The city of Kanazawa was appointed UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art on June 8, 2009.
To celebrate the honor, the local tourist office offers Trip to Kanazawa, City of Crafts 2010 until March 31.
We learn from Unesco pages that "Kanazawa is a typical Japanese city of traditional crafts, with a
population of 450,000. Founded as a castle town in 1583, the city has
been peaceful ever since, having avoided serious natural disasters and
wartime bomb attacks."
Major crafts listed on the city's program are Gold Leaf, Kaga-yuzen died silk kimonos, Kutani ceramics and Kanazawa lacquerware.
The city shares this little history on Kutani ceramics (pictured above, from Kanazawa site):
Kanazawa's modern Kutani porcelain is based on a revival of Kutani porcelain early in the 19th century. Originally, Kutani porcelain was baked in Kutani Village in the southern part of Ishikawa Prefecture for several decades from the middle of the 17th century. Later, Kutani porcelain leaped to fame when it was exhibited at the 1873 World Exposition. Kutani porcelain has been once exported to the West. Kutani porcelain is characterized by the technique of thickly heaping up paint in five colors, i.e., red, yellow, green, purple, and dark blue and drawing natural beauties boldly. It developed as typical Japanese colorful ceramic ware."
Handle with care for Tokyo Thursdays # 122
Previously: Playful like Fumiko Imano and her Poetic Photography