Kirikane Gold Cutter

Have you ever seen patterns and textures drawn with very thin gold threads on the edges of an unvarnished wooden Buddhist sculpture? Some of these are painted using the kirikane technique. A delicate pattern depicted by thin gold lines creates a unique texture and world view.

There are some products which use a gold line coloring technique, but kirikane is slightly different. A coloring artisan draws with dissolved gold powder on a thin brush, whereas a kirikane artisan uses thin gold leaves cut into strips. Coloring and thread - they look similar at first glance, however, the difference is very distinguishing if you look closer. When painting gold lines with a fine brush, the colors are in a liquid state, making the edges of the lines appear rounded and soft.
However, kirikane uses thin gold foil cut into threads, making the cross-section of the gold threads appear almost square in shape. Therefore, the thin line drawing gives a sharper impression, with each line standing out clearly. When you have an opportunity to see something decorated with kirikane, please look at the beauty of these lines.

What is very surprising when looking at the process of kirikane is that the artisan does not make preliminary drawings. Usually, even colorists and gold engravers draw preliminary sketches when they work with designs or patterns. Accuracy is strongly required, especially with continuous geometric patterns, as the slightest deviation or distortion can upset the overall balance of the finished product and make it look less beautiful.
However, the threads of kirikane are so thin that the lines of the underpainting can be seen, so the kirikane artisan approaches directly without drawing the underpainting. Because they use thin sheets of gold leaves, it is much more difficult to draw curves than paint with a brush, and it takes a lot of nerve just to draw a circle of uniform size.

The artisan's eyes have a strange sensation as he slowly draws lines with a thin brush and gently drops gold leaf threads onto the material with no underpainting or other preparatory sketches, and he is able to see the finished work, which no one else can see.
The fine gold lines begin to shine as soon as they are on the surface of the material and, being pure gold itself, they show a very rich and indescribable expression, influenced by the reflection of light and the brightness and color of the surroundings.

We've explained that an artisan uses thin gold leaves cut into threads in the kirikane technique, but there is a process that also goes into making the threads. At the very beginning, around five sheets of gold leaves are stacked on top of each other and heated from above to crimp the gold leaves to create a gold sheet that is slightly thicker than a typical gold leaf. It gives a rather stiff impression than the original gold leaf, which is as thin as about one ten-thousandth of a millimeter. The gold sheet is placed on a stand covered in deerskin, and is cut thinly with a bamboo knife. Gold sheets are almost pure gold, so it is electrically conductive and easily crumpled by static electricity. They use deerskin stand and bamboo knife because these suppress static electricity.

The fine gold threads are placed on top of the base work, with the gold threads dangling from a thin brush held in one hand, and a thin brush dipped in glue in the other hand. To create the design, the gold threads are strung along the lines of glue that are painted on the surface. When a very thin thread is draped over a precisely drawn line, a time of silence and taut air quietly fills the space, where even human breath is disturbed. The world of beautiful line drawings is drawn out in a truly breathtaking moment. Each line is covered with a fine gold thread, creating a work of art with a dignified atmosphere of delicacy.