knickknack

今週末に留学生たちと箱根へ行くツアーに参加します。箱根に行くのは初めてなので、情報収集をしていたところ面白い記事を見つけました。

Watch this Japanese man make intricate wooden boxes in the Hakone marquetry style

Any foreigner that has traveled to Japan has often run across this conundrum: you want to buy a souvenir for home, but everything that’s for sale appears to be edible.

Sure, there are some kitschy knickknacks, but they are generally pretty tacky. Then you come across some beautiful wooden boxes with some incredibly intricate patterns on it that make you wonder, how in the world do they do that?

Thankfully, below is a video that shows you how in the world they do that from Japan Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square.

It’s hard not to be amazed by a lot of things in this “behind the scenes” video about Hakone marquetry, originally developed in Kanagawa Prefecture, but loved throughut Japan. For one, we love how all the different colors occur naturally in the wood, meaning there is no staining or dyes used to achieve the effect.

It’s also super mathematical how the pieces of wood are combined together in order to create the designs and patterns.

However, what we loved most of all, was how he shaves off a thin slice of the design so that it’s like pasting down a paper decal.

Knowing just how these beautiful boxes are made makes us more inclined to look past the price and buy one. They will look stunning in any home and besides, we need somewhere to put all the kitschy Japanese knickknacks that we bought.

https://www.japantoday.com/smartphone/view/arts-culture/watch-this-japanese-man-make-intricate-wooden-boxes-in-the-hakone-marquetry-style

今回取り上げる単語は、knickknackです。

Oxford Dictionary of English (Second Edition Reserved, Oxford University Press)によると、 “knick-knack”の形で “small worthless objects, especially household ornaments”とのことでした。 “nick-nack”とも表記するようです。

『ジーニアス英和辞典』（第五版，大修館）で調べたところ、「（家の中に置く安価な）装飾用小間物」と載っておりました。

また他の辞書などには、俗語的な使われ方なども載っておりました。気になる方はご自身でお調べください。

ちなみに日頃行っている英検プリントに似たような単語の “bric-a-brac”がでてきました。そちらは「古い家具[装飾品]、がらくた」と定義されております。（Gomez）