Japanese Brushes

You can buy beautiful brushes for painting and calligraphy in Japan. The tradition of brush making is still found in art and even makeup brushes. In the drawing of manga (Japanese comics) a thin outline brush is used. Brushes vary in size and shape and varying mixtures of animal hair including horse, goat and wolf give differing characteristics and handling properties.

Specialised brush makers are a national treasure in Japan. One such man had a shop in Tokyo full of the most beautiful brushes. His father had been a brush maker with a small shop in the working class part of Tokyo. This area was also the home of many other crafts.

Now younger people are less likely to want to study the traditional crafts and according to the master mentioned above materials are harder to find. One such material (hair) comes from a certain type of animal found only in China. The brush maker after buying a bundle of hair has to decide which hairs are suitable to make a high quality brush and which are of inferior quality to make brushes of lesser quality and price.

The owner of the shop, who may no longer be alive, had a famous customer- the Spanish painter Juan Miro. The artist had heard about the shop and demanded the maker sell the best brush in the shop. Not wanting to sell it he eventually agreed. Later the artist gave the brush maker a painting as a gift. I don't think the painting below is the gift but illustrates Miro's style.

Image found on the internet