Not all have English-speaking instructors available, so it pays off to hire a fixer or interpreter to assist with making arrangements. Numerous ateliers open their doors to curious visitors and host hands-on workshops where you can learn to make i kkanbari plates from washi paper or try your hand at bamboo carving. To really get a feel of the intricacies of these local crafts, though, consider giving them a try yourself.
Much smaller, but equally interesting is the Gallery of Kyoto Traditional Arts & Crafts downtown, which displays (and in some cases, sells) everything from wickerwork to Buddhist sculptures by students of the Traditional Arts Super College of Kyoto. Plan your visit during the weekend, when traditional ceramicists, kyo-nui embroiders and lantern makers pop in for craft demonstrations.
Reopened in 2020 after a year-long renovation that saw it shed its frumpy interiors for a more contemporary design and shift its focus towards a younger generation of craftspeople, the museum highlights the city’s 74 traditional craft categories through multimedia displays and pop-up exhibitions that zero in on themes such as geiko (or geisha) costumery and kabuki dance-dramas. Traditional wooden buildings in the Kamishichiken district, Nishijin Jason Knott/Alamy Where to find Kyoto’s best craftwork (and where to try it yourself)įor a high-level introduction to Kyoto’s wide variety of crafts, hit up the Kyoto Museum of Crafts and Design just north of Gion. With their eyes on the future, many have thrown out the archaic rulebooks and modernized their crafts with contemporary designs and innovative materials. But at the same time, ambitious young makers from all around Japan have moved here to hone their skills under the guidance of Kyoto’s sensei (masters) and have opened studios of their own. In the old-timey machiya townhouses dotted around the historic Gion and Nishijin districts, you’ll still find umpteenth-generation artisans specializing in ceramic home goods, wooden lights, and dyed textiles using methods passed down by their ancestors.
Now, more than a century later, Kyoto’s craft game is still going strong. Members of the Imperial Court were both patrons and practitioners at the ateliers that opened here during their 1000-year reign and helped refine techniques such as nishijin-ori silk weaving and kyo-shikki lacquerware into the most superior in all of Japan. As Japan’s ancient former capital, Kyoto has attracted craftspeople and artisans from all around the country.
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