Message from Prime Minister SUGA Yoshihide upon the Inscription of "Traditional Skills, Techniques and Knowledge for the Conservation and Transmission of Wooden Architecture in Japan" on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

"The World and Japan" Database (Project Leader: TANAKA Akihiko)

Database of Japanese Politics and International Relations

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS); Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA), The University of Tokyo

[Title] Message from Prime Minister SUGA Yoshihide upon the Inscription of "Traditional Skills, Techniques and Knowledge for the Conservation and Transmission of Wooden Architecture in Japan" on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

[Place]

[Date] December 17, 2020

[Source] Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet

[Notes] Provisional translation

[Full text]

Japan is home to many world-class wooden structures, including Horyuji Temple and Himeji Castle. Thanks to traditional restoration skills, techniques, and knowledge passed down over centuries, we are able to see these structures even today.

I am truly delighted that these numerous skills, techniques, and knowledge for restoring structures have been inscribed as "Traditional Skills, Techniques and Knowledge for the Conservation and Transmission of Wooden Architecture in Japan" on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

We wish to pass on to the next generation the traditional skills, techniques, and knowledge that have been inherited from one person to the next in areas all around Japan and promote this wonderful heritage both domestically and internationally.

SUGA Yoshihide

Prime Minister of Japan

December 17, 2020