My second issue is with professional kanzashi makers. "Professional" is defined as, "someone who makes a living from their services or work." In order to be a professional kanzashi maker your full time job or primary income source would be from kanzashi and their construction. Out of everyone who makes kanzashi the odds of them fitting into the professional category are 0.0000001% (Approximately 20 people in the world). My problem here is with Kuniko Kanawa, owner of Atelier Kanawa on etsy (and facebook, and twitter, etc.). My problem here lies not with her work, but her image and policies.

To quote from Ms. Kanawa's Etsy page:

"Welcome to Atelier Kanawa... *AUTHENTIC* Tsumami Kanzashi artisan, professionally trained as an apprentice by one of ONLY 5 acknowledged Tsumami Kanzashi artisans in Japan!
With additional expertise of Geisha / Classical Japanese Dance, and Bingata / Katazome dyeing Kimono techniques, Atelier Kanawa handcrafts Traditional & Modern Japanese pieces from the highest quality materials.

I am Japanese from Japan who is seriously & deeply into my culture(^-^) I am THE ONLY ONE who was professionally trained for Tsumami Kanzashi among Etsy & any other English site.
While you see many imitation Tsumami Kanzashi made by self taught / non classically trained hobby crafters online (some are copying my design), you can find TRULY AUTHENTIC TSUMAMI KANZASHI made with traditional technique and knowledge here!

Tsumami Kanzashi is the NATIONAL DESIGNATED TRADITIONAL HANDCRAFT carried by REFINED SKILLFULL ARTISANS with PROFOUND UNDERSTANDINGS of Japanese culture, history, the beauty of Japanese seasons/Nature, its materials, and most importantly, the responsibility of carrying this art for the future generations. As my master says, only Japanese who fully grew up in Japan can achieve those expertise & *TRUE Japanese spirit* to carry this art, after going through hard professional trainings.
Please know that the low priced imitation Kanzashi made by non classically trained hobby crafter with poor knowledge destroys the authenticity, the quality, and the market of traditional & modern Tsumami Kanzashi made by authentic artisans. Please do not take a part of this destruction by purchasing those."

This. is. disgusting. First of all, in her interview with Etsy as a featured seller she claims that there are 15 kanzashi masters in Japan, not 5. But who exactly is defined as a "master" and what does it mean to be "Japanese"? In case you haven't noticed you do NOT need to be born in Japan to be "Japanese." How? Let me explain. To be "Japanese" one must embrace the aspects of Japanese culture (and in the case of Japan there are MANY faces to this culture). In Ms. Kanawa's view people who have immigrated to Japan and adopted some aspect of Japanese culture as their own is not Japanese (again, I say "some" due to the many facets of Japan's culture). In modern Japan many young people have thrown away their traditional culture and adopted a new culture that the Western world sees as technologically ahead of everyone else.

When you think of Japan do you first think about Shinto, Buddhism, Kimono, Kabuki, Shamisen, Kyoto, Taiko, Koto, Kitsuke, Tea Ceremony, Noh or Kanzashi, or do you think about Robots, Technology, Cell Phones, Girls in Sailor Outfits, Cosplay, Mount Fuji, Tokyo or Anime? Your answer probably fell somewhere in the latter set of categories that can be used to define Japanese culture. And why do you think that is? My answer is that the Western world and modern Japan both follow the culture of technology: the current machines and inventions that will make our lives easier. This becomes trendy and thus younger people follow it. It is no wonder that the younger generation of Japanese people have thrown away their traditional culture because it as seen as "out-dated" and "uncool."

So, what about people who immigrate to Japan, absorb some part of classical Japanese culture and make it their own? Are they not, by definition, Japanese? They obviously care more about tradition than the current Japanese people do. For example, in 2007 the first non-Japanese born person became a Geisha. "Geisha" is sited among the top 5 things that Westerners and the Japanese think about when talking about the word "Japan." Sayuki has now been working in the Asakusa district of Tokyo for 2 years now and I guarantee that she is more "Japanese" than 99% of the population. Culture is what you make of it. It is your set of beliefs, values and traditions that YOU choose to follow. Who exactly has the right to go around and deny someone culture?

In a craft there is no such thing as "imitations." If you're trying to make stained glass and what you produce is stained glass, then you've made stained glass. If a person in North America is making kanzashi EXACTLY as Ms. Kanawa is making kanzashi in Japan then they are BOTH making authentic kanzashi, There are no ifs, ands or buts around this situation.

And personally I give a LOT of credit to people who have learned how to make kanzashi through self teaching, books and guides. These people did it without the guiding hand of another person and worked hard for hundreds of hours to perfect their kanzashi. It's like a comparison to a professor of computer engineering at a top grade school and Bill Gates. Both have extensive knowledge in the workings of computers and technology but the professor went through years of schooling to attain the knowledge that he/she has acquired while Mr. Gates was a self-taught high school drop-out. This is not about who has made more money from their knowledge (it's Mr. Gates if you were wondering) but about what they KNOW. Both took different routes to end up at the same place. People other than Ms. Kanawa who are making kanzashi are not "destroying" Japanese culture but rather continuing it on in different ways. The traditional tradition of kanzashi is being kept alive not by the few masters, but the people who are willing to learn and share what they've learned about kanzashi.

Ms. Kanawa states at the end:

"Thank you for loving Japanese culture, but please Do Not purchase my Tsumami Kanzashi for trying to COPY to SELL. Also some Etsy crafters, PLEASE stop copying my design.
You must RESPECT our tradition when you are stepping on somebody else's culture."

We are not stepping on your culture Ms. Kanawa but rather absorbing it like you have without the assistance that you had.

To learn about how to make kanzashi I recomend checking out tutorials by Vivian Hoffpauir at [link] and my buddy Christina at [link]

Thank you to DeviantArt for allowing non-subscribers to test our journal skins for free right now. It's pretty neat

I also adopted one of these guys (who hasn't gotten one of these yet? If you haven't I suggest that you do ) so please click on the link to ensure that they hatch, gets fed and to check it's progress (_ _)
[link]