ယွန်းထည် (Yun Hte)
Bagan yun (ယွန်းထည်) is the supreme lacquerware tradition of Myanmar — produced in and around Bagan and Mandalay for over a thousand years and widely considered the finest lacquerware tradition in Southeast Asia. The technique combines a flexible coiled bamboo or horsehair base, multiple coats of thitsi (Melanorrhoea usitata — the same species as Lao lacquer), and a distinctive engraving and color-filling technique (yun) — in which the design is incised through the final lacquer coat with a metal stylus, colored lacquer or pigment rubbed into the incised lines, then the surface polished to reveal the colored design against the black or red lacquer ground. The flexibility of the base — made from coiled bamboo strips or horsehair — is the defining material feature: authentic Bagan yun can be flexed without the lacquer cracking, unlike ceramic-based lacquerware traditions. The horsehair base (yun-hmyit) is the most demanding variant — horsehairs coiled and woven into a fabric, then lacquered into rigidity.
Risk level: Endangered · Myanmar national ICH list; UNESCO regional recognition
Karen textile weaving is the back-strap loom tradition of the Karen people (ကရင် Karen) — one of Myanmar's largest ethnic minorities, occupying Karen State, Tanintharyi Region, and the Thai-Myanmar border.
Chin textile weaving (ချင်းထည် chin hte) encompasses the diverse weaving traditions of the Chin people — a group of closely related but culturally distinct communities occupying Chin State in western Myanmar.
The Naga people of the Sagaing Region (western Myanmar) and Nagaland (India) maintain one of the most visually dramatic ornament and textile traditions in Southeast Asia — historically associated with headhunting ceremony and now…
Shan cheroot making (လပတ်ရေ laphet yei) is the hand-rolling tradition producing Myanmar's distinctive green leaf-wrapped cheroots — cigars rolled from a combination of cured tobacco leaf, dried tamarind, palm sugar, and corn flour wrapped…
Rakhine silk weaving is the textile tradition of the Rakhine (Arakan) people of Rakhine State — a tradition influenced by the Arakan Kingdom's historic position as a major maritime trading state connecting South Asian and Southeast Asian…
Shan paper making (ရှမ်းစာ shan sa) is the handmade bark paper tradition of Shan State — using mulberry (sa tree, Broussonetia papyrifera) and local plant fiber to produce paper for Buddhist manuscript copying, folded book (parabaik)…
A miniature tempera-painting tradition of the village of Palekh, born in 1923 when icon painters — suddenly without legitimate work after the Bolshevik Revolution outlawed religious art — transferred their exact inherited technical skill…
Two related but visually and historically distinct lacquer-miniature painting traditions, both descended, like Palekh (CRAFT-1871), from icon-painting centers whose masters turned to secular papier-mâché box painting after the 1917…
Light, strong everyday objects made by layering washi over a base of paper, bamboo or wood and coating them with persimmon tannin (kakishibu) or urushi lacquer.
Kiso Shikki (木曽漆器) is the lacquerware tradition of the Kiso Valley in Nagano Prefecture, built on the region's abundant local Japanese cypress (hinoki) timber and established at the start of the 17th century under the patronage of the…
A traditional Maldivian decorative technique in which turned wooden vessels boxes and architectural elements are coated with successive layers of natural resin lacquer (liyelaa) colored with mineral and organic pigments and incised with a…
Lacquerware of the Hirosaki area of Aomori Prefecture in which patterns are built up in many layers of colored lacquer and then revealed by repeated grinding and polishing back through the layers (togidashi kawari-nuri).