Kirie , Japanese Art of Papercutting

Kirie is the Japanese art of paper cutting, while Kirigami, also called Monkiri, involves cutting and folding paper.In Japanese, paper-cut art is usually called kirie (kiri-e = cut-pictures).

The Kirie is the art of developing picture expression world by cutting papers.The wonderful combination of both sharpness with paper cutting edges by cutter knife and colorful dyed Japanese paper is possible to depict beauty of overlapping which is different from paintbrushes.The process of new Kirie(Paper-cutting) art is as follows.At first original skeleton picture is draw on blank sheet of paper.The blank space without picture are cut out with cutter knife to make the figure by following the sketch.When all drawing lines are left by removing unnecessary parts of the sheet, some big or small pieces of various colored Japanese paper are pasted on the sheet from back side for looking through the cutting out holes from front side.Finally you can see very colorful picture as new Kirie art.

The photo is a kirie, or paper cut, by the artist Komiyama Hôbô who deftly creates a vignette of the Sanshamatsuri festival in Asakusa, at the heart of old Tokyo. All the elements are there: the jostling mass of people supporting the mikoshi ("portable shrine") in front of the Shinto building*, the happi coats, hachimaki headbands.
This puzzle has a matt washi-style surface.
The artist Komiyama Hôbô is a master of the art of paper cuts, or kiri-e (literally "cutting picture").