Crafts Declining at Alarming Rate

Japan’s craft culture is based on knowledge and precision skills honed over centuries, earning it a reputation for producing artisanal works and goods which rank among the world’s finest. In recent years, however, the craft world here has been deteriorating at an alarming rate. For example, very inexpensive, simple versions of kimono requiring minimal skill level are flooding in from offshore so that true masterworks by local weavers, dyers and embroiderers are struggling to compete; sales of lacquer-ware are plummeting; very few young people are capable of replacing the scores of now-retiring Japanese bamboo basket artists; wood joinery is no longer taught to young carpenters. The list goes on and on. Though tens of thousands of master crafts people still function, most are at or past retirement age and young people are not taking over. Also disappearing are a large number of craft support specialists such as unique tool makers, dye blenders, brush makers, stencil cutters, etc., who form a highly interdependent network in the craft community.

During this critical time, JapanCraft21 first chose to focus on high-level wood joinery. Eighty years ago, there were 100,000 exquisite wooden machiya townhouses in Kyoto. Today, only 40,000 remain, with more disappearing every year. In 2019 we helped establish a small school to train working carpenters while providing them with scholarships. We recently graduated our first class of 6—the first generation of young carpenters in decades, who are capable of building a wooden house entirely without nails. We are currently running a wood joinery course, a course for young plasterers in Japanese bamboo mud wall construction, and training in advanced garden building.

The crafts of Japan are an international treasure that have enriched and inspired people around the world for hundreds of years. This heritage belongs to all of us. If being a pro-active part of the Japanese Craft Community appeals to you, then please join us. Together we can take meaningful, important, immediate action to help preserve these beautiful crafts before they disappear from our global culture.