Protected local food
Iwate Charcoal
岩手木炭
Hard black charcoal made from the oak forests of Iwate. It is about 90% carbon and burns a long time with very little smoke, smell or ash.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 6 August 2018
- Region
- Tohoku
- Official name in Japanese
- 岩手木炭
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 岩手県
Clean and long-burning
Iwate charcoal, also sold as Iwate kirizumi, is a hard black charcoal. It is about 90% carbon, well above Japan's 75% standard, so it burns a long time with very little smoke, flame or smell, and leaves little ash. It has won a national ministerial or Forestry Agency prize every year since 2006.
Oak country
Iwate has huge broadleaf forests, especially of nara oak, and has made charcoal for centuries. It became Japan's top charcoal producer in 1912, and in the late 1950s and early 1960s local makers designed their own kilns to keep the craft going.
Good to know
- Good yakitori and unagi restaurants often grill over hard charcoal like this for steady heat without smoky flavours.
- Iwate charcoal is also used in traditional irori hearths you may see in old farmhouses.
Questions travellers ask
Is this a food?
No. It is one of the non-food products in Japan's GI register.
What is kirizumi?
Charcoal cut into even lengths so it is ready to use.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.