Traditional Craft Kiri
Kimono and Chests made from empress tree wood
Chest and pottery handle made from empress tree wood
Handle artist
World-famous potter
Hideaki Suzuki-sensei
Empress tree wood is ideal for storing valuable silk because it keeps out moisture. Chests made from empress tree wood are used to store kimonos.The kimono is the native dress of Japan.
Recently this is rare, but
girls used to bring chests of drawers fashioned from the wood of an empress tree as a dowry when they got married.
Traditionally, when a girl was born, her family would plant an empress tree,
and when she was grown up and ready to be married, a chest would be fashioned from the wood of that tree.
How to make a chest of drawers from the wood of an empress tree
Empress tree
Cut-down empress tree
Wood must be dried
outside for many years.
The more exposure to the
elements, the better!
Wood carried from outside sits in the factory for about one week.
Empress tree wood is very sensitive to environmental changes, so it can’t be worked right away.
Carefully working with wood that has adapted to the factory environment
Incinerator Whittling the wood yields lots of shavings.Burning sawdust
Building furniture without the use of nails
