A female traditional craftsman that Japan can be proud of

Tamae Ueda, a female traditional craftswoman featured on this website, won both the top prizes at the annual Tokyo Hand-Painted Yuzen Dyeing Competition and Exhibition, the "Somegei-ten," despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in a half-day event for invited guests only. Despite these difficulties,
Ms. Ueda carefully listens to the thoughts and feelings of her clients, and then wholeheartedly dedicates herself to creating works that fully incorporate those feelings.

In parallel with this, for the KIMONO PROJECT, a major project to create furisode (long-sleeved kimono) inspired by 196 countries and regions around the world in preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, she created a wonderful furisode kimono that embodies a strong desire for peace, with thoughts directed towards the people of Afghanistan, the country suffering the most from war in the world

The video of the unveiling ceremony for the 100-country 　project, featuring Tamae Ueda's work,
starts at 3 minutes and 48 seconds. In today's world, only flashy things get talked about, but "compassion" and "warmth" are always understated. The feelings that Ms. Ueda poured into each of her works brighten our spirits, just like when we put on a brightly colored kimono. Seeing Ms. Ueda like that, I strongly felt that God is indeed "watching over her."