The
company which made wooden statues and related items was located in a series
of connected buildings which, from the outside, looked like normal Korean
homes.
This
is the owner of the business proudly displaying one of their larger hand-carved
wooden statues of a man riding a horse.
To
say that the working conditions and equipment in these facilities were
right out of the early 1900’s (by American standards) is a mild understatement.
There
was essentially no evidence of any protective safety standards or equipment
(eye goggles, shields, etc.) seen anywhere. The US federal department
of “OSHA” would have simply had an organism and gone berserk
had they seen this place!
Working
areas were really cramped and conjested with people being jammed into
every inch of available space. Most of the workers either sat on very
short stools or simply sat 'cross-legged' on the floor and worked on low
tables.
This
is one step in the hand-carving of some wooden Korean figurines which
I ended up purchasing for sale in the NEX Atsugi.
Additional
finishing touches to the carving of the same figurines were performed
at another table.
And,
then, some of the wooden statues are soaked in a black (or other color)
stain.
Final
touch-ups to the various wooden items are made prior to shipment. As can
be seen in this and the following photo of people sitting around a table,
men, women, and children of all ages were employed in the business.
There were obviously no “child labor laws” since many of these
kids were only 8-10 years old and were at work 10 hours/day. I have no
idea as to when (or even "IF") they attended school to get a
formal education.
This
is one of my NEX Atsugi salesclerks holding a wooden elephant from Korea
after the shipment arrived in Japan.
Next,
I visited a Korean silk factory which made bulk silk as well as some lines
of silk clothing. In this photo the silk thread fiber has been stained
and hung out to dry in the sun.
This
person is using the tire rim and drive mechanism from a bicycle to string
the bulk silk fiber thread onto rolls.
The
rolls of thread are then transferred onto spindles which are used on the
weaving machines to produce silk cloth.
And,
then, the process of hand-weaving of the silk cloth began.
I
believe that this weaving process (being used in the 1970’s in Korea)
is very similar to that which had been used in our New England area mills
during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
Everything
that I observed during my visit to this silk factory was done completely
by hand and there was essentially no automation of any part of the process.
After
the silk factory, I visited a marble company. This is a worker carving
a marble statue. He is looking at a picture of a statue and attempting
to duplicate the item in the photo.
In
this section of the factory, different workers each produced a particular
part of a larger marble statue.
Children
then washed the marble statues and used an abrasive material to grind
out small chisel marks and any other rough places on the marble finish.
Just
like the factory where wooden statues were made, young children were a
integral part of the marble statue production process.
