Fukui Prefecture Specialty Products, Souvenirs, Shrines and Temples, and Travel | 47 Prefecture Guide

Fukui is a prefecture with national market shares in both traditional crafts and modern industry Both had the same starting point: “the winters are long.”

Specialties

Centered around Sabae City, the region produces more than 90% of Japan-made eyeglass frames.

It began in 1905. It is said to have started when craftspeople were invited from Osaka as winter work, when farming was impossible because of snow, and in the 1980s, Sabae became the first place in the world to succeed in mass-producing titanium frames.

Titanium is light, does not rust, and is less likely to cause metal allergies. But it is extremely difficult to process. Because they took on something difficult, they became irreplaceable.

In food, Echizen crab. Among male snow crabs, only those landed at fishing ports in Fukui Prefecture are called by this name, and their origin is certified with a yellow tag. Mackerel, Wakasa guji tilefish, and Koshihikari rice also come from this prefecture.

Souvenirs

Habutae mochi is a sweet made by dusting thinly stretched gyuhi with potato starch. Its name compares it to the smoothness of the local silk fabric called habutae. It is a name born from a place with a textile industry.

Canned grilled mackerel, Wakasa-nuri chopsticks, and Sabae eyeglasses.

Shrines and Temples

Eiheiji Temple in Eiheiji Town is the head temple of the Soto school, founded by Dogen in 1244.

What makes this temple different is that it remains a training monastery to this day. More than 100 unsui, or trainee monks, live there. Dogen taught that not only zazen, but cleaning, eating, and washing one's face are all part of training. The text Tenzo Kyokun teaches the proper mindset for kitchen work. It shares the same roots as the craftspeople's work we have seen in this series. Leaving Kyoto for the mountains of Echizen was also a way to distance himself from the secular world.

Kehi Jingu Shrine in Tsuruga City is the ichinomiya, or highest-ranking shrine, of Echizen Province, and its 11-meter-tall grand torii is considered one of Japan's three great wooden torii gates, alongside Itsukushima in Aki and Kasuga Taisha in Nara It is said to be one of them. The Omizu-okuri ritual at Wakasa Jinguji Temple in Obama City is a ceremony paired with the Omizutori ritual at Todaiji Nigatsudo Hall. in total.

Sightseeing

Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum is located here because many of Japan's dinosaur fossils have been excavated in Katsuyama City. There are also scientific names bearing the prefecture's name, such as Fukuiraptor.

Tojinbo, the Mikuni Fireworks Festival, and the rias coast of Wakasa.

Traditional Crafts

Nationally designated items are Echizen Lacquerware, Echizen Washi, Echizen Forged Blades, Echizen Ware, Echizen tansu chests, Wakasa-nuri lacquerware, and Wakasa agate work: 7 items in all.

Echizen ware is one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns. Echizen washi is known for allowing large sheets of paper to be made, and is used for sliding-door paper and large-format Japanese paintings.

For details, see [VILLAGE Report vol.30] More than 90% of eyeglass frames

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References: Fukui Prefecture, Fukui Optical Association, Sabae City, Katsuyama City, Echizen City, Eiheiji Temple, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village Editorial Team