Japan library380 entries
13,910 entries. Some places appear in more than one collection. Confirm visits with each facility.
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AkitaArt & CraftsYuzawa
Kawatsura Lacquerware
Finished by brush without polishing, this lacquer was always made for daily bowls, not display.
Odate
Odate Bentwood Ware
Akita cedar bent with boiling water and stitched with cherry bark; once the side work of poor samurai.
AkitaArt & CraftsOdate
Akita Cedar Cooperage
Straight-grained Akita cedar bound with bamboo hoops alone, up to brewing-vat size.
AkitaArt & CraftsDaisen
Naraoka Ware
Straw-ash glaze running blue over the body; the same clay and glaze for over 150 years.
Yamagata
Yamagata Ironware
Cast iron of unusually thin, smooth skin; nine centuries of tea-ceremony kettles.
Yamagata
Hirashimizu Ware
Iron in the local clay speckles the celadon like a pear's skin - the earth itself becomes the pattern.
Tendo
Tendo Shogi Pieces
Nine in ten of Japan's shogi pieces are made here; writing the characters is calligraphy in miniature.
Yonezawa
Yonezawa Textiles
Begun as a domain-rescue industry by Uesugi Yozan; silk dyed with safflower and gromwell, still yarn-dyed.
YamagataArt & CraftsYonezawa
Narushima Ware
A former Uesugi domain kiln, revived after extinction; known for deep iron-black glazes.
Shirataka
Miyama Washi
Hand-made paper of pure kozo bark, once reserved for the Uesugi domain.
Yamagata
Yamagata Forged Blades
Blacksmithing that grew alongside the casting trade, still forging farm tools and kitchen knives.
YamagataArt & CraftsTsuruoka
Tsuruoka Silk
One of the few places in Japan where silk is raised, reeled and woven in a single district.
Aizuwakamatsu
Aizu Lacquerware
Begun when Gamo Ujisato brought lacquerers from Omi; known for auspicious motifs and sprinkled gold.
FukushimaArt & CraftsAizuwakamatsu
Akabeko and Aizu Papier-mache
A red papier-mache ox with a nodding head, made to ward off plague - the colour itself is the charm.
FukushimaArt & CraftsAizumisato
Aizu Hongo Ware
One of Tohoku's oldest pottery districts, and rare in firing both earthenware and porcelain.
FukushimaArt & CraftsKoriyama
Miharu Papier-mache
Four workshops making Miharu horses in the same hamlet since the 1700s.
FukushimaArt & CraftsShowa
Karamushi Textile Village
A village that grows, strips, spins and weaves ramie - the fibre behind Niigata's finest hemp cloth.
FukushimaArt & CraftsSoma
Soma Koma Ware
A domain kiln passed from father to single son, its bowls painted with running horses under a crackled glaze.
FukushimaArt & CraftsNamie
Obori Soma Ware
Double-walled cups that stay cool to hold; every kiln was evacuated after 2011 and is rebuilding elsewhere.
FukushimaArt & CraftsKawamata
Kawamata Silk
Weaving thread one-sixth the width of a human hair - a small district holding a world record for thinness.
Shirakawa
Shirakawa Daruma
Its whole face is built from lucky symbols: crane eyebrows, turtle whiskers, and pine, bamboo and plum in the sideburns and beard, to a design commissioned by the local lord.
Aizuwakamatsu
Aizu Cotton
Thick striped cotton the domain spread as farmers' workwear, each district with its own stripe.
Aizuwakamatsu
Aizu Painted Candles
Flowers painted onto candles for altars in winter, when no real blossom could be found.