The book is subtitled The Living National Treasures of Japan. Japan does something that I think is incredibly smart; they designate certain people as Living Treasures, people whose cultural abilities have contributed significantly to Japanese culture.
The first person discussed in a man who puts extremely beautiful designs onto kimonos. The book then shows the various stages involved in making and decorating a kimono. This is a really interesting part of the book.
The second person is a man who is a bamboo weaver. Then, as with the kimono entry, the book shows the process of weaving bamboo.
The third person is a Bunraku puppet master. This part includes a lot of back-stage photos, showing how the puppets are constructed and prepared for a performance.
The next living treasure is a sword maker. There is a section of black-and-white photos showing how a sword is made.
The next person is a Noh actor. This has a section which shows what the very subtle gestures in Noh mean.
The last person covered is a potter. There is a section showing how different layers of clay aer used to make an object.
The book is filled with beautiful photos. The only disappointment is that no women were included. I'm thinking in particular of one I saw on a TV program about Living Treasures of Japan who made colored papers.
Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page
