Suruga Dako Prototype #1

[Saionji Shonagon]

I built a kite this weekend at Beltane (West Kingdom), using precut basswood, sumi-e paper and good old Elmer's glue.

The style of kite, known as the Suruga dako, reputedly dates to the Sengoku-jidai and was used by a retainer of Imagawa Yoshimoto's to signal victory in battle.

I worked off of these plans:
www.aks.org.au/aks_files/plans/suruga.plan.html

Well, sorta, I pretty much ignored the measurements and came up with a kite using four sheets of 9" x 12" sumi-e paper, 1" hems, and cut the basswood spars to size based on how they laid out on the paper. (By eye, the proportions looked OK.) In honor of Koi-nobori (Boy's Day, which is coming up), I decorated the face of the kite with a leaping carp in orange and black acrylic. I'll try to get a photo of it this week and post it.

It practically flew out of my hands Saturday afternoon when I attached the bowline, but with various other activities going on in camp, there was no way to actually try to launch it until this morning (Sunday). The breeze was unfortunately not terribly consistent. We got a couple of enthusiastic spirals, then the wind would die and the kite would fall. There were a couple of times when I'd simply be holding my reel in one hand with the kite hanging from a couple of feet of string in the other and it would pick up a breath of air and try to fly.

Obviously, I need to get it airborne under better conditions, but given what I had to work with, I'm hopeful this little kite will fly.

Drachen Foundation sells precut bamboo for kite building. I figure an assortment that meets their $10 minimum order is enough to get quite a few kites out of. www.drachen.org/store_kits.html

Makiwara

[Otagiri Tatsuzou]

This is very cool. I used to fly kites at SCA events. Perhaps it is time once again ...


So, Makiwara-gimi, where are the pics?

[Saionji Shonagon]

This is very cool. I used to fly kites at SCA events. Perhaps it is time once again ...

I'm thinking that Estrella needs a tako matsuri. ;-> Interested? (Perhaps he'll stop trying to drown me if I create a suitable diversion....)

So, Makiwara-gimi, where are the pics?

I'll have you know I put off folding my laundry to run out to the patio and snap these for you.

www.geocities.com/wodeford/kite.jpg[/img]

I'm also including some shots from the back so you can see where seams, hems and reinforcements have been glued.


www.geocities.com/wodeford/kiteback.jpg[/img]

www.geocities.com/wodeford/kitedetail1.jpg[/img]

www.geocities.com/wodeford/kitedetail2.jpg[/img]

If the weather cooperates this weekend, perhaps I can try to field test it.

M.

[Noriko]

Wow, you did a wonderful job. Even though it's not period for my persona, I'm thinking of trying to make one of these kites over the summer. I'll just paint a bird on it (apparently Heian era kites would have been in a bird shape, if other threads I've been reading are correct.)
Any tips or tricks? Is it possible to use regular old thin dowels like you can get at a craftstore? Or should I find a sheet of balsa wood and then take a xacto knife to it?

[Saionji Shonagon]

Have you been here yet?

www.asahi-net.or.jp/~et3m-tkkw/index.html

I'll just paint a bird on it (apparently Heian era kites would have been in a bird shape, if other threads I've been reading are correct.)

According to Tal Streeter's "The Art of the Japanese Kite," the first reference in Japanese literature is in 981, to "kami toba," which he translates as "paper hawks." Streeter says that this "suggests" that they were bird shaped, though he also says that Chinese kites of the same period were rectangular. I can't prove it any more than Streeter can, but "paper hawks" could just as easily be bird images painted on rectangular kites. This is one of those cases where we may never know for sure and might just have to go with an idea that's "plausibly period."

Any tips or tricks?

Warning, I still have yet to get a successful flight out of the Killer Koi, so bear in mind that I'm still working this out myself.

Traditional Japanese kite materials are bamboo and washi paper. "Rice paper" is a misnomer, from what I've been able to find out, but you may be able to find it under this name through your local artists' supply store or on the 'net. I used sheets from a 9"x12" pad of Yasutomo sumi-e paper. It also comes in rolls. This stuff has a smooth side and a fuzzy side - you want to paint on the smooth side and glue on the fuzzy side. (I used acrylics and water.)

Streeter, writing in the 70's, suggested cannibalizing bamboo slat window blinds, however, the Drachen Foundation sells presplit seasoned bamboo in a variety of sizes, specifically for kite building. This means you don't have to amputate a thumb while learning how to split your own (a craft which requires practice and decent tools). Go to www.drachen.org/store.html and click on "Educational Kits and Materials," drop them an e-mail to tell them what you're interested in purchasing and they'll let you know how to order. With their $10 minimum order, you can get a variety of sizes and experiment. I plan to do this at some point in the future.

