Nepal · Wood Carving / Architectural Craft
नाउ (Nau)
Nau is the hereditary Newar carpenter-carver tradition producing the elaborate architectural wood carving of Kathmandu Valley temples — the peacock window of Bhaktapur, erotic temple struts, and the torana (door pediments). The defining technical knowledge is the three-layer torana assembly: background (3-4cm depth), middle (2-3cm), and foreground (1-2cm) layers each carved separately in shal wood and assembled in fixed sequence — background first, foreground last. Foreground assembled before background cannot be installed into the torana arch. This sequence-dependent assembly is identical in principle to yosegi-zukuri (CRAFT-0462) and miyadaiku kigumi (CRAFT-0486). The three layers create 7-9cm total depth illusion.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · UNESCO World Heritage (Kathmandu Valley, 1979); Nepal national ICH list
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