Kamo Kiri Tansu

Wood like silk

Paulownia is white and glossy, a refined beauty often compared to silk. On a Kamo chest the straight grain looks like dark brown lines brushed across a pale ground. The drawers fit with no gaps yet slide easily, and the wood protects what is inside from damp and heat for many years. Kamo in Niigata makes about 70% of Japan's paulownia chests and ships them from Hokkaido to Kyushu.

Three years before the first cut

The logs are sawn, leached of tannins and dried, a process of about three years before the wood is ready. Joining boards, planing, cutting the tenons, assembling, colouring and fitting the metalwork are all done by hand with chisels and planes.

From carpenters' chests

Kamo Kiri Tansu is said to have begun with chests made by carpenters early in the 19th century. A chest whose back board says it was bought in 1814 is still in use in the city. In the early Showa period a coating method called yasha toso was developed, completing the design of today's paulownia chests. Until around 1950, most of their metal fittings were made in neighbouring Sanjo, a hardware town.