Extracurricular Education Program "Furoshiki: Bags, Fashion, Interior Design...Leave Everything to Furoshiki! (6/15)

In these days of globalization, opportunities for young people to come into contact with traditional Japanese culture are becoming fewer and fewer every year. As this trend intensifies, the important skill of "accurately conveying the charms of one's own country" may be lost. In addition, another problem is that there are fewer opportunities for students to interact with each other in the Corona Disaster.

This program was designed to help students facing these problems rediscover the appeal of Japanese culture by learning how to use furoshiki, and to promote interaction among students through group work.

Ms. Junko Tsutsumi, a furoshiki culture researcher who has appeared in TV programs and videos in support of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was invited to give a lecture.

In the first part of the lecture, Ms. Junko Tsutsumi gave basic information on furoshiki, such as its history, size, materials, and patterns, and deepened participants' knowledge of furoshiki, such as why it is called "furoshiki" and why thieves are known to wear green furoshiki with arabesque patterns.

In the group work, participants supported each other in practicing typical furoshiki wrapping and tackled the question, "How to wrap five bottles in a stable manner? How do you wrap 5 bottles stably? We were impressed by the flexibility of our predecessors, who made it possible to wrap anything using only a piece of cloth that can be folded and stored in a pocket. I also had the opportunity to touch a special furoshiki cloth that is water-repellent and releases water like a shower when squeezed. I was also impressed by the recent development of furoshiki, which can be used to filter water in times of disaster.

Through this program, participants were able to learn about the Japanese spirit of harmony and lifestyle culture from the furoshiki.

We hope that this program will be an opportunity for the participants to develop an interest in Japan's proud traditional culture.

Report by KYOPRO staff] Moe Akada (3rd year student, Department of Frontier BioscienceFaculty of Bioscience and Applied Chemistry )