Sericulture in Japan Today and Colors by Ken Nordine!

Just a quick update with some fun stuff.

First, last Sunday at Phil’s rehearsal the sound guy Kevin was playing Ken Nordine through the system during setup. I was fascinated! Never knew anything about him nor had I heard his albuns. But I did know that voice- and you probably do too. So I went down the rabbit hole to learn more.
Phil bought us a turntable over the holidays so we could enjoy the hundreds of vinyls we have. It has been so much fun! We not only enjoy the music, the memories invoked, but the album covers and inserts! Took me back to my HS bedroom and the basements of friends on a Friday or Saturday night.
So now I am on the search for Ken Nordine’s album “Colors” which is what Kevin was playing. Some of you may know it but it was new to me and ever so fun! Among other things, Ken Nordine is known for his “word jazz” recordings. His voice is like silk and so communicative! CDs can be found but albums at an affordable price less so. But I am patient… we will see. Until then, I have downloaded the record. Also found the accompanying book for a few bucks. Maybe the grandson will learn colors ala Ken Nordine! One of the people in the audience that day was Carol who by a very weird set of circumstances was a PE and dance instructor at Burbank High when ny SIL (who lives in NZ) and was her PE teacher! Carol and I got to talking and she had this album (Colors) and used it for improv with her dancers back then. She could even recite some of the words all these years later. Great conversation. She’s somewhere in her 80’s now.
Colors…

OK- the next wonderful thing is going to take a bit of explaining and some links for you to check out. If you don’t know of Nobue Higashi, she is the sericulturist we have been visiting since 2015 on the Silk Study Tour. Previous to that, we had been visiting Koyata san’s home where he kept a small cocoonery (I now think he is over 100!). Nobue san’s enterprise has grown and her and her husband may be the youngest serious sericulture farmers in Japan now! They are keeping tradition alive while at the same time creating a very niche market for her customizable and hand reeled silk from the cocoons they raise. It’s a HUGE endeavor that has taken her 20 years to get to this place. Her history is fascinating!
She is giving an online zoom series of 7 lectures on sericulture that begin January 17th. Her lecture series will cover domestic sericulture, it’s history in Japan- mainly focusing on Gunma Prefecture and the connections to Yokohama as it relates to silk exports, silk cocoons and the variety of strains, the history of silk reeling, silk technologies and how they changed and expanded silk in the industrialization of Japan, hand reeling (her specialty) from the Edo period to now, and the cultural aspects of all of the aforementioned! I’m sure I left out something!
Of course the lectures are on JST so for me here they are at 2:30 AM PST- but you will be able to access them for three weeks afterwards. The series cost is ¥14,000 which is about $103 USD. If you are interested in the series, you can sign up here. I had to actually send an email so they could prepare a payment request as the website seems to only allow signups inside Japan. Email is seraph(at)tokai.or.jp

The series is in Japanese but they may try to get some notes done in English afterwards to accompany the lectures. In any case, I am signed up!

If you want a little encouragement, they have shared this hour long bio on Nobue and how she came to do this miraculous thing… then visit the vimeo link. The password is “silkworm” and it does have English subtitles. They have allowed me to share this with you in hopes of spreading this important knowledge.
The series is being hosted by these folks who order custom reeled silk from Nobue which they use as warp for their beautiful woven kudzu cloth. All of this is a labor of love!

Here are some photos of our visits with Nobue and her husband over the years…

We can’t wait to see her again in May on the Silk Study Tour to Japan! We will have a workshop with her at Ton-cara where everyone gets to reel some silk and make silk mawata.