One Hundred Day Echigo Jōfu Technical Training Course for Weaving

In acknowledgment of its long history and significance as a living art form, Echigo jōfu and Ojiya chijimi were jointly named an Intangible Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government in 1955. Then, in 2009, Echigo jōfu and Ojiya chijimi were inscribed in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Despite the recognition and support that comes with such recognition, these textile industries, like many other Japanese craft traditions today, are at risk amidst a diminishing market, an aging workforce, and a unique system of specialized division of labor—in which a loss of one link can affect the chain of an entire industry.
One way in which the government of Japan has tried to preserve this industry is through training courses to teaching weaving, thread making, and sometimes other aspects of the production process to members of the next generation. Most of the weavers of Echigo jōfu today undergo the One Hundred Day Echigo Jōfu Technical Training Course held each year. It takes five years of training to graduate from the course.