Japanese Culture and Traditions FAQ

Quick answers about Japanese arts, crafts, history and traditions, from tea ceremony and haiku to samurai, pottery and mythology. Each answer links to the full guide. See the main Japan FAQ or browse all articles.

What is chado, the Japanese tea ceremony?

Chado (also called sado or chanoyu), the Way of Tea, is a ceremony in which a host whisks powdered green tea in a bowl and offers it to a guest with a bow. It is a small performance of hospitality, seasonal awareness and design, practiced for more than four centuries in much the form still seen today. The ideas of wabi-sabi are central to it. Read the full guide: Chado: The Quiet Choreography Behind a Bowl of Japanese Tea

What is ikebana?

Ikebana (literally making flowers live) is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, a discipline of line, balance and season. Unlike a Western bouquet, it uses a few stems and counts the empty space as much as the flowers. Its roots lie in Buddhist offerings, the Ikenobo school is one of its main schools, and many arrangements follow a heaven, earth and human triangle. Read the full guide: Ikebana: How Japan Turned Arranging Flowers Into a Living Sculpture

What does origami mean, and why are cranes folded?

Origami comes from ori (to fold) and kami (paper). In Japan, paper cranes are hung in shrines, tucked into gifts and strung together by the thousand, called senbazuru, as a hopeful gesture for a friend's health or happiness. Paper reached Japan from China by way of the Korean Peninsula by the 7th century. Read the full guide: Origami: The Folded Paper Craft That Carries Japan's Wishes

What is shodo?

Shodo (the way of writing, also called shuji) is Japan's art of brush calligraphy. A stroke cannot be corrected or erased, so the tension of the held breath is part of its appeal. Children learn it in school, and the New Year ritual of kakizome is part of the tradition. Chinese characters and the brush reached Japan from China. Read the full guide: Shodo: Writing With a Brush, Ink and Breath in Japan

What is haiku?

Haiku is a very short poem built on a pattern of 5, 7 and 5 sounds, anchored in a season through a kigo (seasonal word) and aimed at a single flash of insight. Its best-known master is Matsuo Basho, a poet of the 17th century. Haiku grew from linked verse, in which groups of poets took turns adding verses to a chain. Read the full guide: Basho and the Haiku: Seventeen Sounds That Hold a Whole Season

What is sumo?

Sumo is Japan's national sport, a professional tradition that is also a Shinto-linked ceremony and a way of life in training stables. Six grand tournaments are held each year, and visitors can watch a bout at Ryogoku in Tokyo. Read the full guide: Sumo: The Shinto Ritual Behind Japan's Grand Wrestling Tradition

What is a Zen rock garden?

A karesansui (dry landscape garden, literally dry mountain and water) is a miniature landscape built from rocks and raked gravel, one of the most characteristic creations of Zen Buddhism. Ryoan-ji in Kyoto, with fifteen stones on raked white gravel, and the Daitoku-ji temple complex are its most famous homes. Read the full guide: Reading a Zen Garden: Fifteen Stones, Raked Gravel and Empty Space

What was the role of the samurai in Japan?

The samurai emerged during the Heian period (794 to 1185) and, over roughly seven centuries, shaped how Japan was governed, how its towns were laid out and how its arts were practiced. For most of their history they were also administrators, poets, tea drinkers and scholars. Many of the castles, gardens and festivals visitors enjoy today exist because of them. Read the full guide: Samurai: The Warrior Class That Shaped Japanese Culture and Craft

Who are geisha and maiko?

The word geisha combines the characters for art and person, so it means a person of the arts. Geisha and maiko (apprentice geisha) are trained performers who entertain guests with classical arts, built on years of study, and they are professional artists, not the figures of old stereotypes. Kyoto's hanamachi (flower towns), such as Gion, are where the tradition lives. Read the full guide: Geisha and Maiko: Kyoto's Living Arts and How to Honor Them

Why does Japanese use several writing systems?

Japanese combines kanji (characters borrowed from Chinese that carry meaning), hiragana (flowing rounded syllables) and katakana (angular syllables), and romaji (Latin letters) often appears alongside them. Each has its own job in a sentence, much as capital letters, italics and numerals do in English. Read the full guide: Why Japanese Uses Three Scripts, and How They Work Together

What are kokeshi dolls?

