Asahikawa, Hokkaido has been a furniture-producing center for Japan for decades. The furniture industry produces a lot of wooden offcuts. How can you turn those offcuts into more revenue?

Since 1955, the Tomiya company has been producing these Kuma Bokko*, tiny carved bears made from otherwise useless scraps of wood. The grain is cleverly exploited to produce a contour-line-like effect, further accentuating the skilled hand-carving and burning.

Image: Shokunin

(*In Japanese, "kuma" means "bear." "Bokko," in the Hokkaido dialect, means "stick," "scrap," or "piece of a broken pole"—in other words, an offcut.)

"Due to the extreme delicacy of the work, it is very rare for the face and body to be perfectly finished, and it often happens that a bokko has various 'wounds,' sometimes light, sometimes severe," writes arts & crafts store Shokunin.

Image: Shokunin

"Kumo Bokko has a very particular grain, visible all over its body. The rings vary depending on the type of wood used and the part of the tree it was cut from, so no two are the same. There are also differences in the angles of the face and body, as well as variations in overall color."

Image: Shokunin

"In addition, craftsmen who paint eyes, noses, etc. are meant to finish the expression of each finished piece by examining the individual shapes and colors of the rings, so that even if the same parts are painted, Kuma Bokko after finishing will present slightly different expressions depending on their subtle positioning."

Image: Shokunin

"Each piece is a little different from the other and it's hard to choose your favorite, and I spent a lot of time choosing the one that spoke to me the most."

The "wounds" mentioned above are categorized with hilarious fidelity on the individual product descriptions on Tomiya's website, as with this guy:

"Due to various circumstances leading up to the completion, the growth rings on the soles of his right foot had to be removed. So we ended up with a partially barefoot Kuma Bokko."

Defect aside, he still managed to attract a mate and raise a child. The offspring did not inherit the foot defect.