The beauty of craftwork

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:00 JST, April 29, 2021

I finally checked out the National Craft Museum in Kanazawa! Before last October, the museum was located in Tokyo and I’ve been so curious ever since it opened here. And it was truly super interesting inside.

Originally opening in Kitanomaru Park in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, in 1977, the museum is the only one in the nation solely dedicated to crafts. It was moved to Kanazawa to hopefully draw in some more tourism. With ceramics, glassware and lacquerware all on display, the museum offers a broad-spectrum of crafts from all over Japan to admire.

I was intent on seeing the recreated studio of renowned gold and silver lacquer master Gonroku Matsuda. I could see many of the lacquerware tools he used, such as special writing pens and some brushes. There’s also a video you can watch on how the elite craftsman produced his masterpieces. I was astonished at the level of detail that was finely applied to each and every piece.

Architecturally, the outside of the museum has a Western kind of vibe to it and I can recommend it as a great spot to take photos. The museum is housed in a wooden structure built during the latter half of the Meiji era (1868-1912) and it was once used as an army facility.

The building is indeed so beautiful and I think it’s wonderful that it’s now in Kanazawa. That makes one more thing in my city that I can brag about. So please visit when you can!

This is the last destination in my prefecture I will be introducing to you here in this column. Thank you so much for reading my reports for the past two years!