Kokeshi are traditional wooden dolls with a round head, a smooth cylindrical body, no arms or legs, and a face painted with a few quick brush strokes. They have been made in the mountains of Tohoku for well over a century, are a classic hot-spring souvenir, and are shaped on a lathe. There are eleven traditional regional styles. Read the full guide: Kokeshi Dolls: The Hot-Spring Souvenir Japan Turns on a Lathe

What is washi?

Washi is traditional Japanese paper, made mainly from the inner bark fibers of plants rather than from wood pulp, with each sheet formed in a vat of cold water. UNESCO recognized the craft in 2014. Echizen in Fukui and Mino in Gifu are the two best-known washi regions. Read the full guide: Washi: The Handmade Paper Japan Still Lifts From Cold Running Water

What are the main Japanese pottery regions?

The Six Old Kilns are Seto, Tokoname, Echizen, Shigaraki, Tamba and Bizen. Arita in Kyushu is known for pale, glassy porcelain, Bizen for earthy red-brown ware with no glaze at all, and Mashiko for warm, rustic brown pieces. Read the full guide: Japanese Pottery: A Traveler's Guide to Arita, Bizen, Mashiko and More

What is urushi lacquer?

Urushi is Japan's natural lacquer, made from the sap of the lacquer tree (Toxicodendron vernicifluum) and refined by layer after layer of patient handwork into a hard, waterproof finish. Its decorative art is called maki-e, and Wajima is one of the famous regional centers. Read the full guide: Urushi: How Japan's Lacquer Tree Became a Lustrous Everyday Art

What is rakugo?

Rakugo is Japan's comic storytelling art. One performer kneels on a cushion with only a folded paper fan and a small cloth and plays every character by turning the head and changing the voice, building each story to a punchline. It dates from the Edo period (1603 to 1868) and is performed in traditional yose theaters. Read the full guide: Rakugo: One Storyteller, One Fan, and a Whole Cast of Characters

What is bunraku?

Bunraku is Japan's classical puppet theater, in which a puppet about half the size of a person is moved by three puppeteers, with a chanter and a shamisen player providing the sound. It grew out of the merchant culture of Osaka, where the National Bunraku Theatre stands. UNESCO has recognized the art, and Chikamatsu Monzaemon is its famous playwright. Read the full guide: Bunraku: Japan's Three-Person Puppet Theater and Its Osaka Home

What are go and shogi?

Go and shogi are the two great strategy board games of Japan, both with professional players, televised matches and passionate followings. Go is played on a grid of 19 by 19 lines, which gives 361 intersections, and shogi is played with wooden pieces. Names such as Honinbo and Fujii are known even to people who have never played. Read the full guide: Go and Shogi: Inside Japan's Two Great Strategy Board Games

What is hanafuda?

Hanafuda (flower cards) is a deck of 48 cards in twelve suits, one plant for each month of the year. Nintendo was founded in Kyoto in 1889 to make these cards. A simple, friendly game is called koi-koi, and the cards also spread to Korea and Hawaii. Read the full guide: Hanafuda: The Twelve-Month Flower Cards Nintendo Was Founded to Make

How do Japanese era years like Reiwa work?

Japan counts years in two ways at once: the Western calendar and the nengo (era name) system, in which the count restarts when a new emperor takes the throne. The current era is Reiwa, so the year 2026 appears as Reiwa 8. The guide gives a simple formula for converting Reiwa, Heisei, Showa, Taisho and Meiji years into Western years. Read the full guide: Japanese Eras Explained: How to Read Reiwa, Heisei and Showa Years

Who is Amaterasu?

Amaterasu is the sun goddess of Japanese mythology, whose story is told in the eighth-century books the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki. In the best-loved myth, she slipped into a cave and the world fell dark, and the other gods brought her out with laughter, music and a mirror. Her great shrine is Ise Jingu in Mie Prefecture. Read the full guide: Amaterasu: The Sun Goddess of Japan and the Myths Behind Ise