Video: Japanese secret of producing 0.0001mm thin gold leaf

Kanazawa is a famous ancient city in Japan, with many traditional handicraft products, the most famous being gold leaf.

Most of the gold leaf consumption in Japan was produced in Kanazawa. The gold leaf craft in Kanazawa has a history of more than 400 years ago.

Leaf gold is often used for plating statues of souvenirs, decorations .

The process of making gold leaves manually undergoes many meticulous steps. The gold is thinly dispersed with a hammer, until it reaches a thickness of only 0.0001mm. Leaf gold produced in Kanazawa is so thin that it can be seen through.

Secrets of making these ultra-thin gold leaf plates are the traditional ganpishi sheets.

Paper soaked in a mixture of: straw, eggs and pink juice. They are used to grip gold during thin canopy. This helps the gold leaf to be thinly spread, shiny and uneven.

Currently only about 40 artisans make handmade gold leaves in Kanazawa. Leaf gold is often used for plating statues of souvenirs, decorations .