Metalworking involves techniques such as casting, hammering and carving on materials such as gold, silver, copper, iron and brass. Working with metal began in Kyoto and has been practiced as a craft for 1200 years since the Heian period.

With the growth of Buddhism, more temples came to be built, each one with Buddhist images. This contributed to the advancement of metalwork techniques.

When Kyoto became the capital city in the Heian period, metalwork craftsmen moved to Kyoto from Nara. They produced metal arms, money, and large-scale castings.

From that time, the sophisticated aesthetics and culture of Kyoto nourished the craft, which increasingly came to focus on beauty and elaborate design. Metalwork ranges from necessities, like pans, to ritual articles, like chimes, as well as hand-made accessories. Nowadays a variety of crafts are designed and manufactured.