KURONO Celebrating Collectors 2021 - Flipbook - Page 72
茜
ABOUT ‘茜’
T h e H a m o n (刃 文) d esig n o n the Gra nd:Akane mi mi cs that of mountai nous
te rra i n w i th peak s and d ip s and is hi s tor i cal l y deemed as evi dence of the
m ake r ’s ef fo r t to p ro d uce the fines t work. In the cas e of the G rand:Akane,
t h e H a m o n v i s u al ef fec t is rep eated throughout the di al gi vi ng i t an ethereal
c on t ra s t o f l i ghter and d arker red . Hamon, meani ng ‘bl ade pattern’, i s a
v isu a l ef fec t c reated by the hard eni ng proces s t y pi cal l y done on bl ades H ajim e A s a o ka d esig ned his interp retati on of Hamon as a homage to hi s
an c e s t r y to s a murai b lad e m akers o n the patr i l i neal s i de.
T h e ba s e d i a l is m etallic and finished i n a l i ghter red that i s s i mi l ar to
t h e red der Ja panese sunset ( ‘d aruma’). A darker, non-metal l i c Hamon
p a t te rn revea l s the b ase co lo r by usin g the tradi ti onal J apanes e ‘Ni i ro 煮色’
c h e m i c a l t rea tment metho d . T his method i s a hi s tor i cal l y di s ti nct pati nati on
te c h ni qu e, exc l usive o nly to Jap an t hat has ex i s ted for at l eas t 600 years ,
b u t i t s h i s to r y m ay extend over 12 00 years . The core pati nati on proces s
m ay ta ke u p to 10 ho urs to achieve i ts rednes s before bei ng coated wi th
su ki- u ru s h i to be sealed in.
Suki-Urushi (or clear lacquer) seals the Hamon pattern on the Grand:Akane
dial. Sunlight - specifically the UV light - will over time lighten the top sukiurushi layer to make it more translucent, and warmer or colder in shade.
This substance is made from the sap of the Japanese rhus vernicifera tree
and, is filtered several times through layers of special paper to produce the
translucent lacquer which color ranges from ver y light to dark amber.
