[Unit Project 1] What Impressed Me

My artifact is metal art. It is called "MONOR". The work is made of iron, light objects, transparent objects, and so on. The color is silver. The name of the work in this picture is "Sake", which means "salmon". It takes a lot of materials to make it. It is formed by gears, screws and it is placed very carefully.



I encountered it in Murakami city, Niigata Prefecture. It was placed in a souvenir shop at a tourist spot. It was very beautiful, but at first, I didn’t know what it was. When I looked it closely, I realized that it was a metal art called MONOR.

"What is this?" I asked for clerk.

"This is the SNS about it." said clerk and introduced me for its SNS. I was more interested in it.

"Thank you." I said for clerk. And "I want to go and see them." I said to my mother.

"It's enough to watch it on SNS. You don't have to go all the way to see it." My mother said.

"Why? I just want to study it more. So I want to see more real things." I said that, but she didn't listen to me and didn't understand, so I decided to look it up myself,

I looked on some SNS. There were many works posted on the SNS, and I became even more interested in them. I was happy to some across such wonderful works and wanted to know more about them.

Also, "I put it in this store because I'm good terms with craftsmen." the clerk said. "I see." I was impressed. I thought the relationship between local shops and craftsmen was important.



The first thing that I think is a social problem is high prices.

In recent years, due to the deterioration of international relations, the prices of materials used in artwork have soared. By that, the craftsmen cannot make materials freely. If things continue like this, the iron used in MONOR will be affected, and if we can no longer make them, we will no longer be able to sell them as souvenirs. To solve this problem, we have to consider about international trade. Governments must take action to protect artifacts.



The second is the lack of successors.

In recent years, the birthrate has been declining and the population is aging, and the number of young people is decreasing. As a result, the number of elderly people with skills will decrease, and there is a possibility that they will no longer be able to pass on traditional skills. One example of a tradition that is on the brink of extinction due to a lack of craftsmen is “Taito”. “Taito” means the belt sword. I’ve heard that it’s been around since the Edo period, but fewer people are able to make it in recent years. We need to take action to prevent not only MONOR but also other Niigata artifacts from disappearing.