Akita Sugi Oke Taru

Hooped Akita cedar

Akita Sugi Oke Taru are coopered wares: staves of Akita cedar held together with hoops. Natural Akita cedar has even growth rings, fine grain and a lovely scent, and it shrinks and swells little, so pieces keep their shape. Products include rice tubs, sushi tubs, sake barrels, bath buckets, vases and beer mugs. They are made in Odate, Noshiro, Akita, Yokote and other towns in Akita.

Six stages

• Short staves called kure are cut from the log.
• Their outer and inner faces are shaped with draw knives.
• The staves are stood in a ring and hooped with bamboo, copper or brass.
• A base and lid are fitted, the wood is polished, and it is finished with a coating or persimmon tannin.

Five centuries of buckets

Thin boards, bases and handles of buckets thought to be from the 15th or 16th century have been dug up at the site of Akita Castle. An early Edo-period diary of an Akita domain elder notes buckets in use at a sake brewery in present-day Ogachi. In Kakunodate, the Aoyagi family still keeps buckets and rice tubs from the early 19th century, with copper and bamboo hoops and the same shapes as today.