Stories
From the Field
allCraft & Artisan· June 30, 2026
Tendo: The Town That Carves Japan's Shogi Pieces
Nearly every shogi piece used in Japan is made in one small Yamagata city. The story of Tendo shogi runs from impoverished samurai to master carvers whose work appears in the nation's grandest title matches.
allCraft & Artisan· June 30, 2026
Odate Magewappa: The Bentwood Craft of Akita's Cedar Country
In the cedar country of northern Akita, artisans bend thin strips of straight-grained wood into ovals and circles, stitch them with cherry bark, and produce the luminous bentwood ware known as magewappa. This is the story of a craft that survives on scent, lightness, and the quiet intelligence of wood.
allCraft & Artisan· June 29, 2026
Tsugaru Lacquerware: Aomori's Patient, Many-Layered Craft
Tsugaru nuri is built up in dozens of lacquer coats, then ground back down to reveal mottled, speckled patterns. The work is so obsessive it earned a nickname meaning foolish. Here is how Aomori's only national craft of lacquer is made, where to see it, and how to bring a piece home.
allCraft & Artisan· June 10, 2026
Aizu Lacquerware: Fukushima's Four-Century Craft Tradition
Aizu lacquerware (Aizu-nuri) is one of Japan's great lacquer traditions, made in Fukushima for over 400 years. A guide to the craft, its techniques, and where to see and buy it.
allCraft & Artisan· May 21, 2026
The Kokeshi Doll Towns of Tohoku: Where to See (and Buy) Japan's Most Haunting Folk Art
Kokeshi dolls are Tohoku's most distinctive craft. Here's where they come from, why they look the way they do, and where to find them.
allCraft & Artisan· May 21, 2026
Tohoku's Craft Trail: Visiting the Artisan Workshops Still Open to Travelers
Tohoku's craft traditions are among Japan's oldest and most technically demanding. Here are the workshops that still accept visitors.
allCraft & Artisan· May 5, 2026
The Last Nambu Ironwork Master
In a workshop in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, a craftsman heats iron to 1,400 degrees and pours it into a sand mould he has prepared by hand. The technique is four hundred years old. The teapot he is making will last four hundred more.