A Soft Light of Washi and Woodcraft Continuing Since the Heian Period

Nakamura Sotoji Komuten, a leading sukiya architecture firm in Japan that handled the Ise Shrine Tea Room and the Rockefeller Residence. At the Sashimono (cabinetwork) division of "Kohseki," which inherits those master skills, they produce wooden products such as Japanese-style lighting using Kyoto sashimono techniques. Kyoto sashimono is a woodcraft continuing since the Heian period that selectively uses five techniques of Japanese woodworking: magemono (bentwood), tagamono (hooped items like buckets/barrels), kurimono (hollowed-out wood), hikimono (turned wood), and sashimono (joinery). Lighting fixtures made of washi and wood, cultivated in sukiya-zukuri architecture with the proposition of being used for a long time, are masterpieces with many long-time devotees.