When I heard that Noguchi-san would be back in Galveston with his wife and daughter to lead a taiguruma workshop, I decided I must go. Even though it meant driving 1.5 hours each way to Galveston for 4 days(but we we finished in 3 days), I am SO glad that I did!! I learned a lot of techniques of lantern building and had so much fun speaking Japanese non-stop and translating for them, when necessary. If you want to learn more about what we built, please refer to my 2016 blog where I first learned about taiguruma: http://shizuokagirl.blogspot.com/2016/
First, we had to build the "skeleton". This involved carving bamboo strips and fitting them into the pre-made wooden structure. You would warm the bamboo with your thumbs while bending.
Then you tie on the horizontal pieces to form the tail and the body (time consuming)
Here is what it looked like after it was tied.
Noguchi-san's young daughter was a great photographer. She took this picture.
Then, you custom cut each piece of paper (special Japanese paper) and glue it on.
You do not have a pattern. Since each form is a bit different, you have to measure and cut.
Here are some of the fish with just wax and yellow paint.
Here we are painting.
Notice the waxed areas stay clear
Here is my painted fish without fins.
Notice I painted Mt. Fuji at sunset on the bottom of mine.
After we painted the colors on and everything dried,
Noguchi-san put the fins on for us.
It would have been a whole 'nother session for us to do it!!
A bit tricky.
When we were getting tired, perhaps frustrated, perhaps wondering if we were ever going to finish this project, Nogushi-san's daughter gave us an uplifting takiko performance!
Wheels were added, a pull string was added and finally a light was added.
We all gathered round to enjoy a school of fish!
Our translator on the left, students inbetween, Noguchi and wife on the right
and Akari-chan in the middle.
Notice there are watermelons on the left. In the old days, the poor people couldn't afford the fish so they pulled watermelon
Some of the students posed their fish on Galveston beach last year
Akari-chan took this picture of me with her Instamatic (like Polaroid) camera.
I brought the little ones from Dave's parents house. They are over 50 years old and I was told they are the goldfish carts from a different area of Niigata. He was very surprised to see them!
