gurdymonkey: (brain cramp)
[personal profile] gurdymonkey
....I just wrote up documentation for something that's not terribly documentable. Does it help if one throws the word "plausible" around? A lot?

Excerpt: "Kanebako Masami, a director of the Nihon no Akari (History of Japanese Lighting) Museum, writes:

“Chochin lanterns were made of rolled takehigo (thin strips of bamboo) in a spiral, with Japanese paper pasted on them and a lit candle inside. Originally people covered bamboo baskets with paper and called them chochin.”

Masami goes on to describe the development in the late 16th century of a chochin design peculiar to Japan in which the lantern could be collapsed and folded away when not in use. While this does not provide a precise date for the kaga or basket chochin, it would evidently pre-date 16th century paper-and-bamboo chochin."


That's it, people. I've got the word of Kanebako Masami and a photo of an undescribed, undated kaga chochin from an idiosyncratically translated article on a moribund pop-culture-and-design site called PingMag. I've got fiberglass "paper" on the thing! 

Then again, I suppose it beats burning down the Imperial Palace with one of these things:



Date: 2009-04-03 04:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] karisu-sama.livejournal.com
Originally people covered bamboo baskets with paper and called them chochin.”

Sounds a lot like what you've created, to me.... :)

Date: 2009-04-03 05:27 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] gurdymonkey.livejournal.com
I have no primary sources. (A document from the period mentioning kaga chochin, a painting or drawing of one, or an extant artifact.) The ikebana basket from the Asian doesn't count - it's a hugeous extrapolation.

I have a secondary source (Masami) whose source(s) I do not know. Does he have one in his museum? Does he have other primary sources?

I have a photo from an article whose author didn't bother to include her last name.

For me and my nefarious purposes, this constitutes being waaaaaaaay out on a limb. The only redemption is that I admit it repeatedly in my write-up.

It'll probably end up on Wodeford Hall, possibly with edits based on any comments I get at the event this weekend.

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