerous experts and craft organizations including art consultant and translator Joe Earle and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York curator Monika Binscik.

　This resource is part of ongoing efforts to improve the quality of information about crafts coming out in Kanazawa, which takes special pride in the high standard of art and craft that has been fostered and treasured in the area since the Edo period. Funds were allocated to a project based at CoJ to compile handbooks for Kaga zōgan, Kaga yuzen textiles, and gold leaf (kinpaku) crafts. Funds ran out before the latter two handbooks could be published, but the information has been compiled and can be made available upon request.