Shimatani Syouryu Studio

Takaoka City, Toyama, where syouryu (Shimatani Syouryu Studio) has its workshop, was opened about 400 years ago as a castle town overlooking the Sea of Japan to the north and the Tateyama mountain range to the south, and developed into the home of "Takaoka copperware" after casting artisans were invited there. In a place that has kept making metal products that support life and prayer — pots, kettles, farm tools, armor, Buddhist altar implements — it has carved out its history as an orin-making workshop.

The workshop's roots reach back to the Edo period; first-generation Wakichi Shimatani, who inherited the skill of forged-orin making from the main family, founded today's Shimatani Syouryu Studio in 1909 (Meiji 42). The forging technique — simple yet highly advanced — of drawing brass sheet with a hammer, shaping it through repeated annealing, and finally finishing the resonance by tuning, has been handed down across generations.

The second- and third-generation Syouryu received certification as Traditional Craftspeople of the Ministry of Economy-designated "Traditional Craft: Takaoka Copperware," and their skill and achievements were recognized through many honors — the Japan Traditional Craftsmen's Association Merit Award, designation as a Takaoka City Traditional-Industry Skill Holder, and "Contemporary Master Craftsman." Such recognition is not mere honor but also the accumulation of the very attitude of facing forging and tuning each day.

Today the fourth-generation Yoshinori Shimatani leads the workshop, taking on new expression in addition to the orin-making inherited from his predecessors. In 2013 he launched the housewares brand "syouryu" and developed "suzugami," applying forging technique to everyday tableware. These tin vessels, which can be folded and reshaped like origami, are carried by shops and galleries at home and abroad and are highly regarded as gift items.

An orin is a Buddhist altar implement and, at the same time, a tool that settles a space and the heart through sound. The workshop offers various series to suit different uses — from full-scale orin for temples to simply designed orin for general use that blend into modern life. Furthermore, through workshop tours and suzugami forging experiences, it continues to convey the relationship between sound, metal and handwork.

An orin-specialist forging workshop nurtured in the home of Takaoka copperware

syouryu (Shimatani Syouryu Studio) is a forging workshop that has specialized in making orin (the Buddhist altar bell, "rin") in Takaoka City, Toyama — the roughly 400-year-old home of Takaoka copperware. By hammering out brass sheet, shaping the form and thickness through repeated annealing, and finally tuning carefully until the tone is right, it creates orin with a deep, clear resonance.

Founded in 1909: forging and tuning skills handed down across four generations

The workshop's roots trace back to the Edo period; in 1909 (Meiji 42), first-generation Wakichi Shimatani founded it after inheriting forged-orin making from the main family. The techniques then passed to the second, third and fourth generations, and amid numerous honors — certification as a Traditional Craftsperson of the Ministry of Economy-designated "Traditional Craft: Takaoka Copperware" and recognition as a Contemporary Master Craftsman — it continues making orin by hand to this day.

Ichigo Ichi-on: the world of orin tuned by the three resonances "kan, otsu, mon"

syouryu's orin are made under the concept "ichigo ichi-on" (one encounter, one sound), valuing the balance of three sound ripples called "kan, otsu, mon." By striking one point while listening to distinguish the surrounding resonance, and continually fine-tuning the surface tension and thickness, a calming tone is born — one with a gentle undulation and lingering reverberation.

"Suzugami": tin vessels that bend like origami, born from the in-house brand "syouryu"

In 2013, the workshop launched the housewares brand "syouryu" and independently developed "suzugami," 100% tin vessels. By rolling sheet tin many times and rhythmically hammering in marks, a wondrous vessel was born — paper-thin and foldable again and again. Patterns evoking snowflakes and raindrops, such as "kazahana," "samidare" and "arare," are an expression unique to forging, in which the hammer marks themselves become the pattern.

Bring the artisan's skill and resonance close through workshop tours and suzugami forging experiences

At the workshop you can tour the orin production site, and there is also a forging experience in which you hammer and finish your own "suzugami" under an artisan's guidance. Listening to the sound of orin used in temples while experiencing the process by which metal turns into vessel and sound, you can feel more closely the presence of "the artisan behind the tool."