Japanese Traditional Crafts

About this book

33 vs 200. The most beautiful recent book on Japanese crafts portrays thirty-three artisans in a premium hardcover album. This guide gives you 200 crafts — every major textile, kiln, lacquer town, forge, paper mill, glass workshop and doll tradition in Japan — in one uniform format you can actually use in a shop, for $9.99.

From Yuki-tsumugi silk and Arita porcelain to Nambu iron kettles, Echizen washi, Edo cut glass and Takasaki daruma: each of the 200 entries gives you the same four facts — Region, Origins, How to recognise the genuine article, and Where to buy it or watch it made.

Inside: how Japan's official Densan (Traditional Crafts) designation system works and what its certification mark guarantees; a five-check method for buying without being fooled; introductions to each material family; a regional index so you can plan a trip by destination; workshop-visit etiquette; and a care guide for lacquer, iron, silk, bamboo and brushes. No photographs — instead, recognition points your own fingers can verify in the shop. That is the trade this book makes, and it makes it openly.

Written and created in Japan by Japanese author Aki Wakamatsu. Published by Takikawa TOKOTOKO Kids LLC, a Japanese publisher in Hokkaido, Japan. Authentic Japanese content, carefully made in Japan — not mass-produced.