His beautiful work communicates the craftsman’s care.
It is said that the original technique of mounting was brought to Japan from China by members of official missions to China during its Tang dynasty. The artisans were popularly called Kyo-shi, or sutra men, because their work was mostly centered on mounting Buddhist sutras and paintings. As time passed, they also applied their techniques to hanging scrolls, screens, sliding doors, scrolls and art frames. Hence they came to be called “Hyogu-shi” or mounters.
Process of mounting makimono (scrolls)
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- Confirm order
- Determine the style (color and pattern for the cover, etc.) that best suits the painting or calligraphy to be mounted.
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- Apply backing paper
- Paste very thin paper on the back of every piece of the painting or calligraphy to stabilize the work.
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- Connect sections
- Dry the above pieces and paste them together horizontally from right to left to an appropriate length.
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- Trim
- Cut the upper and lower parts of the connected sections to the required size.
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- Connect
- Connect all the trimmed sections in order with paste at the exact positions for the entire length.
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- Fukurin-dori or strengthening the edges with special paper
- dge with two complementary strips of Yakutai-shi at the top and bottom of the entire object to keep edges from being damaged.
(Yakutai-shi: special thin paper soaked in persimmon tannin that was originally made to envelop medicine)
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- Attach the cloth cover
- Attach the chosen cloth cover to the right end of the mounting.
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- Finish
- Attach a roller to the left end and strings to the cloth cover.
