Toyota City Folk Craft Museum is a facility that commemorates Shizuo Honda, a scholar of ancient ceramics. The inside is devoted to the appreciation of exquisite handiwork and the beauty of folk craft. The museum has started holding a number of lectures on Sanagekoyo pottery, Koromo cotton, and other industrial art with connections to the surrounding regions. Located in a wooded nature area next to Hiratobashi Park, the museum plans ...

Daianji Temple belongs to the Soto school of Zen Buddhism and was established in the year 1624. The temple has the honorific mountain name of Choshozan and is a branch temple of Ryukoin Temple. Within the temple grounds, the weeping cherry tree is especially enchanting. Around 180 years old, the weeping cherry tree is also lit up at night from early to mid-April.

The basic pattern of the Asuke Townscape (Important Preservation District of Historic Buildings) was formed during the Sengoku era, while the modern layout of the town developed in the early Edo period. The current townscape is lined with machiya townhouses built after the great fire of 1775 in the nurigome-zukuri style, which are coated in plaster to the eaves in order to prevent fires, and conveys the look of the town in those da...

Located atop Mt. Mayumi-yama and at 301m above sea level, Asuke Castle offers a breathtaking view of the small town of Asuke below. The castle is believed to have been constructed by the Suzuki clan, who wielded great power throughout the western Mikawa area’s mountainous region from the 15th century. The castle was abandoned in 1590 when Tokugawa Ieyasu, the famous shogun who united Japan, left the Mikawa area for the Kanto area wh...

This living folk culture museum opened in 1980. The former villa of a wealthy farming family has been reproduced here, with the rear house, main house, and a bamboo house featuring a thatched-roof with wooden construction. The Asuke Mansion reproduces handmade items that were a part of mountain life in the region, among them charcoal brazier cooking, traditional paper making, and weaving. Ten different handicrafts are demonstrated be...

It is said that the Asuke Hachimangu Shrine answers the prayers of people for healthier feet. This is because Asuke used to be a crossroads where people could rest their feet. The shrine provides amulets for healthier feet and written oracles called omikuji. The main chamber of the shrine is a national important cultural asset.

Culture is spread through information, information is spread through communication, communication is written on paper, paper is produced in Aichi. Kozo is the Japanese name for the mulberry trees that seem to grow particularly well in the Obara region of Aichi Prefecture’s Toyota City. These mulberry trees have been the source of the particularly strong and versatile traditionally handcrafted washi paper produced here since at lea...

Sasahira Workshop holds classes on making artistic handicrafts with lacquer or Japanese washi paper. Learn how to make accessories using the traditional technique of “maki-e” by painting on lacquer and layering on metal powder in the places you want to add color. Hypoallergenic lacquer allows participants to feel at ease with using the materials. Another hands-on experience involves making washi paper by building up layers of color a...