300 year old woodblock, Kyoto karakami

The Karakamiya master managed to preserve karakami woodblocks despite fires that broke out during the Hamaguri Gomon incident of 1864 by filling a washtub with water and putting the blocks in a sealed up earthen storehouse. Karacho is the only paper maker left in Japan to have survived since the Edo Period. The shop retains 650 precious examples of woodblock prints preserved for over 300 years.