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Yig-par ko-ni: Woodblock Engraving
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  • Manage No, Sortation, Country, Writer ,Date, Copyright
    Manage No EE00002084
    Country Bhutan
    ICH Domain Traditional craft skills
    Address
    National Library & Archives of Bhutan (NLAB) is located at Kawajangsa. It is a government institution under the Department of Culture, Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs. The institution has established a small Xylography unit since early 1980 to preserve and promote the art. Until now the institution holds nearly 12,000 woodblocks carved and collected some monasteries around the country. Though, the art has one glorified its popularity in and across the country until 2000 due to the religious significances and its usage for rituals and rites purpose yet, modernization and emergence of technologies aided in landing at a dying state.
    Year of Designation 2019
Description Yig-par koni is an adverb that means engraving of scripts which is the art of Xylography, one of the indigenous craftsmanship art of Bhutan. Script engraving is done using special wood locally called Tag-pa shing (Birch: Betula utilis) that flourishes at altitudes varying from 3000 to 4200 meters above sea level. Tag-pa shing can be easily identified by its bark that has a mix red and pink and brown colours alternatively across the trunk like that of a tiger’s skin thus got its name. The art is considered as one of the religious craftsmanship since its significance, production and usage are all connected to spiritualistic believes and purpose. In Bhutan, the presence of skills for making woodblock prints are seen in temples, monasteries and Dzongs (fortress) every part of the country in the form of biographies, excellent teachings of the Buddha printed from woodblocks. The earliest biography is that of Terton (Hidden treasure discoverer) Pema Lingpa (1450-1521), as prophesied by Guru Padmasambava, the epitome of the Secret Teachings of Tantric Buddhism. Terton Pema Lingpa was the last reincarnate of Princess Pema Sal (?), daughter of King Thrisong Deutsan of Tibet. Owing to the propensity of his previous lives, the Terton knew craft works without training, and dedicating his skills to ensure the continuity of the Buddha’s teachings, had made uncountable number woodblocks, available in the monasteries established by the Terton himself and by his sons as well as in the house of a number of his patrons that can be seen even today. Moreover, Thugse Dawa Gyaltshan (1499-1586), the son of Pema Lingpa, had also engraved as many as 614 woodblocks for the collected works and autobiography in memory of his father which is still preserved at the sacred place of Kunzang Drag, Bumthang Dzongkhag (district). After Terton Pema Lingpa and his heart son Thugse Dawa Gyaltshen had started the tradition of woodblock print, Choje Ngagwang Tenzin (1522-1590), the reincarnate of Gartoen who was the son of Phajo Drugom Zhigpo, engraved the biography of Phajo Drugom in about 1570 (C.E). Then, in the 17th century Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, having satisfactorily completed all the activities related to the dual system and before he went into the final retreat (i.e. parinirvana), initiated a project to engrave the collected works of the omniscient Pema Karpo (1527-1592) and all the essential ones and its prints are distributed them to all the monasteries and sangha communities as dharma donations. He created of the seat of Je Khenpo as the overall head of sangha monasteries and ecclesiastical affairs and that of Desi, who functioned as the secular head of the country. He had also appointed officials to fit these high-ranking positions. The successive Je Khenpo and Desis ensured the practice, manage and spread of the teachings and the good system of administration, by engraving unlimited number of woodblocks prints in their respective areas which can be seen still today in all the historical monuments. However, due to the advancement of printing technologies, the National Library & Archives of Bhutan is the only institution that is upholding the xylography art in the country while the practice is turned its form to an oral account.
Social and cultural significance The significances of this craftsmanship are primarily to uphold the sacred Buddhist teachings by engraving the scriptures on the woodblocks and circulating the texts after printing from these engraved woodblocks. Printing prayer flags and relevant spiritual figures for remedial rituals and rites.