Is it possible to use regular old thin dowels like you can get at a craftstore?

Dowels, being round, are harder to glue flat to the paper than flat sticks. Balsa is light, but extremely fragile (as I discovered when I used it in a very early fan prototype). Basswood is light, but a bit sturdier. It also comes in a variety of pre-cut sizes.

One of the "tricks" you need to know is that bamboo grows thicker at the base of the stem than at the top. Japanese kite makers arrange the bamboo struts so that vertical pieces are slightly wider toward the top of the kite, while horizontal pieces may be graduated in size with the heavier pieces at the top of the kite. This distributes weight toward the top edge of the kite, affecting its handling ability.

Splitting a narrow basswood slat with an X-acto knife is doable, but I can assure you it is also a pain in the butt when working with pieces long enough for a kite! The stuff does come precut, and I was an idiot not to just pick out some narrower pieces in the first place. For a Suruga dako, I would suggest using a slightly wider piece for the horizontal strut to weight the kite's leading edge, then use narrower ones for the diagonals and the vertical strut.

Gonna try to get the Koi in the air tomorrow if conditions permit.

M.

[Date Saburou Yukiie]

Makiwara-dono,
I have been thinking about kite building for a while, so as to have things to put into the sky at Pennsic - These paragraphs you and others have written have gotten me very interested in this kite business.
Domo!
Date

[Saionji Shonagon]

These paragraphs you and others have written have gotten me very interested in this kite business.

Hot damn, I'm a trend setter! ;->

M.

[Noriko]

Makiwara said:

According to Tal Streeter's "The Art of the Japanese Kite," the first reference in Japanese literature is in 981, to "kami toba," which he translates as "paper hawks." Streeter says that this "suggests" that they were bird shaped, though he also says that Chinese kites of the same period were rectangular.

Hmn, so would a plan for a generic rectangle kite work? I've done some quick googling and found something called a "della Porta" that looks... well, it's a rectangle. I guess... Anyway, I found some information at the Florilegium, but I don't know how much it tells me: www.florilegium.org/files/UNCAT/Medievl-Kites-bib.html

[Saionji Shonagon]

Hmn, so would a plan for a generic rectangle kite work? I've done some quick googling and found something called a "della Porta" that looks... well, it's a rectangle. I guess...

Clive Hart's "Kites: An Historical Survey" doesn't mention Della Porta, but the edition I have dates from 1969. So I had to look this up on the web. Giovanni Della Porta's "Natural Magic" (1558) describes a flat plane kite which sounds like it could very well be a kite of Chinese, Japanese or Korean derivation. (The Portuguese made first contact with Japan in the 1540's if I recall correctly.) Korean rectangle kites have a circular cutout in the center.

Go to www.asahi-net.or.jp/~et3m-tkkw/h1.html and click on the blue links to view images of traditional Japanese kites, many of which have rectangular frames. There are lots of kite plans out on the web, so once you have a kite name, you can start looking - that's how I found a plan for the Suruga dako.

That I found plans for that particular style of kite is kind of interesting. When Tal Streeter interviewed Suruga kite maker Tatsusaburou Kato (then in his 70's) in the1970's, the kitemaker refused to make his kites for export or give any special tips on how to reproduce his kites. "If one cares to keep such a kite alive himself, he must go to Shizuoka, apprentice himself to this master kite maker and spend the rest of his life there learning about and making the Suruga kite. Less than this is thievery." (Streeter p. 167). At the end of a breathtaking book on Japanese kites, Streeter irritatingly urges the reader NOT to build Japanese-style kites because Japanese kites are Japanese! (Even though the large bamboo and paper rectangular kites Streeter builds clearly take their inspiration from Japanese kite design.)

I admit upon reading this I had a crisis. When a master Japanese kitemaker states for the record that a kite design dates to the Sengoku-jidai and one hasn't been able to find extant examples or iconographic evidence of kites from period, and then said kitemaker thinks his kite should not be diluted by imitation, what does one do?

I remember making kites out of paper grocery bags - and crashing them into kite eating trees. Kites are ephemeral, which is probably why we're not going to find an extant kite in the Shoso-in collection. As with many of the skills I have tried to learn in my SCA travels, I am well aware that my time, budget and talents may result in a pale imitation of the artifacts constructed by our forebears. My intent is not to rip anyone off. It's usually to imitate something I find admirable within the limits of my abilities, to learn something and have a little fun along the way. So I thought, "Sorry, Mr. Kato, I'm really NOT doing this to insult you or rip you off." as I glued the first two pieces of washi together.

