Keeping Wood Weaving Alive

Overview

The former village of Oguchi in Ishikawa Prefecture was home to a 400-year-old wood weaving technique using Japanese cypress. Today, with the region's ongoing depopulation, the craft is threatened to disappear. We follow Australian Susan May who has been learning the technique under master artisan Katsuki Hisayo. Susan is attempting to weave a traditional woven hat for which the fabrication method has been lost. We also meet Bulgarian-native Ilko Allexandroff, a unique photographer living in Kobe.