Today, S-AIR hosted the second salmon skin workshop. Under the expert tuition of an Ainu instructor we learned how to transform salmon skins into supple white leather. After a short demonstration he quickly got us to do the work (especially the two boys in the group) while he supervised with a very dignified air.

So how does Ainu fish-leather-making work? The salmon skins are rolled up and laid in a groove cut into a massive wooden block. Under constant turning, they are then hammered with a large wooden mallet until they are soft. They are then ‘broken’ further in another wooden contraption before the scales can be removed with tweezers or pliers. Et voila - salmon skin leather.

Normally, it takes two days of relentless pummeling before the salmon skins are supple enough to be used for clothing. I think everyone who took part will remember the favourite words of our otherwise monosyllabic instructor for a long long time: “mada mada” [phonetic spelling, probably quite wrong], which translates as “Not yet, not yet” - or more to the point: “Get on with it!”.

To reward everyone for their hard labour we concluded the workshop with drinks and a feast of European and Japanese salmon dishes, followed by a screening of German short films from the Sapporo Short Film Festival showreel.

Our instructor shows how it is done.

Salmon skin about to be pummeled into submission

Mada mada!

Get on with it!

Top: unprocessed salmon skin; bottom left: softened skin, scales partially removed; bottom right: the finished salmon skin leather.

Detail of softened salmon skin, scales partially removed.

The workshop participants tuck into a well-earned dinner.

On a location visit to the building which will house our final exhibition, we discover a hidden apartment including a tatami room and adjoining bath. It is empty apart from a few newspapers dating back to the 1960s. We are speechless when we discover how the bath was heated - with a giant submersion heater! (see below) Later that day we finalise the exhibition layout at Cafe Zill, a cozy local hideaway with lots of lumberjack charm.

The infamous submersion heater…

…and how it is used.

Cafe Zill

What else did we see today? A pet shop which looked more like a dachshund dispenser, selling dogs like fashion accessories…

…and a shop selling canine lingerie.

Today we visited Nara, Japan’s first real capital. The city is home to the Todai-ji temple and its Daibutsu-den hall, the largest wooden building in the world. The temple burned down several times in its history and it is hard to believe the present Daibutsu-den is only two-thirds the size of the original building. The enormous bronze Buddha figure housed inside made us feel like ants in the house of a giant.

The Daibutsu-den hall of Nara’s Todai-ji temple

The Daibutsu, or Great Buddha. To give you an idea of scale: The golden figures in the halo are approx. human-size.

Detail of a smaller wooden figure outside the temple hall