Memories of the Wind Residing in the Canvas: A Voyage Named Koraku Matsuemon

Memories of the Wind Residing in Canvas: A Voyage Named Koraku Matsuemon

1｜Encounter with fabric that embraces the wind

Fabric holds memories.
It is not just a material, but a vessel that envelops time, captures the landscape, and quietly embraces human activities.
This is also the reason why WABISUKE is so committed to using canvas as a material.
The more you use it, the softer it becomes, the faded color and the rounded corners, and the changes it undergoes are like the wake of a life.

At the origin of this canvas lies the name of one man.
Kuraku Matsuemon was born in Takasago, a port town in Harima during the Edo period.
He was the first person in Japan to develop waterproof canvas, revolutionizing the world of shipping.

However, his name rarely appears in textbooks.
Even so, today, as we walk with our canvas bags on our shoulders and feel the wind,
Deep within the fabric, the "memory of the wind" that Matsuemon breathed into it certainly lives on.

2｜The Sea, Fabric, and a Craftsman

Kuraku Matsuemon lived in the late 18th century.
At that time, shipping was the main artery of Japan's economy.
Rice, salt, wood, cloth, pottery - all kinds of goods were transported by ship.
The Kitamae-bune ships, which traveled across the Seto Inland Sea and the Sea of ​​Japan, were active.

However, the ship's sails presented a major challenge.
When it gets wet, it becomes heavy and less resistant to wind. It also tears easily and is difficult to repair.
Men at sea were constantly struggling with "cloth."

Matsuemon listened to the voices of those on the front lines.
He conducted his own research and by applying persimmon tannins and rapeseed oil to cotton fabric,
They have completed the "Matsuemon Sail," which combines water repellency and durability.
This was Japan's first waterproof canvas, and it was later used on ships all over the country.

This canvas was not just a technological innovation.
It is a "working fabric" that carries the wind, crosses the waves, and transports people and goods.
It has become a poetic presence that connects people with the sea.

3｜The Philosophy Residing in Fabrics──A Pioneer of “Beauty of Utility”

There is a certain "philosophy" in Koraku Matsuemon's canvases.
This is a philosophy that is also connected to the "beauty of utility" that Yanagi Soetsu later advocated.
In other words, it is a beauty that is created by the hands of nameless craftsmen, used in daily life, and refined.

Matsuemon saw canvas not as a mere tool,
Perhaps they saw it as a vessel that carried life.
It catches the wind, crosses the waves, sometimes endures storms, sometimes gets torn, then sewn back together, and sets out on another journey.
The appearance of such cloth is like a person's life itself.

We hope that WABISUKE's canvas bags will also be like this.
The tension when it's new, and the softness and wrinkles that appear with use.
The marks of the owner's hands, shoulders, and journey are all imprinted on the fabric as memories.

4 | Canvas as a blank canvas: your story should be written on it

Canvas can be painted precisely because it has no paint on it.
It is not a blank space, but a margin, where the user's life, emotions, and memories of travels gradually seep in.

Kuraku Matsuemon's canvases were also improvised paintings created by the wind and waves.
Every time the sails billow, the colors of the sky and sea are reflected, and the salt and sun burn the fabric.
Time carves poetry into its surface.

At WABISUKE, we incorporate the "beauty of white space" into canvas.
It is also our hope that users will be able to freely create their own stories.
A canvas bag is not a finished piece.
Rather, it is an "unfinished poem" that you will complete with your own hands.

5｜Inheriting the Memory of the Wind

Koraku Matsuemon's canvases have crossed the eras of the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods.
They have transformed into warship sails, tents, backpacks, and modern bags and aprons.

But the essence remains the same.
"A fabric that carries the wind and carries people" - that spirit still lives on today.

That is why WABISUKE chooses canvas.
It is not just a material, but a vessel that carries memories, a fabric that wraps around the landscape.
Because it is a poem that carries the weight of life.

6 | Conclusion: The Poetry of Canvas, for You

The name of Kuraku Matsuemon does not often appear on the front stage of history.
However, the canvas he left behind continues to carry the wind and memories.

Every time we touch a WABISUKE canvas bag, we feel the breeze.
It may be a poem on cloth that Matsuemon sent from a distant sea.

I want you to draw the rest of the poem with your own hands.
Feel the breeze and let your own story soak into the blank spaces of the canvas.

The canvas speaks to me.
"Now, where should we go?"