#4 Craftsmanship Rooted in Japan’s Regional Resources and Techniques: DENTO
Updated: Aug 25
The Chugoku region is located in the western part of Japan’s Honshu island and consists of five prefectures including Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, and Yamaguchi. The region also is covered by the Sanyo area, which faces the Seto Inland Sea, and the San’in area along the Sea of Japan. Rich in natural beauty, mythology, history, and culture, the Chugoku region continues to preserve landscapes and ways of life that are distinctly Japanese.
International interest in the region has been growing in recent years. Hiroshima, Okayama, and Yamaguchi Prefectures, among others, have seen record numbers of overnight stays by international visitors. Against this backdrop, a growing number of local companies are drawing on the region’s resources, history, and craftsmanship to create new value and take on the challenge of expanding into global markets.
The CO:Design team visited five companies representing each prefecture from the Chugoku region that participated in a workshop jointly organized by JETRO and Parsons School of Design. During our visits, we explored each company's production sites and spoke with business owners and craftspeople about the techniques and philosophies they have inherited, as well as their ambitions for reaching international markets.
In this series, we introduce the values embedded in each company’s craftsmanship, their connection to their local communities, and the insights and lessons gained through their efforts to expand overseas.
DENTO (Hiroshima Prefecture)
From Frames to Furniture Designed for Everyday Life
Located in eastern Hiroshima Prefecture, Fuchu City is known as one of Japan’s three major furniture-producing regions, alongside Okawa in Fukuoka Prefecture and Asahikawa in Hokkaido. The area’s tradition of wooden chest-making dates back to the Edo period, and generations of craftspeople have passed down sophisticated woodworking techniques that precisely join pieces of wood together without relying on nails.
DENTO’s craftsmanship did not begin with furniture. The company originally produced wooden frames for displaying Japanese calligraphy, tea ceremony utensils, folding screens, traditional Japanese frames, and complete interior furnishings for tea rooms.
The company is based in Joge, a historic town that once flourished as a post town along the Iwami Ginzan Highway. Iwami Ginzan, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was one of the world’s major silver-producing areas during the 16th and 17th centuries. During the Edo period, it came under the direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate, and towns along the route played important roles in the transportation and management of silver, facilitating the movement of people, goods, and information.
Through these exchanges, a strong culture of calligraphy took root in Fuchu City, including Joge, creating demand for frames, folding screens, and other objects designed to beautifully display works of calligraphy. DENTO’s frame-making tradition developed within this unique historical and cultural context.
Applying Frame-Making Techniques to Furniture
As demand for traditional frames declined, DENTO began applying the skills it had cultivated through frame-making to furniture production. In 2012, the company began producing furniture on a commercial scale.
Designed with Japanese living environments in mind, DENTO’s wooden furniture is compact and intended to blend naturally into a wide range of spaces. The company produces stools, sofas, tables, and other pieces that highlight the warmth and gentle texture of natural wood. In addition to white-label OEM production, DENTO develops furniture under its own brand, which is sold through interior design stores and select shops. Throughout these products, the craftsmanship developed through generations of frame-making remains clearly visible in its quality and signature style.
One example is a traditional technique known as tome-kako, or miter joining. Two pieces of wood are cut at 45-degree angles and joined together to create a precise 90-degree corner. Even the slightest deviation in angle prevents the creation of a clean, beautiful frame. When every corner fits perfectly, the lines of the wood flow seamlessly from one piece to the next, creating a refined and elegant finish.
DENTO has carried this precision into its furniture design. For the CO-DESIGN CHALLENGE 2024, an initiative associated with Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan, the company created a wooden stool that applied its traditional miter-joint technique. By giving a new purpose to skills passed down over generations, DENTO continues to expand the possibilities of its craftsmanship — from frames to furniture.
Sharing the Appeal of Fuchu as a Furniture-Making Region
DENTO’s efforts extend beyond its own furniture production. In Fuchu, local companies work together to promote the area as a furniture-making hub, organizing open-factory programs, designer seminars, and other initiatives for people working in interiors, design, and creative industries.
DENTO also offers hands-on factory tours that take visitors from local forests to the manufacturing process inside its factory. By seeing where the trees grow and learning how the wood is transformed into finished products, visitors gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between natural materials and craftsmanship.
These activities do more than deepen appreciation for how things are made. They also create opportunities for new people, ideas, and collaborations to come together. Rather than simply preserving the techniques it has inherited, DENTO connects local forests, industry, and people to create new possibilities for the future of craftsmanship. This, too, is part of DENTO’s vision for sustainable manufacturing.
Source:
Comments