YUKI FUJISAWA takes me out.
To the outside world. To a world we haven't seen yet.
To someone's story, my story.

I thought about this while riding on a long-distance bus.

I woke up at 7:30 in the morning and headed to Kofu. To go see gemstone polisher Kanna Oshiro.

Kanna creates loose stones (bare stones before they are made into jewelry) by randomly cutting raw stones. Yuki happily told me that some people involved in the jewelry industry call it "kanna cut."

Yuki fell in love with what Kanna created and wanted to make something of it someday, so after several years she asked, ``Please let me make jewelry with Kanna's stones,'' and today the piece is completed. It is the day when I will show you the Ruth I have done.

Normally I would still be asleep, so I rubbed my sleepy eyes. Then I felt like I was being called by the scenery. When I suddenly looked out the window, I saw a series of mountain peaks in the distance, with a cap of fresh-looking snow glistening at the top. The shadowy area at the foot of the mountain contrasts with the whiteness of the top, and I thought it was a little similar to the jewelry created by Yuki and Kanna, which combines stones with two different expressions.

I have only seen photos of "Fragments of Quartz" so far. But crystals can be obtained from mountains. Kofu already had a crystal mine during the Sengoku period. When you think about it, the jewels they created may be a form of another life, like mountains and snow.

Just as I was dreaming about this, I was brought back to my senses by the announcement of ``Ise 1-chome''. After three hours on the bus, I had already arrived in Kofu, which was a complete change from my usual morning. As I was crossing the river, I saw the shadows of Yuki-san, Masumi-san, and myself, and stopped for a moment, thinking, ``It's so clear.'' I start walking again toward Shimizu Kiishi, where Kanna Oshiro works.

A white building appeared in a residential area. I wonder if the structure with many windows was an ingenuity due to the work of handling jewelry. The person who welcomed me with a gentle atmosphere seemed to have a bright, clear strength at their core. Kanna Oshiro is a hand-polished jewelry polisher, one of only 10 people in Japan.

“As far as I know, there are only about seven or eight hand-polishing artisans, including young people like me.The oldest are in their 80s and some are almost 90 years old.I think I'm probably the only woman there. There may be people somewhere in the world who actually do it.''

Kanna went on to tell me about ``tezuri''. As the name suggests, ``tebori'' is a method of cutting gemstones by hand, and in the sense of a local industry, it is said to be a technique that has been passed down only in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture in the world.

Kanna, who has been working as a craftsman for 10 years, laughed and said, ``I'm still a child, no, I'm just like an eggshell.'' However, her master, who has been working for 50 years, also said, ``Hand-polishing is a lifelong process.'' It's an incredible skill, and he always says, "I can't fully pursue it."

An auxiliary tool called a facetter is usually used to create the cuts that we think of when we think of jewelry. On the other hand, in the case of hand-polishing, the stone is cut, polished, and finished into jewelry, relying only on the delicate senses of the hands.

"All of Yuki's jewelry this time is finished by hand polishing. Hand polishing allows you to bring out the expression of the rough stone better than using a facetter. Originally, I wasn't that attracted to the process of polishing. When I encountered hand-polishing, I realized that it was rewarding and interesting.''

The key to bringing out the expression of a rough stone is the existence of "inclusions." In the world of jewelry, the mist or dust-like inclusions in a rough stone are called inclusions. Masumi, who was casually taking photos, said he had heard about it in ``Land of the Lustrous.''

``Overseas, some people consider inclusions to be unique, but in Japan, there is a history in which it has been considered beautiful to have unblemished grains that are uniform in size and shape. There was a need for an even finish in the same way as the stone.Our job was to make the most of natural stone, but we were faced with the dilemma of doing the opposite."

“Inclusions make each piece of jewelry different. I like that.”

Yuki-san immediately reacts to Kanna-san's words and replies. I think that the reason why the two of them are able to overlap their thoughts even though they are dealing with different handicrafts such as knitting and jewelry is because they have this kind of idea in common.

Because no two stones are the same, the beauty of the stone is that it can be made in the same way.
No two stones are the same, and that's the beauty of ``taking advantage of the differences.''

If the former involves cutting using a facetter, the latter can be polished by hand. It's not that one is better or worse, but that knowing the purpose and value of each, and the people who have been involved in it, and knowing the differences that you wouldn't notice if you didn't know, opens a door to encountering the story. I think that.

"Ruth this time...can I have a look?"

Instead of saying that she can't wait, Yuki says with a twinkle in her eyes. The weather is nice today, and the sun shines into the workshop. When Ruth and her friends were lined up at desks on the first floor, where there was an office work and reception area, when they opened the curtains, they shone all at once, as if all the light of the world had been gathered into their small bodies, and the delicate way they shone was astonishing. Ta. The shape of the generous drops makes it seem like the dreams and memories of rough stones and living creatures have been poured into this loose piece over a long period of time.

Transparent crystal, aquamarine with a deep blue color, and rose quartz with a color that resembles rose petals dissolved in water. "It looks delicious..." Yuki's voice echoed through the workshop with a sigh.

There are three types of stones used, and each loose stone has a cracked finish called a crush on the bottom. It seems that all the materials used in the crash part are crystal. Aquamarine is originally a natural stone with cracks that look like a crush, so it was difficult to make the most of it.

Originally, Kanna only presented her own works as combinations of crystals, but during a conversation with Yuki, she came up with colored stones such as ``crushed crystal and rose quartz'' and ``aquamarine and crystal.'' I decided to take on the challenge. The contrast between the clear top and the crash is a landscape that would not exist without human intervention. It's like a miracle that the two of them were able to meet, and they have a phantom presence.

“When I saw Kanna-san's crushed quartz loose crystal, I thought it might exist, even though it's a combination that would never exist in nature.And then I realized, 'It's here! ``The strangeness of it was shocking.''

``This uses synthetic crystal.Synthetic crystal is artificially produced using a machine using natural crystal as the raw material.In this series of Yuki-san's jewelry,'' It is characterized by an artificial process that involves human hands, such as gluing two parts together, cutting them into drop shapes, and crushing them.Therefore, I thought the chemical and cold feel was appropriate.Also. , synthetic crystal captures crashes more clearly."

"Even though we say it's cold, adding crush makes the process complicated and requires a lot of human intervention."

"Yes. He's sweating and trying to do it in a cool way (lol). When you think of the handiwork of a craftsman, you have an image of warmth and comfort, but maybe he wanted to get away from that. No. Even as a user, I think it's better if the craftsman's face doesn't come to mind too much.I want to create something that speaks for itself without showing the face of the craftsman. I feel like I need to be able to create something that people think doesn't exist."

hand work. Everything in front of our eyes was created by someone's hands. I used to think that good handiwork was something that you could imagine someone making.

However, in a society where we are surrounded by so many things on a daily basis and are accustomed to consuming them, we quickly forget to use our imaginations to envision the creators. It's only when I see the photos of the craftsmen's faces lined up that I realize with a warm feeling that these are the kind of people who make things, and I don't really try to find out more.

Instead of assuming that you understand someone's handiwork simply by using words like ``warmth'' or ``warmth,'' and feel at ease, you need to be able to imagine that person for yourself. . The days when I tried to train like mud, the days when I couldn't finish everything, and the nights when I tried to sleep with these words in my heart. The countless scenes from the creator's life are reflected in this shining stone in front of us.

Light created by gemstone polisher Kanna Oshiro / Continued from Fragments of Quartz (Part 2)

Words: Yume Nomura

Photo: Masumi Ishida