Japan · Architectural Craft / Joinery
宮大工 (Miyadaiku)
Miyadaiku are the carpenters who build and restore Japan's temples and shrines. Their kigumi joinery joins timber without nails or metal fittings, using over 200 joint variations — tsugite splices that extend members and shiguchi joints that connect members at angles. Interlocking members must be assembled in a planned order, and buildings can be dismantled, repaired and reassembled, which is why some have stood for centuries. Traditional skills for conserving Japanese wooden architecture, including this joinery, were inscribed by UNESCO in 2020.
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Not separately inscribed; recognized within Japanese historic site preservation
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