About Us

Since our founding in 1958, we have honed our woodworking skills in our workshop nestled on the mountainside of majestic Mt. Taimasan. After the devastating flood of 1983, it was rebuilt by the previous generation — that’s today’s “old workshop.” Despite suggestions that relocating our operations from the mountainside down to town would be more efficient, the current generation has deliberately chosen to stay put, retaining a deep connection to woodworking in this place and cherishing the legacy of the old workshop and the stunning terraced fields alongside it.

Joinery and kumiko remain at our core, but the forms of woodworking we are asked to create continue to diversify. Yoshihara Woodworks holds dear the practice of responding to each unique order, feeling the seasons and nature, inheriting the traditions and aspirations of past artisans, and crafting wooden products that will be cherished for years to come.

Management Philosophy

Translations:

Gratitude: Express thanks to all involved, aspiring to create products that enrich one anothers’ hearts.

Discipline: Wholeheartedly inherit the Japanese artisan spirit of “heart, skill, and body”.

Challenge: Constantly innovate with ingenuity, weaving moments of wonder into our daily work.

Message from CEO

Said to have originated as far back as the Kamakura period (12th-14th century), kumiko is created without nails or metal fittings, using only wood to form delicate patterns.

This profoundly manual Japanese craft has endured for some 800 years, not merely through preservation, but rather thanks its graceful evolution alongside the changing times and people.

Thus, “tradition” is not a static form frozen in the past; it is honed through time, people, and daily life. We believe these layers of everyday experience eventually become what we call “tradition.”

The kumiko we create is shaped by people and their lives. It is something we make “for people.”

Yoshihara Woodworks holds proven craftsmanship and unwavering conviction. Thus, we can flow with the times. Tradition’s strength lies in its ability to change.

We aspire to remain artisans unbound by tradition, yet empowered by it.

Keiji Yoshihara

Company Overview

Company name	Yoshihara Woodworks, Ltd.
Representative	Keiji Yoshihara
Founded	November 1958
Established	July 1st, 1996
Capital	¥5,000,000
Address	912-1 Murodani, Misumi-cho, Hamada City, Shimane Prefecture 〒699-3303 Tel: 0855-34-0227　Fax: 0855-34-0233
Business	Manufacture and sale of wooden joinery (sliding doors, shoji screens, doors) / built-in wooden furniture
Banks	San’in Godo Bank (Misumi Branch) / Nihonkai Shinkin Bank (Misumi Branch)
Hours	9:00–17:00 (closed weekends and public holidays)

Awards

2025
- Shimane Working Women Kirameki Grand Prize / Chika Shimizu
2021
- Selected for the ‘Habataku 300 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Small Businesses’ programme
2019
- Shimane Women’s Active Contribution Company Award
- Shimane Working Women Kirameki Grand Prize / Kaori Yoshihara
- 27th Chugoku Region New Business Grand Prize / Excellence Award
2013
- 47th National Joinery Fair, Tottori / SME Agency Director-General Award for the work “Kumikoiri Mairado (Kumiko Latticed Shutters)”
- Maison et Objet in Paris / Exhibited
- Good Design Award for the work “Living Shoji”
2012
- Shimane Outstanding Specialist Certification / Keiji Yoshihara
- Maison et Objet in Paris / Exhibited
2011
- 45th National Joinery Fair, Gifu / Gifu Prefectural Assembly Speaker’s Award for the work “Living Katabirakido (Living Room Single Sliding Door)”
- 3rd Kyoto Flower Lamp Road Creative Lantern Design Competition / Special Prize for the work “Shizuku (Droplet)”
2009
- 43rd National Joinery Fair, Shizuoka / Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award for the work “Uzukuri Tsuitate (Floating Screen)”
2006
- Shimane Prefecture Traditional Craft Designation / “Kumiko Latticework”