Carving out a sake cup.

Travelled by coach today to Takayama. On the way we stopped in Inami.

Inami, in Toyama Prefecture, is well-known for its skilled wood carvers and sculptors.

There are 120 wood carving workshops spread throughout the town with 300 wood carvers. It is said to take ten years at least before someone can reach the craftsmanship and skills level required by the Inami Wood Carver’s Guild.

We went into the 'woodcarvers schoolroom' and sat four to a 'desk'. On the block in front of us was a sake cup blank. We were going to shape the outside of it with a hammer and chisel.

A short video showed us what to do and off we went. The noise of 28 people hammering was something else.

The blank was about 70x30mm with the centre honed out to about 50mm depth at one end. Our first task was to round off the outside to match the circumference of the hole leaving not too thick a drinking lip.

The base could then be shaped to your own preference.

On completion it was filled with sake for everyone to toast their achievement.

Another surprise cultural experience!

Lunch was in the same building with yet another style of traditional Japanese lunch…Read more