Japanese Traditional Crafts

October 28, 2016 7:21 PM

A Youtube playlist of short and beautiful videos portraying various traditional Japanese crafts. For example: Decorated paper.

Some examples:

• Decorated paper
• Marquetry
• Weaving
• Paper lanterns
• Laquerware

posted by carter (14 comments total)

btw it's worth listening on headphones.
posted by carter at 8:11 PM on October 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Lovely! Thanks for posting!
posted by Quietgal at 8:45 PM on October 28, 2016

So beautiful.
posted by Oyéah at 10:03 PM on October 28, 2016

Well. There went two hours. I recommend watching the whole playlist.
posted by severiina at 6:16 AM on October 29, 2016

I love these. Thanks.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 9:59 AM on October 29, 2016

I'm guessing there are are plenty of Youtube clips on Japanese calligraphy (shodō), but the one here on making those brushes is exquisite (well, all of these videos are exquisite. Japanese artistic tradition is all about exquisitity.).
posted by kozad at 10:19 AM on October 29, 2016

Beautiful. Thank you.
posted by delight at 10:25 AM on October 29, 2016

Watched 'em again ... so soothing ... It's lovely to see the artisans' confident movements, like of course the thing they're working on will turn out beautiful!
posted by Quietgal at 10:38 AM on October 29, 2016

omg, I love the joinery video. Nails? Where we're going we don't need nails.
posted by kaibutsu at 1:29 PM on October 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Aaaaand I've wasted my life. Thanks.

Are these techniques going to survive the next 50 years?
posted by Farce_First at 3:11 PM on October 29, 2016

Oh my gosh, thank you!

Side note: does anyone familiar with Japan know if being a craftsperson like this is actually a viable way to make a living there, or is it sort of a fantasy existence that needs to be subsidized by something else (trust fund, lawyer/doctor/banker spouse, other paid work) like it is here? Just curious...
posted by SinAesthetic at 5:00 PM on October 29, 2016

These are wonderful! thank you!
posted by leslies at 7:31 PM on October 30, 2016

All lovely, but that marquetry technique is amazing. I remember my growing confusion the first time I saw a video of it being made, then the shock at the reveal when the first slice was shaved off.
posted by lucidium at 1:31 PM on November 1, 2016

Yes Carter, thanks for adding the word 'marquetry' to my vocabulary. I have a little example pf this a Japanese chum gave me, always wondered how it was done. And the first part of that video, showing the ingenious 'Citgo' source for creating the asanoha pattern, blew my mind.
posted by Rash at 9:28 AM on November 5, 2016