{"product_id":"water-wood-and-wild-things-learning-craft-and-cultivation-in-a-japanese-mountain-town","title":"Water  Wood  and Wild Things: Learning Craft and Cultivation in a Japanese Mountain Town","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"With this book  you feel you can stop time and savor the rituals of life.\" --Maira Kalman  An immersive journey through the culture and cuisine of one Japanese town  its forest  and its watershed--where ducks are hunted by net  sak is brewed from the purest mountain water  and charcoal is fired in stone kilns--by an American writer and food stylist who spent years working alongside artisans  One night  Brooklyn-based artist and food writer Hannah Kirshner received a life-changing invitation to apprentice with a \"sak evangelist\" in a misty Japanese mountain village called Yamanaka. In a rapidly modernizing Japan  the region--a stronghold of the countrys old-fashioned ways--was quickly becoming a destination for chefs and artisans looking to learn about the traditions that have long shaped Japanese culture. Kirshner put on a vest and tie and took her place behind the sak bar. Before long  she met a community of craftspeople  farmers  and foragers--master woodturners  hunters  a paper artist  and a man making charcoal in his nearly abandoned village on the outskirts of town. Kirshner found each craftsperson not only exhibited an extraordinary dedication to their work but their distinct expertise contributed to the fabric of the local culture. Inspired by these masters  she devoted herself to learning how they work and live.  Taking readers deep into evergreen forests  terraced rice fields  and smoke-filled workshops  Kirshner captures the centuries-old traditions still alive in Yamanaka. Water  Wood  and Wild Things invites readers to see what goes into making a fine bowl  a cup of tea  or a harvest of rice and introduces the masters who dedicate their lives to this work. Part travelogue  part meditation on the meaning of work  and full of her own beautiful drawings and recipes  Kirshners refreshing book is an ode to a place and its people  as well as a profound examination of what it means to sustain traditions and find purpose in cultivation and craft.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44946475515957,"sku":"ByrdShop_1984877526","price":41.62,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781984877529.jpg?v=1769951515","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/water-wood-and-wild-things-learning-craft-and-cultivation-in-a-japanese-mountain-town","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}