"Being a carpenter isn't a job. It's a way of life." Those words belong to Shohei Hishida, a carpenter artist with a combined Instagram following over 500,000 and a place on Forbes Japan's "Culturepreneur 30" list. His homes fuse Japanese craft technique with the feel of Belgian farmhouses, and they are drawing attention well outside Japan.

Who Is Shohei Hishida? The Carpenter Who Became an Artist

Based in Sakaki, a small town in Nagano Prefecture, Shohei Hishida entered the world of carpentry at age 18, immersing himself in Japan's traditional timber-frame building techniques. A turning point came when he traveled to Belgium, where he encountered the beauty of 15th- and 16th-century Belgian farmhouses.

In Belgium, Hishida noticed something that stuck with him: locals referred to their carpenters as artists, not because they painted or sculpted but because they think and create. He adopted the term and began calling himself a "carpenter artist" (daiku ātisuto).

Today, his company Hishida Koumuten employs around 45 people. What stands out is the age of the team: 14 carpenters in their twenties, plus four or five designers in the same bracket. In an industry defined by ageing artisans, that is an anomaly. Recruitment happens largely through Instagram, starting with an internship and hiring those whose values fit. When Hishida posted an internship call in 2024, 120 applications arrived within three days, and he took on students from Germany and Brazil among others.

Where Japan Meets Belgium: The Secret Behind "Hishida Houses"

Hishida's signature homes use timber-frame construction with thick log beams, finished entirely by hand in natural local materials: wood, stone, and earth. The floors sit nearly level with the ground outside, so inside and outside run into each other.

The style has earned recognition well beyond Japan's architectural community. His combined Instagram following passes 500,000, and requests to learn his techniques arrive from abroad. Forbes Japan named him to its "Culturepreneur 30," a list recognising innovators at the intersection of culture and business.

On July 1, 2025, the "Hishida house" went national. Working with Make House Co., Hishida launched HUIZEN (Dutch for "houses"), a residential brand built around five model lines, TYPE LINDJE, TYPE EEN, TYPE AARDE among them. Distribution runs through Make House's network of more than 300 builders nationwide. Hishida personally supervises the planning and provides online training and on-site construction guidance.

Handwork does not scale on its own. So the design philosophy travels with it. That is HUIZEN's answer.

"Shokunin Is Not a Job Title, It's a Way of Being"

In a recent dialogue published by Shueisha Online, Hishida spoke with Ryuun Tsukahara, a Gen-Z entrepreneur championing what he calls kōgei kenchiku (craft architecture). Their conversation centered on a concept with no direct English equivalent: shokunin.

In Japanese, shokunin covers sushi masters, temple carpenters, and master potters alike, but never someone working a conveyor-belt sushi counter. The distinction, as Hishida explains, is not the specific skill but the total commitment. A true shokunin does not separate work from life. The way they speak, how they pour tea, how they touch wood: all of it runs into the craft.

Tsukahara argues that translating shokunin as "craftsman" or "artisan" strips the word of its weight. He proposes that the Japanese word itself enter the global vocabulary, much like tsunami, umami, or kaizen before it.

Keinen-Bika: Growing More Beautiful With Age

The most intriguing concept in this movement is keinen-bika (経年美化), literally beauty through ageing. It is the opposite of keinen-rekka, deterioration through ageing. Where consumer culture treats old things as obsolete, keinen-bika sees objects and buildings gaining character over time. Hishida uses the term furubiru, to grow old beautifully.

Tsukahara explored this philosophy in depth in his book Why Japanese Handcraft Can Change the World: The Philosophy of Keinen-Bika (Shueisha Shinsho). His company KASASAGI, founded in 2020, applies traditional craft techniques to contemporary architecture and interior spaces. In 2025, KASASAGI established a licensed architecture studio that designs buildings starting from the materials and artisanal techniques rather than imposing a design onto them.

This is where economics enters. In parts of Europe, older properties often command higher prices per square foot, particularly when well-built and well-maintained. In Japan the opposite holds: property values almost always decline with age. Hishida and Tsukahara believe that if homes built with genuine craftsmanship can demonstrably appreciate over decades, the economic model of residential construction shifts with them.

The Tough Reality Facing Japan's Artisans

Behind the international attention lies a stark reality. According to the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries, Japan's traditional craft industries generated roughly ¥105 billion (about $700 million) in fiscal 2022 across some 48,000 workers. That is about $14,000 of output per worker per year. Production has fallen roughly 80% from its 1983 peak of ¥541 billion, dropping below ¥100 billion in fiscal 2016 and drifting down since. The workforce has shrunk to a sixth of the roughly 288,000 recorded in 1979.

The age profile is heavy too: 63.6% of workers are 50 or older, and 18.0% are in their seventies or beyond.

Hishida admits that modern shokunin end up spending time on marketing, branding, and social media, work that pulls them away from the craft. The root cause is simple: the economics do not support full-time devotion to handwork.

That is why Hishida values people like Tsukahara, entrepreneurs building the structure that lets a shokunin stay a shokunin while the money still arrives.

Where to Experience Japanese Craftsmanship

For readers inspired to see Japanese craftsmanship firsthand, here are some recommended destinations:

Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum (Kobe): the world's only museum dedicated to carpentry tools. Visitors can touch wooden joinery models and see the precision behind Japanese building techniques.

Hida Takumi Culture Hall (Takayama, Gifu): over 1,300 years of Hida carpentry tradition, including nail-free joinery you can examine up close.

Echizen Craft Workshops (Fukui): seven traditional crafts, handmade washi paper and forged knives among them, packed within a 6-mile radius. The annual RENEW festival opens usually private workshops to the public.

Katsura Imperial Villa (Kyoto): widely considered the pinnacle of Japanese architectural aesthetics, simplicity carried out with extraordinary precision. Visits require advance reservation.

What About in Your Country?

Hishida's work shows that Japan's shokunin tradition is not nostalgia. It is a live argument against mass production, disposable culture, and the costs of building cheap and replacing often.

Things made with care grow more beautiful over time. That is the claim. The question is whether the economy can be made to agree. Until the figure of $14,000 of output per worker per year moves, keinen-bika stays a philosophy rather than a business.

How are traditional crafts valued in your country? Is there an equivalent to keinen-bika, the idea that handmade objects grow more beautiful with age? We'd love to hear your perspective.

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