Traditional craft
Kaba Zaiku
樺細工
Tea canisters and boxes covered in glossy, polished mountain cherry bark, a craft found only in Kakunodate, Akita.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 26 February 1976
- Type
- Wood and bamboo
- Region
- Tohoku
- Official name in Japanese
- 樺細工
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 仙北市
Polished cherry bark
Kaba Zaiku uses the bark of mountain cherry trees, a craft seen nowhere else in Japan. There are about twelve kinds of bark, such as ame-kawa, chirashi-kawa and hibi-kawa, each used for different pieces, so no two finished items are the same. The classic product is the tea canister. It is made in Kakunodate, now part of Semboku, in Akita.
Bark on wood
The bark is shaved thin and glued onto a wooden core, or many layers of bark alone are glued together, carved and polished. The best bark often comes from trees that grew in hard conditions, shaded by other plants and short of nutrients, rather than from well-tended plantations.
A samurai side job
The technique is said to have come to Kakunodate in the late 18th century, when a retainer of the Satake family learned it from a mountain ascetic in the Ani area of northern Akita. Under the protection of the Satake-Kita lords it spread as side work for lower-ranking samurai. In the Meiji period, samurai who had lost their stipends took it up in earnest, creating the forms seen today.
Good to know
- Kakunodate, once ruled by the Satake-Kita family, is the one place this craft is carried on.
- A cherry bark tea canister is airtight and a classic gift for tea lovers.
Questions travellers ask
What is kaba zaiku made from?
Mainly the bark of yamazakura, the Japanese mountain cherry, over cores of wood such as magnolia or cedar.
Is it made anywhere else?
No. The official record says it is found nowhere else in Japan.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.