Japan · Cooperage; Woodworking; Bamboo Hoop Work
Kioke-zukuri (木桶); okeya and taruya (barrel makers)
Making the very large cedar barrels (kioke) in which soy sauce, miso and sake are brewed. More than 40 staves of old Yoshino cedar are rounded into a cylinder and bound with braided bamboo hoops, without glue, to make a barrel of about 4,000 to 6,000 liters that lasts 100 to 150 years. By 2009 only one workshop in Japan could still build the largest sizes; a revival project led by a soy sauce brewer began in 2011.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not listed. Washoku was inscribed in 2013; barrel making is not a named element.
Okinawan bamboo basketry is the weaving of everyday baskets from hōraichiku (Bambusa multiplex), a clump bamboo with long internodes and low nodes that bends without splitting.
Kyō-Busshi (京仏師) is the Buddhist sculptural tradition of Kyoto — producing wooden Buddha images in two historic construction methods: ichiboku-zukuri (一木造 — single-block carving, dominant in early period) and yosegi-zukuri (寄木造 —…
Noro (ノロ) are the priestesses of Ryukyuan religion, organized into a state hierarchy under King Shō Shin (r.
Kiyomizuyaki (清水焼) is the umbrella designation for Kyoto's diverse ceramic tradition — named for the Kiyomizu area of eastern Kyoto where kilns have operated since the early Edo period.
Ūji Zome (ウージ染め) is dyeing and weaving with sugarcane (ūji in Okinawan), developed in Tomigusuku as a village-revitalization project of the local Chamber of Commerce in 1989.
Kyō-Nuri (京塗 — Kyoto lacquer) is the court lacquerware tradition of Kyoto — producing tea ceremony utensils (tea caddy, lacquered bowl stand, lacquered trays), Buddhist altar objects, and decorative boxes in urushi (Japanese lacquer —…
The wood carving tradition of Brienz — the village on the shore of Lake Brienz in the Bernese Oberland that is the most significant Alpine wood carving center in Europe, whose Schnitzschule Brienz (established 1884) trained generations of…
Lao Buddhist temple woodcarving (ສັກໄມ້ວັດ sak mai vat) is the architectural relief carving tradition decorating the gables, doors, window frames, and interior panels of Lao Buddhist temples (wat).
The carving of elaborate wooden entrance doors by artisans of Stone Town, Zanzibar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site whose architecture fuses Swahili, Arab, Persian, Indian, and European influences.
Dongyang wood carving is the relief-carving tradition of Dongyang, a county-level city in central Zhejiang.
Mandalay Buddhist temple woodcarving (မြောက်တပ် hmyaw tat) is the architectural relief carving tradition decorating Myanmar's wooden Buddhist temples, monasteries (kyaung), and royal pavilions in teak, ironwood, and pyinkado (Xylia…
The turning, carving, and inlay decoration of thuya (Tetraclinis articulata), an endemic Moroccan conifer whose fragrant root burl is prized for its swirling, honey-colored grain, concentrated exclusively in workshops within Essaouira's…