Wagatabon - Japanese sweet chestnut tray
Perpetuate a heritage craft
The ancient art of Wagatabon (我谷盆) : perpetuate the traditional Japanese technique of wooden tray carving only with hand tools.
I have learnt the endangered skill of Wagatabon tray carving in August 2019 from Japanese woodworker Professor Masashi Kutsuwa (ありがとうございました久津輪 雅さん) who himself learned from wagatabon master Shinichi Moriguchi 森口信一さん. Wagata-Bon (我谷盆) is a Japanese wooden tray traditionally carved from sweet chestnut slabs with distinct grooves across the grain.
Perpetuating and keeping alive this skill is for me a way to celebrate heritage crafts techniques, savoir-faire and “the intelligence of the hand”. Taking the time to conscientiously make with simple handtools: as a meditative process to create unique pieces with a soul.
My tea trays are slowly carved on an atedai 当て台 (Japanese workbench) using only three tools: a chisel, a gouge and a mallet. The wooden blank being previously squared with an axe from a tree log freshly cut with an hand saw. Carved from ethically sourced logs of trees that grew up localy.