Then I found a link with contact information to kitemaker Asako Kato as part of a website promoting tourism and business in Shizuoka Prefecture. Given Mr. Kato's age at the time of Streeter's interview, she is a daughter or granddaughter. www.shizuoka-cb.jp/scbEng/5e/tshi4e.html
If Ms. Kato is advertising her craft on the 'net, I must hope she would look a little more kindly on our efforts than her father/grandfather would.

Anyway, I found some information at the Florilegium.

Seen it, it's a decent bibliography.

M.

[Noriko]

Makiwara said:

Go to www.asahi-net.or.jp/~et3m-tkkw/h1.html and click on the blue links to view images of traditional Japanese kites, many of which have rectangular frames. There are lots of kite plans out on the web, so once you have a kite name, you can start looking - that's how I found a plan for the Suruga dako.

Hmn, the "buka" kite seems close to a "regular old rectangular kite". And there seem to be quite a lot of plans for it online.

Makiwara said:

At the end of a breathtaking book on Japanese kites, Streeter irritatingly urges the reader NOT to build Japanese-style kites because Japanese kites are Japanese! (Even though the large bamboo and paper rectangular kites Streeter builds clearly take their inspiration from Japanese kite design.)

I always get a guilt complex from statements like these- as if by recreating aspects of Japan, I'm somehow offending the Japanese. Then again...

[Saionji Shonagon]

Hmn, the "buka" kite seems close to a "regular old rectangular kite". And there seem to be quite a lot of plans for it online.

The variations on rectangle kites appear to be in how many vertical/horizontal/diagonal bones are used. And a flat plane kite can be flown either bowed or flat. ;->

More kite plan websites for your enjoyment:
plans.kitez.com/
www.kite-plans.com/
www.aks.org.au/aks_files/flyhigh.htm#plans (this is where I found the Suruga plans).

See if you can hunt down Tal Streeter's "The Art of the Japanese Kite." It's got lots of great photos from which to draw clues and inspiration, useful information on bamboo and Japanese papermaking, and interviews with Japanese kitemakers and kitelovers.

I always get a guilt complex from statements like these- as if by recreating aspects of Japan, I'm somehow offending the Japanese. Then again...

Some people are going to be easily offended no matter what. I think having respect for our forebears of whatever culture is the way to go.

I was at Estrella earlier this year, walking through the merchant area. Duchess Tamsin of the Raven Tresses was coming the other way and stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted me. I thought, "Uh oh." I was righting myself from a bow when Her Japanese American Grace hugged me hard. She said it was great to see somebody doing it right.

BTW, you look great in that photo on your profile!

Not that I don't appreciate The Boys, but it's always nice to see another lady on the list.

M.

[Noriko]

Makiwara said:

See if you can hunt down Tal Streeter's "The Art of the Japanese Kite." It's got lots of great photos from which to draw clues and inspiration, useful information on bamboo and Japanese papermaking, and interviews with Japanese kitemakers and kitelovers.

Hmn, I just finished my sophomore year- just do to a quick search at my university's library online catalog and realize that they have a copy of the book.... Ah, well. Next fall then. (:

BTW, you look great in that photo on your profile!

Not that I don't appreciate The Boys, but it's always nice to see another lady on the list.

Thank you very much!

[Saionji Shonagon]

Hmn, I just finished my sophomore year- just do to a quick search at my university's library online catalog and realize that they have a copy of the book.

You don't have to wait until fall - try Inter Library Loan, or even buy it - Amazon's got a used copy currently listed for about $12.

M.

[Noriko]

Well, I don't think my local library's consortium has a copy, so no ILL. But *shrug* maybe I'll try making a Della Porta kite or a Buka kite- just to see if I can actually make something without making a huge mess or a disaster... (;

[Saionji Shonagon]

Well, despite erratic wind conditions, I got some very promising flight behavior out of the Suruga dako today - and a string burn on my right index finger to prove it!.

I decided to experiment with a stationary launch. I basically unwound a few yards of string and let it drop at my feet, holding the kite on about three to four feet of "leash" with the kite face hanging at shin level. As I felt the breeze pick up, I started to swing it gently forward until it caught some air. This is probably harder to do than if I'd had an assistant to toss the kite into the air, but I was getting the hang of it and I'd gotten a few launches where the kite would bite air, spiral a bit as it started to rise, then fall because the breeze died. I did finally get a good strong launch and the kite probably made it about 40 feet into the air on a nice strong updraft for maybe 45 seconds of actual flight time. Then the wind died again and it dropped rather spectacularly, fracturing a spar. I made some repairs with paper tape and practiced launching, but never got a strong launch again after the kite was damaged.

So Prototype 1 is probably not going to fly again. On the other hand, I will be ordering some bamboo spars from Drachen after Memorial Day (I'm going east to visit family for a week), and will experiment further. I'm thinking a lighter weight string will help too.

M.