Transmission method Looking critically at the job of an engraver, it is essential for an engraver to first learn to structure the words by mastering the skills in grammar along with the skills in the form of individual letters, then learn the craft of smithy to be able to learn how to make different sizes and types of tools. One must get sufficient experiences in wood work to be able to identify suitable wood type, sawing and shaping the wood into the required sizes, and to prepare suitable field or space for efficient engraving of scripts. Then one needs to actually learn to engrave the form of letters and images on to the wood surface, make papers, preparation or procurement of inks, making print copies to be engraved and many other related skills and knowledge. Therefore, it would take about six years to be able to engrave any kind of matters and for those of lesser faculties, it would take about nine years before becoming a fully professional engraver. Following procedures are undertaken while engraving a woodblock: 1. In keeping with one’s plan of works, the process of engraving begins with the selection of the wood that has no defect like knots, cracks, signs of decay and insect harms. Then the wood is made into blocks of required size in terms of thickness, length and breadth. One needs to be able to use the carpentry tools at this stage. 2. Once the woodblock is made, its face should be smoothened properly with the help of a plainer and the further refine it with sand papers. 3. Having made the woodblock smooth and ready, one should take a pencil, a scale and a set square and draw straight lines on all four sides of the block so that the master copy does not go crooked when it is pasted on. On the side of the head ornament of script, one should leave three and half or three inches of space technically called the pure field (zhing khams). At the other end, you should leave a space of three and half or four inches whichever is appropriate from the line of master copy. This space is for the pure field, which is necessary for writing alphabetical signs or page numbers and short title of the scripture for easy identification. 4. The next step is to make preparation for pasting the master copy on the board, by applying porridge glue, or apply the imported wood glue. While pasting the master copy, one must make sure to put the head ornament at the upper right corner of the block. One must ensure that the master copy is precisely aligned to lines drawn on the board. 5. After pasting the master copy on the block, and properly dried, one sprinkles some water all over the block, and gently scratch off the paper with fingers until all the letters are clearly seen on the block face. Though the letters are seen facing the opposite direction, they would appear normal on the printed paper. 6. The area of master copy and the pure field spaces should then be cut using the tip of mini-chisel and apply oil (as mentioned above) over the area. The block is kept until the wood absorbs the oil. 7. Once the oil is absorbed into the wood, one gets ready with the tools like mini-chisel and chisel. To begin the engraving, the index finger presses over the top of mini-chisel’s handle, while the thumb and middle and ring fingers hold the mini-chisel between them. The tip of mini-chisel leans on to the little finger while the tip of this finger guides the tip of the mini-chisel. The thumb has no other function than holding the mini-chisel. The engraving always begins from right towards the left. The technical term called go-ke, means minute split upward with a mini-chisel above the three vowel signs and above the head. There are two ways of carving. One cuts deep into the wood to make the scripts come very distinctly on paper and the other is to keep the cut relatively shallow. The second way makes better progress in work. Section 19 of this chapter explains on the first way of splitting as per the oral instructions of a master engraver. 8. After the split above the head (mgo-bkas) just explained, the woodblock position is reversed to work on what is called the ched-je, which means half done. Using the mini-chisel, the engraver strikes the mini-chisel from the opposite direction and split the space above the head stroke and the three signs of vowels. This creates a hollow space above the head stroke and vowel signs. Thereafter, the mini-chisel is used to split out the wood below the letters and between the punctuation lines. Thus, the banks or shores above and below the type faces are cut out by which half the work of engraving on the block is done. That is why the term ‘half done’. 9. After that, the woodblock is put back to its initial position. Taking the mini-chisel, the spaces between all the vowel signs and above the rows of the type faces. At this stage the shape of vowel signs are refined. The space beyond the head split, between the punctuation lines and cuts around all the individual letters is called the head split of letter face. 10. The term supporting the half-done (ched-je teg) refers to completing the cutting of spaces between individual letters. After this, the woodblock is covered with a wet cloth, to make the surface of the board a bit softer. 