Japanese Traditional Combs in Kiso What is Oroku comb?
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| What is Oroku-comb? |
| Oroku-comb Kind and shape |
| Comb making Tool |
| Traditional technique |
| Craftsman lives |
| Site map |
Hometown of Oroku-comb | ||||
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"Oroku-gushi"... Small comb made from Minebali(wood) from which about 100 teeth are sawed to width of only 10cm or less... was known to the whole country as a special product of Nakasendo and a souvenir of the Ontakesan belief and the Zenkoji Temple visiting since Edo period. Still, this Yabuhara-juku makes and keeps being loved as a traditional craft goods of the comb and Nagano Prefecture of utility goods. 
The Nagano Prefecture Kiso-gun Kiso-mura is given to a rich forest and the head of a river in the village of the source of Kisogawa and has developed. Yabuhara-juku located in the south of "Torii pass" called the most dangerous place of the Nakasendo was a stage of "Center point of Nakasendo" in Edo period,and the transportation node as divergence in the point of east and west and the Hida Road. "Orokugushi" is told to have come to be made from the Yabuhara-juku, year of the Kyouho era of Edo period. |
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Legend of Oroku-comb | ||||
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There was a beautiful maiden name of "Oroku" in the Tsumago-jyuku.She was always worried about sickness of the head. Oroku prayed to the Ontake-Daigongen as a certain traveler had taught one day. There was reporting..."Comb the hair with the hatchel made from the Minebali tree in the morning and evening. Your headache recovers without fail. " Oroku immediately made the comb of the Minebali,and she combed the hair every evening every morning.Then, her sickness was put away completely soon on several. This was, and when the comb made from Minebali that was able to be taken in the vicinity was marketed to the traveler, "Oroku-gushi" became serious famous, and it was well known to the whole country. It is said that it came to make Orokugushi also in the Yabuhara because the Minebali that is the material tree can be gathered near the Torii pass when becoming year of the Kyouho era. | ||||
Oroku-comb in Yabuhara |
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The article on Orokugushi is in Edo period is published in the book on Ota Shokusanjin's 'Jinjyutsu Kikou' (1802). Orokugushi made the name known to the whole country in addition by the play of the original of Snto Kyoden 'Orokugushi Kiso no Adauchi' in 1807, and became a large fashion. The thing that the house of 78 percent in the Yabuhara-jyuku was involved in the work of the comb is understood according to material in 1844 - 1848. It is assumed that about one million combs were produced in the thicket field according to the record in 1876. The comb made here is called to be "Orokugushi" generically in Yabuhara-jyuku. As for the kind of Orokugushi, a lot of various names are given by shape, the size, and the difference of how etc. to apply teeth. |
 Wrapping paper and wood combs 
Kiso no Adauchi |
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| 1841'Sozoku Ichigu' | |||
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Oroku-comb Kind and shape 
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