Carpentry and Woodwork

Woodwork refers to furniture and vessels made from wood. While exact origins of woodcraft remain unknown, the production of small wood crafted items using wood from evergreen trees that are found naturally in Okinawa’s sub-tropical forests such as Ryukyu pine and Itajii (Castanopsis sieboldii) has steadily increased since the 1950s.

Woodworking techniques such as “hikimono”, the traditional approach to woodturning by applying a blade to shape wooden blocks on a potter’s wheel or lathe into bowls and rounded vessels, and Japanese joinery, which is the art of connecting wooden joints without the use of nails, have been applied to woodworking in Okinawa along with innovations in the application of color and lacquer onto wooden surfaces, leading to a wide variety of wooden crafts and objects being incorporated into the daily lives of people in Okinawa today.