Bobung Village: Wooden Mask Handicraft Center

Rating :

2.2 ( 5 Voter(s) )

A. Overview

Bobung village which is included in Putat Sub-District, Patuk District, Gunungkidul Regency, Yogyakarta, is currently being developed by the local government to be a tourism village. The village has an enormous potential to attract domestic and foreign tourists. One of the special features of Bobung village is that all of its people work as artisans of wooden mask and wooden batik aside from farming and cattle breeding. Thus, in 2001, the local government of Gunungkidul announced the village a tourism village of wooden mask and batik handicrafts.

If you visit Bobung Village at noon, you will never see people passing by on the street or sitting leisurely on the porch. Neither will in the night time, you will not hear the sound of kentongan (a village alarm consisting of a bamboo or wooden tube which is knocked with a stick) and footsteps of men on their night watch. The village people are doing a never-ending activity of making wooden masks and batik, from early morning to nighttime, sometimes even until predawn.

Before it is popular as a producer of mask handicraft, Bobung Village was just like the other villages in Gunungkidul whose people rely their livelihood on farming. After harvest, the people hold thanksgiving ceremony called Rasulan or merti deso as an expression of gratitude to God for His blessing and gifts to them. Among the agenda of Rasulan there performed mask dance bringing the story of Ande-Ande Lumut with Panji as the main character. The masks worn by the dancers are classic masks made by the dancers themselves. This is the beginning of mask handicraft of Bobung Village.

Once, the mask dancers made wooden masks to be worn in their performance in Rasulan ceremony. In 1970s, a mask dancer named Tukiran offered his handmade classic masks to the market. The masks were sold out and many people were very interested to them. Orders were flooding from many regions that Tukiran was unable to meet the demand. Finally, Tukiran trained five young men of the village how to make classic wooden mask of the story Ande-Ande Lumut. The five young men then initiated and promoted mask handicraft in Bobung Village until they owned their own workshop, display room, and hired some employees. Since then, many more local people learnt how to make classic mask, either through training or self-taught. Until today, there are not less then 300 mask artisans in Bobung Village.

All handicrafts produced by Bobung people are made of stool wood and yellow mimosa wood. However, stool wood is preferable because it is better in quality and it can be easily processed. The increasing demand and at the same time the decreasing supply of stool wood made the artisans import the material from outside Gunungkidul, like from Kulon Progo, Purworejo, Ponorogo, Wonosobo and Pacitan. The wooden mask as the primary equipment for mask dance must be adjusted to the face of the dancer and the character he is acting. On the other hand, batik mask does not show off particular character, it is only accessory mask in artistic batik presence.

The handicraft products of Bobung people are sold to Yogyakarta, Jakarta and Bali. They are also exported to America, Italy, Japan, France, Malaysia and Thailand. To increase buyer’s demand, wooden mask artisans in Bobung put their best effort to promote their works by joining in handicraft exhibitions held in many regions aiming at making their works more popular.

B. Features

Bobung Village is chosen as one of the tourism villages in Gunungkidul for its special features, one of them is the presence of wooden mask and wooden batik artisans. The making process of wooden mask is pretty complicated because it involves transforming log into a piece of wooden mask. The making of wooden batik is even more complicated and takes longer time because it involves perseverence, creativity and sense of art of the artisan.

The making process starts with cutting the log into cubes at the desired size. Every cube is divided into two, then each part is sculpted into shield-shape as the basic pattern of the mask. Next, the basic pattern is carved to make the eyes, nose, and other additional motifs such as peacock. After that, it is polished and painted or drawn with batik motif of the desired character.

Currently, the artisans of Bobung Village do not only make classic wooden mask but also create more innovative new products such as accessory mask, either painted or drawn with batik motif. Moreover, they make the statues of Loro Blonyo, animals, and functional wooden handicrafts such as bowl, tray, plate, wooden calendar, mirror frame, dakon board, and many more.

As the shapes and motifs get more innovative, the handicraft products of Bobung people are devoted not only by the local people themselves but also people from other cities like Jakarta and Bali, even from foreign countries. Foreign tourists’ most favorite wooden batik handicrafts are the dakon board (dakon is a traditional game in Java played on board with depressions to be filled with cowrie shells) and the functional products. Meanwhile, local people of Gunungkidul and nearby areas favorite the classic mask. Toward the commemoration of Indonesian Independence and Rasulan, the demand of classic dances increases pretty high because they are going to be used in the traditional performance such as reog and jathilan.

Other attractiveness of Bobung Village handicraft center is that visitors can not only order the handicraft as the desired size but also purchase the wooden mask of various sizes from S (9 cm x 11 cm), M (14 cm x 17.5 cm), L (17.5 cm x 22 cm), XL (22 cm x 30 cm), dan super-XL (40 cm x 55 cm) at varied prices. Visitors can also learn to make wooden mask and wooden batik instructed by the artisan themselves. This is of course a bonus of your visit to Bobung Village.

C. Location

Administratively, Bobung Village is included in Putat Sub-District, Patuk District, Gunungkidul Regency, Special Province of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

D. Access

Bobung Village is 10 km west of Wonosari City and 30 km east of Yogyakarta City. The village is accessible by public transportation because it is located at Jogja – Wonosari main road which is well-asphalted. If you depart from Yogyakarta City by public transportation, you can take a bus from Giwangan Bus Station. Or, you can take one from East Ring Road Junction. Departing from both points by bus costs Rp 4,000.

If taking a private vehicle, it is suggested that you be careful passing the road to Bobung Village especially at Piyungan T-Junction, because the road is curving and acsending. This condition is however adds to the enjoyment of visiting Bobung Village.

E. Ticket

Visiting Bobung village does not require any entrance ticket. You should prepare yourselves with some amount of money, of course, to be spent on Bobung handicrafts. They are sold at varied prices, from Rp 25,000 to hundreds of thousands, even millions. One of the product that cost up to millions is the classic mask of Panji in the story of Ande-Ande Lumut which has mystical and high philosophical values.

F. Accommodations and Other Facilities

Among the accommodations and facilities at Bobung Village are the wide parking area and convenient public toilet. If you want to see the making process of wooden mask you can go to the artisans’ workshops. You can also see the products they have made in the display rooms. Finally, there are workshops for tourists who want to stay over to watch the making process of wooden mask and other wooden handicrafts.

Text: Samsuni
Photo(s): Collections of Jogjatrip.com
Translation: Apri Widiastuti
(Primary data and various sources)

Read : 8673 time(s).

If you are from outside Yogyakarta and want to visit this place by travel agency services,
please contact:

Maharatu Tour and Travel

Jl. Sisingamangaraja No. 27 Yogyakarta.
Telp. +62 274 8373005. Fax. +62 274 379250
Email : maharatu@maharatu.com -maharatu257@yahoo.com
Website : www.maharatu.com

If you had visited this location, rate and leave a commentary to be noticed by its management and surrounding governmental tourism board.

Share