【Coming soon】 Radiance Unfolding: Create Your Mini Traditional Umbrella with a Master Craftsman, workshop tour
Gain precious insight into the stories, the techniques, and the masters behind one of Gifu's best-known and well-loved traditional crafts - the beautifully delicate but enduring Gifu wagasa (traditional Japanese umbrellas), before creating your very own miniature piece in the city of Japan's largest manufacturer of traditional umbrellas. Explore the quaint surroundings of the former riverside port district of Kawara-machi District while learning of the origins of the Gifu wagasa, then visit the workshop of one of only two craftsmen in Japan specializing in umbrella frames, deepening your understanding of Japan's crafts and culture. Craft and complete your original mini Gifu wagasa, a wonderful reminder of your unforgettable time in Gifu, along the Nagara River.
*Closed length (including handle): about 28cm, open diameter: about 35cm
Recommended points
● An exclusive opportunity to tour the workshop of one of the only two traditional Japanese umbrella frame craftsmen in the country. Deepen your understanding of Japanese culture through the craftsmens’ expertise about their Japanese umbrellas.
● Use top-class materials such as bamboo of exceptional quality grown by the banks of the Nagara River, and the thin but very durable premium Mino washi paper produced in Mino City, upstream along the Nagara River. It’s no wonder this is the major area for manufacturing Gifu umbrellas since the Edo Period.
● Create a genuine “mini Gifu umbrella” with your very own designs painted on as finishing touches, making it a very special souvenir of your time in Gifu.
● Visit the Kawaramachi District, a former riverside port district for merchants centuries ago, with its traditional lattice housing, vintage-style red, rounded postboxes, and roads surrounded by storehouses with high walls.
Overview
- Season
- 2025/12/1～2027/3/31 (Excluding Weds and Thurs)
- Activity Time
- 4 hours 30 minutes
- Place
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※ Please contact us for further details.
- Number of Participants
- 1～2 people
- Reference Price
- ※ Please contact us for further details.
- Starting Point
- ※ Please contact us for further details.
- Ending Point
- ※ Please contact us for further details.
- Meeting Time
- 9:45
- Schedule
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9:45 - Meet up, Kawaramachi mini walking tour
10:00 - Wagasa (Japanese umbrella) workshop tour at the Nagaragawa Department Taiken Studio
10:15 - “Mini Gifu umbrella” crafting activity
12:15 - Introduction to and shopping at the wagasa shop
12:45 - Free time for lunch. You can enjoy Gifu specialties, chilled tanuki soba (buckwheat noodles) and ayu (sweetfish) ramen in the area.
13:45 - “Mini Gifu umbrella” painting activity at the Nagaragawa Department Taiken Studio
14:15 - Activity concludes
* This itinerary is an example
- Important Information
- ・ Please note that lunch is not included in this course. Restaurants and convenience stores are within walking distance. Please return to venue within an hour.
- Contact Information
-
Discover GIFU
Phone number: +81-(0)58-265-4831 (weekdays 9:30-17:30)
Email address: customer@gifu-tj.jp
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