In December 2020, UNESCO added an ancient art form to its list of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage—“the traditional skills, techniques and knowledge for the conservation and transmission of wooden architecture in Japan.” The move was a response to a crisis facing the hallowed culture of Japanese woodworking. A quarter century had passed since the country mourned the death of its greatest miyadaiku, or master carpenter of temples and shrines, Tsunekazu Nishioka (1908–1995). For posterity, Nishioka wrote down many of the maxims of his work and now they greet visitors to this exhibition at Japan House in London. Hand tools, joinery techniques, and building plans are on view, and splendidly, the show culminates with a life-size reconstruction of the 18th-century Sa-an Teahouse that resides inside the Daitokuji monastery in Kyoto. It’s a masterpiece of rustic wabi-sabi architecture. —Harry Seymour