Japan's ancient magic mirror makers revive the technology
KYOTO - At first glance this mirror looks like any other, but shining a light on it reflects an image of the Amitabha Buddha on the wall.
Another shows an image of Jesus Christ on the cross.
These kinds of magic mirrors were made extensively in the Edo period from 1603 -- 1867, during which time under Christians used them to worship their faith in secret. Some people have suggested that bronze mirrors of old times may have also had similar functions.
The age-old skills for making magic mirrors are preserved today at Yamamoto Gokin Seisakusho, a workshop in the late Edo period s Shimogyo Ward, the only remaining maker of magic mirrors in Japan, according to its representatives.
The studio's late Shinji Yamamoto, a third-generation owner, revived the technology to make it in 1974 after it was lost for about half a century. After a Western scholar showed interest in its manufacturing, he did so.
The skills to make these skills are currently maintained by 72-year-old Fujio, a fourth generation master, and his son Akihisa, 46. The father- and-son pair made a magic mirror in the style of Japan's hidden Christians presented to Pope Francis in 2014.
Magic mirrors have also appeared in works of fiction, including anime and video games, and Akihisa said his studio receives special commissions from overseas artists.
He said that he wants to have this technology preserved. What is not needed will not survive. I hope to spread the knowledge of this technology to the greatest extent possible. Akihisa said that unevenness forms on a mirror surface in patterns embossed on the back side when it is ground down to a certain thinness.
The unevenness is too small to be discernible to the naked eye, but exposing it to light causes a diffuse reflection that picks up patterns, according to the fifth-generation craftsman.
Molten copper and tin are poured into a patterned mold to make a casting. The cast-metal object is then ground by using four kinds of files and three kinds of tools called sen. It takes only half a day to grind an ordinary mirror, but it takes a full month to make a magic mirror.
The more the surface is level, the clearer the projected image. The work necessitates the utmost attention because the mirror surface will break if it is too high.
That means all of your efforts over the past month are wasted, and you have to start all over from scratch, Akihisa said. On a day that happens, the only thing you can do is to have a glassful and give yourself a change. Too much ambition, and you'll end up going the longer way around. After a mirror has been ground to a satisfactory level of thinness, its surface still needs to be polished carefully with a whetstone and two kinds of charcoal. The whole process is finished off with nickel plating.
Akihisa said he sets aside somewhere between two and six months for finishing a magic mirror that measures 20 centimeters across, with time included in the event of mistakes.
Magic mirrors have captivated the hearts of many, including Takahiro Onishi, a 45-year-old vocalist who lives in Kyoto. He fell in love with the mirrors at first sight when he saw Akihisa show one off at an event about three years ago.
He asked to visit the Yamamoto workshop and bought a magic mirror that shows the image of a Sanskrit character. He said he rests the mirror on a Shinto altar at his home and he shines his phone light on it from time to time to project the pattern.
When you illuminate a mirror that is only showing your face, you suddenly see something quite different, Onishi said. That makes me feel as if I was seeing the joy and sorrow in a human being. That kind of allows me to face up to what I really am.