Yuki tsumugi begins with the cocoon. The silk is drawn by hand from the cocoons, spun by hand into thread, and woven on a loom that has not changed significantly in a thousand years. One bolt of fabric — enough for a single kimono — takes months to produce. The resulting textile has a texture that no machine-made silk possesses: slightly irregular, warm to the touch, capable of being worn for decades. The workshops in Yuki City offer the experience of sitting at one of these looms and making a small piece of cloth. The technique is simple to learn and immediately demanding: the shuttle passes through the warp threads, the foot pedal shifts the shed, the beater compresses each new row of weft against the last. Your hands and feet must coordinate. The fabric accumulates slowly. This slowness is not a problem; it is the product. Yuki is a small city in Ibaraki prefecture, not on most travel itineraries. UNESCO's inscription of Yuki tsumugi as Intangible Cultural Heritage has not changed this significantly. The workshops continue because the weavers continue, and the weavers continue because they have chosen to, which means each workshop is also a small act of cultural decision-making. Sitting at the loom, you are participating in something that requires people to choose it.