The Study on the Gold Leaf technique and this application in early Meiji Period based on fieldwork and research

2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 17500683
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sociology/History of science and technology
• Research Institution: Kanazawa College of Art
• Principal Investigator: YAGIHASHI Makoto Kanazawa College of Art, Graduate School, Professor (10230195)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TERADA Eijiro Kanazawa College of Art, Art Center, Professor (80180082) ; YAMAZAKI Tatsufumi Kanazawa College of Art, Faculty of Arts and Informatics, Professor (30329429)
• Project Period (FY): 2005 – 2006
• Keywords: Gold Leaf / Technique of Gold Leaf / Paper of striking gold / Hakugyo Yoii Binran

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify the process of making Golf Leaf in early Meiji Period (19th Century).
We made dear the manufacturing process of the special paper that is the most important material for striking gold to make it thinner. The paper is named Hakuuchi-kami that is brought up Shitaji-kamiby skilled worker.
The worker in Kyoto was doing the entire process by herself even now, which provides a good example for this study to understand the working style in early Meiji Period.
Suji-ire process was a devise for gold leaf to make very thin, that was regular process in Meiji Period. Nowadays Suji-ire is not almost doing but the worker is following this process, so her gold leaf is thin as compared with the other worker's it. Therefore thinness of golf leaf in early Meiji Period was beyond our imagination.
A new find historical materials Hakugyo Yoji Binran is the manual of a vocabulary of making gold leaf formed in 1876. These vocabulary give information of the process of making golf leaf in 19th Century to us. So we reprinted this manual for the data as a basis of understanding making gold leaf in early Meiji Period.