A Call from My Uncle Led Me Back to the Familiar World of Japanese Umbrellas

Please tell us how you came to walk the path of a Japanese umbrella craftsman, Kawai.

My maternal family ran a Japanese umbrella wholesaler, and my mother worked there in accounting, so I'd often spend weekends and summer vacations there until I was about a primary school student.

At that time, my grandmother also worked as an umbrella craftsman. I always admired her. From the office where my mother worked, I could see her workspace, and during the summer, I would watch her work on the umbrellas almost every day.

Occasionally, I'd see her demonstrating umbrella-making at department store events. Watching her calmly work in front of a large audience, I thought she was really cool.

However, in junior high, I got busy with club activities and stopped going to the store. I graduated high school, went on to university, and then started working in a field unrelated to Japanese umbrellas in Tokyo.

Initially, I worked at an advertising agency creating flyers for home centers and drugstores. But this job would often keep me working until 2 or 3 AM before the printing deadline, so I thought, "I can't keep doing this."

So, I returned to Gifu. Since I had a bookkeeping qualification, I got a job in accounting at a tax accountant's office. A few years later, when I was about 27 or 28, my uncle, who ran a Japanese umbrella company, mentioned he needed help due to lack of manpower, so I joined his company. That's how I got back into the world of Japanese umbrellas.

Having been familiar with them since childhood, I had the mindset of wanting to help out if I could.