List of Traditional Crafts of Japan

The Traditional Crafts of Japan (伝統的工芸品, dentōteki kōgeihin) is a series of Japanese crafts specially recognized and designated as such by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (formerly, the Minister of International Trade and Industry) in accordance with the 1974 Act on the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries [ja]. As of 17 October 2024, 243 crafts have been so designated.
As set out in Article 1 of the 1974 Act, the purpose of Traditional Craft industries and their promotion is to enrich the lives of the citizens and, due to their particular geographic nature, contribute to the development of local economies and, thereby, that of the nation as a whole. This economic angle helps distinguish the designation of Traditional Crafts under the 1974 Act from that of traditional crafts as Intangible Cultural Properties under the 1950 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. Financial assistance is available under both frameworks; that for Traditional Crafts focuses on five activities, namely, the training of successors, the recording of technologies and techniques, the securing of raw materials, the evolution of creative concepts and designs, and the development of demand.
In FY2016, 62,690 individuals were employed in the Traditional Crafts industry, down from 288,000 in 1979, with production valued at ¥96 billion, down from ¥540 billion in 1983. Analysis by the Traditional Crafts Industry Promotion Association [Wikidata] locates these trends within the broader context of the changes in lifestyles and employment attendant upon the nation's post-war economic growth, identifying seven principal explanatory strands: displacement by highly industrialized, mass-produced—and, as a consequence, cheaper—mass market goods; the decline of rural areas and the primary industries, such as agriculture and forestry, that provide many of the materials; construction that has posed obstacles to the sourcing of materials; changes in the education system and the employment environment that discourage the necessary apprenticeships from a young age and a life of modest, manual labour; changes in lifestyle amongst consumers, with increasing urbanization and westernization; changes in attitude towards everyday items, with a move towards disposable items chosen on the basis of fashion, novelty, and price; and changes in the family system, with the nuclear family and single households militating against transmission across generations. At the same time, there are a number of possible sources of hope: the increased demand for high-quality products typically concomitant with prosperity; interest in unique, regional cultures; new appreciation of "wa" and "monozukuri", including the burgeoning of demand in the West; and a growing awareness of the benefits of a circular economy.
To be eligible for designation, as specified in Article 2 of the 1974 Act, the craft must be:
For these purposes, "traditional" means a history and continuity of at least one hundred years; a "not-negligible number of persons" implies at least ten enterprises or thirty individuals, so as to ensure a scale of operations sufficient to uphold reliability; if the relevant raw materials have been exhausted or are now extremely difficult to source, a substitute is permissible so long as the flavour of the original is not lost; "technologies and techniques" refer to the skills and practices of the individual craftsman as well as the know-how accumulated within the industry, with refinements permitted so long as the craftworks' key characteristics remain fundamentally unchanged; "predominantly manual" requires the craftwork's form, features, and quality to be the product of the hand, although usage of machinery is permitted for auxiliary processes; and "use in everyday life" may include occasional and one-off events such as festivals, weddings, and funerals, if closely connected to ordinary households.
With the designation of crafts in Chiba Prefecture and Kumamoto Prefecture in 2003, and of two craft traditions pertaining to the Ainu of Hokkaidō in 2013, at least one craft has been designated in each of the 47 prefectures. As of 26 October 2023, Tokyo has the highest number of designated crafts (22), followed by Kyōto Prefecture (17), Niigata Prefecture and Okinawa Prefecture (16), Aichi Prefecture (15), and Ishikawa Prefecture (10), Aomori Prefecture and Ōita Prefecture having but one apiece. The 241 designated crafts are divided into fifteen categories: woven textiles (38), dyed textiles (14), other textiles (5), ceramics (32), lacquerware (23), wood and bamboo (33), metalwork (16), Butsudan and Buddhist ritual implements (17), washi (9), writing tools (10), stonework (4), precious stonework (2), dolls and kokeshi (10), other (25), and craft materials & tools (3).