Junpei Kawaguchi

Junpei Kawaguchi never set out to inherit a centuries-old tradition. A native of Tottori, he began in leatherwork; while making a bag, a search for a woven detail led him to Makoto Nagasaki, whose family had guarded their rattan techniques for eight generations. Under isshisoden—where methods are passed in secret to a single successor—Kawaguchi was entrusted with hanamusubiami, a flower-knot weave dating back to the Edo period. Today, he continues the legacy through hand-braided woven flower baskets that carry this rare inheritance into the present.