Ranma Maker : Masanobu Suma

“Ranma is art”

The differences between the japanese ranma and the ones made abroad is the amazing depth of the carving that gives a special and unique look to it.

The Nose area in Osaka has a lot of nature. Masanobu’s atelier is located the mountains and overlooks rice fields. His atelier has a huge window that gives him a fantastic and always inspiring view.

His atelier looks very simple at first. It basically consists of a long rectangular counter with a very thick plank laying on it and a little more than 20 chisels. Once Masanomu Suma starts working on the plank, using very soft moves or strong and hard strokes, the sculpture starts popping out of the wood. The original image that Masanobu Suma had literally comes to live while he works on the plank.

Ranma has been used since the Edo period. At that time it was mainly used for decorations at temples. The temples were gathering places for all kinds of people who then slowly started integrating ranma in there own houses.

Recently cheaper Chinese or Taiwanese made ranma is more and more used in Japan. This makes that the number of ranma workers dangerously decreased. At 53 years, Masanobu is now a young ranma artisan.

Different in all ways from foreign made ranma, the ranma Masanobu Suma makes has and amazing depth even in its smallest details that gives live to the ranma.

“Ranma is art” you will definitely understand the meaning of this sentence.