UNESCO adds 6 Japan items including festivals to pre-inscribed intangible heritage list

TOKYO – A UN intergovernmental committee decided on Dec 11 to add six items submitted by Japan to three categories already inscribed on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list, including traditional festivals and paper-making.

Festivals from the prefectures of Ibaraki, Niigata, Shiga and Toyama, as well as two types of craftsmanship related to handmade paper and tatami mat making, were formally endorsed by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s intergovernmental committee at a meeting in New Delhi.

All six items were recommended for inclusion in November by UNESCO’s advisory panel, which noted that they demonstrate cultural diversity and have satisfied safeguarding practices.

The Ofune Festival of Hitachi Otsu in Ibaraki, the Murakami Yatai Festival in Niigata, the Hojozu Hachimangu Shrine Hikiyama Tsukiyama Festival in Toyama and the Otsu Hikiyama Festival in Shiga have been added to the “Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan” list, bringing the total to 37.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing of Echizen “torinoko-shi” handmade paper in Fukui Prefecture has been added to the “Washi, craftsmanship of traditional Japanese handmade paper” category as the fourth item.

Crafting handwoven “nakatsugi-omote,” a type of aesthetic and durable tatami mat surface, becomes the 18th item on the “Traditional skills, techniques and knowledge for the conservation and transmission of wooden architecture in Japan”.

The Japanese government submitted the nominations of the six items to UNESCO in March 2024. As UNESCO implements an annual review limit of 60 nominations, those from Japan, which makes many submissions, generally undergo review every two years.

But since the latest six items were treated as “extensions” of existing heritage-listed categories, they were reviewed in 2025, outside the biennial review. The number of entries from Japan will also remain unchanged at 23. KYODO