The Mark of Beauty

Every Japanese invariably owns some kind of personal seal. The finely crafted items embody generations of skill. Seals are practical, but they can also be stunningly beautiful. The musician Shishido Kavka is captivated by the genre of stamps known busho-in, which features the name of a famous warrior, a design of some kind, e.g. a tiger or dragon, and a personalized message. The episode also looks at the tools and craftsmanship of a seal maker, which has been in business for more than four hundred years, and the painstakingly detailed craftsmanship that goes into craving Chinese-style seal stones. A range of important seals from different parts of the globe are featured, and we focus on the meaning in the lettering and designs in some examples predating the Christian era.

This episode is about scissors and shears. It features a number of renowned contemporary craftsman and the outstanding wares they produce from traditional techniques. The items have both presence and refinement. The show looks at the shears that have evolved for ame-zaiku, the fashioning of animals and other shapes from heated candy – an art form that has existed since the Edo period. The candy must be shaped within the space of about five minutes. The episode focuses on some stunning examples of papercut work, the intricacy and elegance of which have won international acclaim. It also looks at some techniques of flower arrangement made possible by the best of floral shears.

This episode is about Edomae-zushi, or the style of sushi which evolved in Edo, or present-day Tokyo. It's one of the most familiar forms of Japanese cuisine. The show features a chef who prepares a type of beautiful and richly flavored sushi with tuna, which has been seasoned and allowed to mature for a month. We visit a restaurant which has been around since the days when Tokyo was known as Edo to watch the chefs filleting and preparing a small type of fish (gizzard shad). Sushi often comes with slices of sweet and savory omelet (tamago-yaki). We look at a version that takes five hours to make. And we also look at oboro, the flakes prepared from mashed prawns and white fish, which are well-known accompaniment to Edo-style sushi, and honte-gaeshi, the traditional technique for shaping and pressing the sushi toppings on the beds of seasoned rice. And we look at knife techniques for cutting squid to make it both pleasing to the eye and able to melt in one's mouth.