Traditional Crafts

Kiuso Wooden BullfinchesFolk Crafts

Kiuso are small wooden statues depicting a bullfinch sitting in a tree. These birds came to be known as messengers of Tenjin, the deified form of the famous scholar Sugawara no Michizane. This is because a flock of bullfinches once eradicated a large nest of hornets that was hampering construction work at Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine in 1591. The distinctive wings on these statues are carved with numerous curls using a single chisel. They are also used as a good luck charm in the "Usokae," an annual ceremony that takes place at Tenmangu on January 7 during worshippers come to exchange their wooden bullfinches.