The history of Inami Wood Carving is closely connected with Zuisenji Temple in Inami, Nanto City. The temple was founded in 1390 and was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the centuries. After a major fire in 1762 destroyed the main hall and other buildings, a large-scale reconstruction project was undertaken.

For this reconstruction, Maekawa Sanshiro, an official sculptor associated with Honganji in Kyoto, was sent to Inami to produce architectural carvings for the temple. Local carpenters, including the ninth-generation Banshoya Shichizaemon, worked alongside him and learned advanced carving techniques. This exchange is regarded as the beginning of the wood-carving tradition that developed into present-day Inami Wood Carving.

When Zuisenji’s imperial messenger gate was rebuilt in 1792, Banshoya Shichizaemon created important carvings including Shishi no Ko-otoshi, depicting a lion and its cub. Works from this period helped establish the highly developed architectural carving tradition of Inami.

During the Edo period, carpenters often worked as both builders and sculptors, producing carvings primarily for temples and shrines. From the Meiji period onward, increasing numbers of craftspeople specialized in wood carving. Techniques originally developed for religious architecture were adapted to residential transom panels, while production also expanded to include lion heads, decorative figures, screens, and other objects.

From the Taisho through the Showa periods, Inami sculptors exhibited their work at major exhibitions and trained new generations of apprentices, strengthening the craft community. Although production faced severe difficulties during World War II, cooperative organizations and vocational training programs established after the war helped preserve and transmit the traditional skills.

On May 10, 1975, Inami Wood Carving was designated as a Traditional Craft by the Japanese government. Today, artisans continue to work on carvings for temples and shrines throughout Japan while also producing transoms, decorative objects, furniture, and contemporary interior pieces. In 2018, the cultural landscape and wood-carving tradition of Inami were recognized as part of a Japan Heritage story centered on a town shaped by the skills of temple carpenters and woodcarvers.

1. 1. Drawing the design Domestically lumbered camphor, paulownia, or zelkova timber is selected according to the final product. If the timber still has a high water content, it is left to dry naturally for six months to a year before cutting to size. The work design is drawn with charcoal on washi (traditional Japanese paper), and then transferred onto the wood. If the design were directly drawn on the wood, the lines would disappear during carving; hence the design is made as a transfer.
2. 2. Opening Based on the transferred design, a fretsaw (saw with a narrow blade stretched vertically on a frame) is used to roughly cut out the unnecessary parts.
3. 3. Rough shaping Around fifteen different rough shaving chisels, a hammer, and knives are used to shape and create the outline of the work. When the outline is completed, the piece is again naturally dried for about one month.
4. 4. Rough carving As many as seventy different types of chisels are used to deeply carve the entire design and give more surface shape to the piece. The artisan may use about two hundred fine rough carving chisels to bring the image they have in their mind out of the wood. Inami woodcarving is three-dimensional openwork carved from both sides; therefore, rough and fine carving is repeated on the reverse side as well. The work piece is turned over and the undersurface is reflected in a mirror. Through the fret-sawn openings, the upper surface is carved while being checked that there is no misalignment between the two sides.
5. 5. Finish Carving As chisel marks and uneven areas remain on the surface after rough carving, traditional finishing techniques involve smoothing the surface and refining the details with small hand planes called mame-kanna and finishing chisels. Coloring or other finishes may then be applied as needed.
6. 6. Final Corrections Finally, the entire piece is carefully inspected, and any remaining uncarved areas or imperfections in its form are corrected in a process known as damenaoshi. This completes the work.