One of the places that Kojima wanted to visit during our time in Tottori was this quaint little craft shop called Oguraya. The shop is famed for its beautiful handcrafted wooden figurines from the Chinese Horoscope ( called Jyunishi in Japanese ). There are 12 characters, one for each month of the year.

The artwork of the figurines were featured on a 1964 Japanese stamp set, and have also been presented as gifts to the royal family when they visited Tottori in 1978.

(above) The display showcasing numerous different variants of the figurines. ( below ) Partial view of the workshop located behind the storefront.

(above) When the old world meets the new.

(above & below) Sadly the master craftsman ( 8th generation – the craft is about 200 years old ) who made these figurines had passed away, so the store is now run by his wife, who despite looking at least 80 is still in amazing spirits. She personally inscribes the kanji character for the horoscope using a calligraphy brush on the boxes for the figurines.

(above) A picture of the shop, located near Iwai hot springs. Here’s some further information from the Tottori prefecture website.