6. "Neri-maze"” (Mixing)

"Neri-maze" is a process of arranging the hair by soaking it in the water, so that the different kinds of hairs will be evenly mixed when the hair is put together as a fude tip. The "Kure" is taken apart and the hair is laid flat thinly. We repeatedly make the hair flat and fold many times, and the hair is mixed well and evenly.
The hair is trimmed and combed and any unusable hair is removed during neri-maze process. The quality of the hair is examined thoroughly, and the hair is glued together with light "Funori" (seaweed glue) and laid out flat and put together as a flat sheet called "Hirame."

7. "Shintate" (Making the core of Fude)

"Shintate" is a process of forming the hair into the cone-shape of a fude tip. Hirame was divided into separate clusters and each cluster has enough amount of hair to make up one fude tip. Then, a cluster of hair is inserted into the fude collar, called "Koma," and the hair was made into the cone-shape of fude tip with appropriate size, which forms a core of the fude tip. Unnecessary hair is again removed by hands.

8. "Koromoge-maki"

The hair wrapped around the core of a fude tip is called "Koromoge." The hair selected for "Koromoge" is usually of better quality than the hair used for the core of fude tip. After the hair for "Koromoge" went through the same processes as the core of fude tip, the Koromoge is ready to be wrapped around the core.

Putting the Koromoge evenly around the core of a fude tip requires the most sophisticated skills. After the Koromoge is nicely put on the fude tip, it is dried naturally in one or two days.

9. "Itojime" (Tying the thread)

The dried fude tip is tied with linen thread at the end of the hair. We singe the end of the hair with hot iron (yakigote), and the fude tip is firmly secured and completed.

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