11. At this stage the engraver uses gouge to make round holes and bends on certain letters and some are just dug on sides. After that, left side of the letters are cut out to create the shores on the side of letters. This is called (tsug-ju). 12. Once the left side of the letters are chiseled out, the woodblock position is reversed. The engraver starts working on the other side of the letters and chisel out the wood. This is called te-ju. Gradually, the actual shape of the letters appear quite distinctly, depending upon the hand skills of the engraver. According to instructors, if the te-ju takes one day, the process of te-ju should take two days. 13. Although the type face has become clearer on the woodblock, the so called pure field, which is the space outside the engraved portion of the book must be split out. At the top of the woodblock the pure field is created leaving a space of one finger from the edge while at the other end, the pure field is cut out leaving about one finger or three quarters of a finger from the edge. The reason for leaving the spaces are for easy identification of the top and bottom of the woodblock and to write the alphabetical sequences or page numbers. 14. Once the engraving on the woodblock is complete, it is printed on a paper and compare it with the original copy and look for errors. Sometimes a whole letter or part of it could be missing and sometimes there would be errors in spelling. These errors are marked on the woodblock with a pencil or a reed pen. 15. Correcting the shapes of letters is relatively easier. But sometimes there would be spelling errors, or part of a whole letter or words and phrases would be missed out. Pieces of birch wood are pegged at the area of marked errors using glue, and restore the errors with the help of chisel or mini-chisel. This may require the whole word or letter to be replaced exactly as in the master copy. But the pegs should be allowed to dry properly before restoring the errors. This way of replacing the words or letters is called zug-jab, by the engravers, which means inserting backup. This is because a hole has to be made where the birch wood is inserted and glued as a backup for the missing words. The pieces are then engraved into the shape of the letters or word/s that it replaces. 16. The corrected woodblock is again printed and compared with the master copy for further examination. If no further correction is necessary, the woodblock is passed with satisfaction and stored for mass printing. However, according to oral instructions of the past masters, a woodblock should be considered complete only after editing it for five times. 17. Finally, short title of the volume and page numbers should be engraved at the end of the woodblock for easy identification. These may directly be engraved on the woodblock without requiring to change the position of the woodblock as described above. However, it would look very nice if the side indicators are copied on a paper and engraved as other texts.
Community Besides NLAB, the Institute of Rigzhung at Semtokha was the only one academic school that had taught skills of woodblock engraving, preparing ink and printing until the year 2005. However, after Lopon Sangay Dorji’s retirement the skill got lost and woodblocks left unattended. Likewise, after the establishment of basic school of the monastic body at Semtokha, the Principal Lam Ogyen Tenzin, who is an expert calligrapher and has keen interests in woodblock engraving starting imparting the skills to the young monks having aptitude in the craft. In spite of establishing the training in engraving as a part of learning at the Institute, this has been discontinued. But Lam Ogyen Tenzin started the skill at the new Monastic Division at the Thubten Loselling Dratshang in Norbugang, Samtse where he was transferred as its Lam Neten (head of the monastery). Thereafter, Lam Ogyen was transferred to Zhemgang as lam Neten, he started the training at the Dratshang, but his plan to popularize the skill has been challenged by the new information technology. To revive the dying culture, the Government took an initiative to establish a xylography learning center at Dechenphodrang Monastic Institution in Thimphu by inviting Par-lop (instructor) Sangay Tenzin 50, a former student of Semtokha from Uru Village in Bumthang in 2017-18. However, the Monastic institution couldn’t hold the knowledge and now it is the only NLAB to uphold the woodblock engraving tradition in the country. In NLAB, Mr. Yeshey Namgyal, Phurba Thinley and Kelzang Dawa are the employed artisans. Mr Yeshey Namgyal is one of the living master artisan in the country whereas, the other two were his students. Yeshey Namgyal learnt the skill from Lopen Pema, the engraving teacher from Kham Dege,Tibet who was then hired by the NLAB in 1975 as per the Royal command of Her Majesty the Queen Mother, Ashi Kesang Choden Wangchuck who sponsored the woodblock engraving for the complete set of the collected works of Kunkhyen Pema Karpo, Kunkhyen Kabum in memory of His Late Majesty the Third King, who had passed away mid-1972. Data collected by: Mr. Yeshi Lhendup, NLAB
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National Library and Archives of Bhutan
https://www.library.gov.bt/archive/
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