Japan decided Monday to nominate shodo Japanese calligraphy for inscription to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in the fall of 2026, while also approving applications to add six items to its existing listings in 2025.
The government will submit all nomination documents to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization by the end of March, officials said.
Shodo calligraphy, which was designated by Japan as an intangible cultural property in 2021, involves handwriting characters in a decorative style using tools such as ink brushes.
Japan's calligraphy culture has developed its own unique expression since the introduction of Chinese characters, further evolving with the emergence of kana characters. It was selected for its role in broadly disseminating the diversity and depth of Japanese culture to the world.
The UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee only screens nominees from Japan every two years, and traditional sake brewing has been nominated for 2024. The organization's evaluation panel is expected to decide whether to recommend calligraphy for listing around October 2026. The results are to be announced the following month.
The Japanese government will also apply to add four more examples to its "Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festival" listing of 33 events inscribed in 2016, as well as an example to each of its traditional Japanese hand-made paper and ancient wooden architectural craftsmanship listings.
The additional applications, which will be separate from UNESCO's quota for each country, are considered experimental and will be subject to screening in 2025.
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