An event is being held in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward that introduces traditional techniques and techniques for preserving cultural assets from all over Japan.
This "Japanese Skills Fair" is held every year by the Agency for Cultural Affairs to let people know about traditional techniques from all over Japan, such as repair techniques that are indispensable for the preservation of cultural properties.
At the venue in Chiyoda Ward, 35 groups, including a preservation society made up of technicians, participate, exhibiting their proud products and craftsmen showing off their skills.
Among them, in the section introducing the techniques that have been used in the restoration and preservation of world heritage sites such as Nikko Toshogu Shrine and Rinno-ji Temple in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, there is a corner where you can put gold leaf on a lacquered wooden sculpture and press it with cotton. Demonstrating a technique called foil stamping.
Miyako Jofu, a traditional fabric from Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture, which has been designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property of Japan, is made from ramie plant fibers using a technique called “hand-spun”. I was spinning the thread carefully while turning the machine with my right hand.
A 68-year-old man who visited said, "It was interesting because I didn't have the opportunity to see it in person. I want this kind of technology to continue."
Takeo Oku, a cultural property inspector from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, said, "I want people to come to the venue and learn that cultural properties have been created and protected by human hands."
The "Japanese Technique Fair" is held at "Bellesalle Akihabara" in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo until the 23rd, and if there is a vacancy in advance reservations, you can enter on the day.