柔軟な思考で伝統彫り物と向き合う関西 五代目彫重氏は通常、筋彫りはマシンで引き、ボカシを手彫りで行っている。けれど稀にではあるが、クライアントからの要望があればボカシも機械彫りで手掛けることがある。
ここに見る羽衣天女の背中抜き彫りもその一例だ。荒々しく雄健な手彫りに比べ、当たりの柔らかいしっとりとした出来栄えとなっているのが見て取れる。古典を踏襲しながらも巧みにアレンジを加えた構図も彫重氏ならではだ。
Kansai Horishige the 5th who devotes himself to traditional horimono with a flexible mindset, mostly hand pokes for color and uses a machine for lines. However on rare occasions, he also does machine tattooing for color and shade at the request of his clients.
The nuki-bori (irezumi without gaku) back piece of hagoromo tennyo (heavenly maiden) seen here is an example of such machine tattooing. Compared to the rough and powerful hand poking, the subdued and calm result can be seen. The composition of the work which is based on the classics but skillfully arranged is also unique to Horishige.
天女は仏教において天界に住み、天帝に仕えるとされる眉目秀麗な女官の総称。天衣を纏った姿を特に羽衣天女と呼ぶ。同じく極楽浄土を表す際に描かれる迦陵頻伽と混同されることもあるが、本来、迦陵頻伽は人型の上半身に鳥の下半身を持ち声美しくさえずる天界の鳥である。
なお、額を伴わない背中の抜き彫りは商家の旦那衆に好まれたことから旦那彫りとも呼ばれる。
Tenyo is a general term for women who live in the heavenly realm in Buddhism and is said to serve Tentei (heavenly king). The figure clothed in a heavenly robe is especially called hagoromo tennyo. Although it is sometimes confused with karyobinga which is also depicted to represent the Pure Land, karyobinga is originally a bird with a human upper body and a bird lower body that chirps beautifully in the heavenly realm.
As a side note, the backpiece irezumi without gaku is also called “danna-bori” because this style was favored by masters of a mercantile house called danna.
