Tonkatu shop "Gen", filled with Matsumoto Furniture
昨日は会議で松本に行きまして、お昼はお城に近い豚カツ屋さん。お店の玄関に入って、「あっ、いい雰囲気やな」と思いました。木造の建物で濃い色の木の扱いは昔からの味が出て、「格好いい！」って感じでした。そして、テーブルに座って椅子を動かしてみると、
椅子が重い事！
噂の松本民芸家具だ！雑誌とかでよく見ましたが、自分の目で見て、自分の手で触るのは始めてでした。無空のしっかりした造りが特徴です。長野県の中で有名です。
東信では軽井沢彫りというもう1つな民芸家具もあります。桜などの可愛い手彫りのデザインと、簡単に分解が出来るのは特徴です。昔は宣教師が軽井沢に多かったので、皆が国に帰る時に持って帰れるように、分解が出来るようになっているわけ。
松本家具と軽井沢彫り、両方は匠の腕の上手さが感じて、味のある家具。松本家具はがっちり感があって、どちらかというと男らしい。軽井沢彫りは可愛い桜の手彫りがあって、女性らしい。自分は両方が大好き！
I had to go to Matsumoto yesterday for a meeting and ended up going to a tonkatsu restaurant near the castle for lunch. As soon as I walked in the door, I knew this restaurant was special. The dark wood construction and exquisite woodwork showed some magnificent craftsmanship. Then I went to sit at a table and scoot the chair over.
What a heavy chair!
Ah! This must be the famous "Matsumoto Kagu" furniture. I had read about it in magazines. The solid wood construction makes for hefty pieces of furniture. Then I realized that all of the tables and chairs in the shop were this Matsumoto furniture. How cool!
Nagano has another furniture tradition, "Karuizawa Bori". "Bori" means carved, and refers to the delicate cherry blossoms and other designs hand carved into the furniture. Karuizawa-bori has another unique characteristic. It is made to come apart easily. Originally, Karuizawa was a popular summer resort for the missionaries in Tokyo. They needed furniture that could be easily dismantled for transporting back to their home countries when their missions were up.
Matsumoto Kagu, with its solid wood construction, has a more masculine feel. Karuizawa Bori with its fine detailed carving is more feminine. I absolutely adore both!
