Tray

Nibutani-ita (二風谷イタ) is a flat wooden tray made in a style that has been handed down for generations among the Ainu along the Saru River (沙流川) basin, and now mostly in Nibutani (二風谷), Biratori (平取) town, Hokkaidō (北海道), Japan. The Ainu traditionally often decorated daily use items such as knife sheaths, cigarette cases, clothing, cushions, loom shuttles with beautiful patterns. The first reference to Nibutani ita in historical documents is from the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate, around 1854–1859. Among the products presented by the Matsumae domain to the shogunate, there are records of semicircular and circular trays from the Saru River basin. The selection of these trays for presentation to the shogunate indicates a high level of quality, and suggests that this region must have a long history of producing such crafts. In the 1890s, Kaizawa Utorentoku (貝澤ウトレントク) and Kaizawa Uesanashi (貝澤ウエサナシ)produced trays and saucers that made extensive use of the ramram-noka pattern. Biratori Chōshi (平取町史; History of Biratori Town, 1974) documents that these Ainu artists sold their crafts in Sapporo. The materials collected by the American anthropologist Frederick Starr who conducted research on the Ainu in 1904 include Nibutani-ita. Kaizawa Uesanashi’s works are housed at the Biratori Municipal Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum (平取町立二風谷アイヌ文化博物館). In the 1960s and 1970s, Ainu carvings became popular tourist souvenirs from Hokkaido and many tourists visited Nubutani. The Nibutani Craft Cooperative Association is now the main location for the production and sale of Nibutani-ita, as well as working to pass on the traditional techniques to future generations. Nubutani-it was designated as “Traditional Craft Item” by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry under the Act on the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries in 2013.

This ita by Kaizawa Mamoru was presented to Dr. Susan Rowley, Director of MOA, by Dr. Shiro Sasaki, Director of the National Ainu Museum, along with 11 staff members of Upopoy (National Ainu Museum and Park) on their visit to MOA on March 22, 2023.

Such items made from wood such as Japanese Judas known as katsura or walnut are characteristically carved with common Ainu patterns like morew-noka (spirals), ayusnoka (thorns), sik-noka (eye shapes), or ramram-noka (scales).

Shallow square wooden tray or Nibutani-ita (二風谷イタ) with rounded corners and a raised lip, carved from one piece of dark brown wood. The tray is decorated with a symmetrical carved pattern made up of traditional Ainu spiral and fish-scale patterns. The lip of the tray is decorated at each corner with two wavy lines that connect at the corner with a darker scallop shape pointed towards the centre of the tray. The bottom of the tray has a rounded square dark background of fish-scale pattern carving. The lighter smooth pattern inside the tray is made up of a fish-scale diamond in the centre, with four thick, pointed spirals outlined in dark carved lines ending to the left and right of the tray. The surface of the spirals are shallowly carved out to be concave. Four fish-scale petal shapes are at the top, bottom, left, and right sides where the spirals touch. The top and bottom petal have two smaller smooth petal shapes nested at the bottom. Around the spirals, an organic shape is outlined in dark lines against the fish-scale background, creating a lighter rounded floral background for the spiral pattern and petals.