Bunkyo Gakuin University Kawagoe Laboratory's Traditional Craft Revitalization Project Featured in High School "Public" Textbook with 100,000 Copies Published Nationwide
Bunkyo Gakuin University's Kawagoe Laboratory's project to revitalize traditional crafts has been featured as educational material in Jikkyo Shuppan's high school "Public" textbook, "2026 Zoom Up Public Materials Revised Edition," which has a circulation of 100,000 copies. The project addresses the shortage of artisans for "Edo Komon," a nationally important intangible cultural property, by having students extract design theories from historical patterns and develop intuitive tools for artisans. The integration of advanced technology and tradition in prototype development was highly praised.
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- 📰 Published: April 16, 2026 at 00:00
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Bunkyo Gakuin University (President: Tsutomu Fukui) announces that the traditional craft revitalization project led by Professor Hitoshi Kawagoe of the Faculty of Business Administration has been featured in "2026 Zoom Up Public Materials Revised Edition," a textbook for high school "Public" published by Jikkyo Shuppan Co., Ltd., and utilized as educational material.
Background of Publication
In this textbook, on a page themed "Career and Social Participation," the Kawagoe Laboratory's initiative is introduced as an example of "social participation of the younger generation through the inheritance of tradition."
To address the challenge of a shortage of artisans for "Edo Komon," a nationally important intangible cultural property, students attempted to extract design theories from past patterns that had not been verbalized or manualized before. In this process, the students aimed to develop a tool that would allow artisans to intuitively embody design ideas. Even when constructing an algorithm to automate difficult pattern arrangements, the programming was done with the desire for "artisans to master it as a tool."
This process, which fused advanced technology with tradition and challenged prototype creation for actual product commercialization, was highly evaluated. Moving forward, the laboratory plans to further deepen research into "support technologies for artisans" utilizing generative AI-related technologies.
Overview of the Featured Textbook
■ Title: High School "Public" Textbook "2026 Zoom Up Public Materials Revised Edition"
■ Publisher: Jikkyo Shuppan Co., Ltd.
■ Circulation: 100,000 copies
■ ISBN: 978-4-407-36792-8
Bunkyo Gakuin University Kawagoe Laboratory's Initiatives and Comment from the Instructor in Charge
The Kawagoe Laboratory focuses on design, history, and global perspectives, engaging in product development utilizing history and branding for long-established companies. We collaborate with manufacturing companies and local governments to solve social issues.
We are engaged in daily research to support companies and industries that have diligently inherited history, and to transform heritage into modern relevance.
[Comment from the Instructor in Charge]
I feel that this publication in the textbook is the result of students confronting the social issue of traditional crafts, which may seem distant at first glance, as stakeholders, using their expertise in digital tools as a weapon.
At a time when the inheritance of tradition is a major challenge, new approaches such as AI and apps serve as powerful bridges for the younger generation to embrace culture as their own and participate. We will continue to incorporate the latest technologies such as generative AI, not only to preserve tradition but also to research forms of "social participation" that create new value.
Background of Publication
In this textbook, on a page themed "Career and Social Participation," the Kawagoe Laboratory's initiative is introduced as an example of "social participation of the younger generation through the inheritance of tradition."
To address the challenge of a shortage of artisans for "Edo Komon," a nationally important intangible cultural property, students attempted to extract design theories from past patterns that had not been verbalized or manualized before. In this process, the students aimed to develop a tool that would allow artisans to intuitively embody design ideas. Even when constructing an algorithm to automate difficult pattern arrangements, the programming was done with the desire for "artisans to master it as a tool."
This process, which fused advanced technology with tradition and challenged prototype creation for actual product commercialization, was highly evaluated. Moving forward, the laboratory plans to further deepen research into "support technologies for artisans" utilizing generative AI-related technologies.
Overview of the Featured Textbook
■ Title: High School "Public" Textbook "2026 Zoom Up Public Materials Revised Edition"
■ Publisher: Jikkyo Shuppan Co., Ltd.
■ Circulation: 100,000 copies
■ ISBN: 978-4-407-36792-8
Bunkyo Gakuin University Kawagoe Laboratory's Initiatives and Comment from the Instructor in Charge
The Kawagoe Laboratory focuses on design, history, and global perspectives, engaging in product development utilizing history and branding for long-established companies. We collaborate with manufacturing companies and local governments to solve social issues.
We are engaged in daily research to support companies and industries that have diligently inherited history, and to transform heritage into modern relevance.
[Comment from the Instructor in Charge]
I feel that this publication in the textbook is the result of students confronting the social issue of traditional crafts, which may seem distant at first glance, as stakeholders, using their expertise in digital tools as a weapon.
At a time when the inheritance of tradition is a major challenge, new approaches such as AI and apps serve as powerful bridges for the younger generation to embrace culture as their own and participate. We will continue to incorporate the latest technologies such as generative AI, not only to preserve tradition but also to research forms of "social participation" that create new value.