Traditional craft
Kasukabe Kiri Tansu
春日部桐簞笥
Plain, straight-lined paulownia clothes chests from Saitama, a craft begun by builders of Nikko Toshogu who settled on the Nikko road.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 3 August 1979
- Type
- Wood and bamboo
- Region
- Kanto
- Official name in Japanese
- 春日部桐簞笥
- Official area (in Japanese)
- さいたま市、春日部市、越谷市、白岡市
Quiet paulownia
Kasukabe Kiri Tansu are clothes chests of solid paulownia. Shaped by down-to-earth samurai taste, they have a plain, modest look without needless decoration and a design built on straight lines. They are made in Kasukabe, Koshigaya, Shiraoka and Saitama city in Saitama as clothes chests, drawer chests and wardrobes.
Time on every board
Solid paulownia boards are dried naturally for a long time, and makers spend generous time on each board to bring out the wood's beauty, which is the life of a paulownia chest. Joints are made with traditional techniques, nails are of utsugi wood, and copper or iron fittings go on last. An old, sun-darkened chest can be planed back by a craftsman until the clean grain appears again.
Builders of Nikko
Early in the Edo period, craftsmen who had gathered to build Nikko Toshogu settled in Kasukabe, a post town on the Nikko Kaido road, and began making joinery and small items from the paulownia that grew nearby. Mid-Edo records list about ten makers, and a paulownia chest inscribed with the year 1772 still exists.
Good to know
- A paulownia chest is often passed from parents to children; ask about renewal if you inherit one.
- Kasukabe sits on the old Nikko Kaido road, which led to Nikko Toshogu.
Questions travellers ask
Can an old paulownia chest be restored?
Yes. Craftsmen remove the fittings and plane the surface thinly so the fresh grain reappears.
What are the nails made of?
Utsugi wood, or wood of similar quality.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.