noun
tinkering; mending metalware
Refers to the traditional craft of repairing metal pots, pans, and kettles by soldering or brazing. Now largely historical, but the term survives in cultural contexts.
昔は鋳掛け屋が鍋や釜を直してくれた。
In the old days, tinkers would repair pots and kettles for you.
鋳掛けの技術はほとんど失われてしまった。
The craft of tinkering has almost been lost.
noun
couple walking together
Archaic term for a man and woman walking together, possibly derived from the image of a tinker and his wife traveling. Not used in modern Japanese.
江戸時代の文献に「鋳掛け」が男女連れ立つ意味で出てくることがある。
In Edo-period texts, 鋳掛け sometimes appears meaning a man and woman walking together.
鋳掛け屋 is the tinker or the shop, while 鋳掛け refers to the trade or act of mending itself.
Compound of 鋳 (i, 'casting') + 掛け (kake, 'hanging' or 'applying'), referring to the process of pouring molten metal onto cracks. The archaic sense 'couple walking together' may be a metaphorical extension, but the exact derivation is uncertain.