Visit Japan House London this spring to browse a display of Akita cedar and beech crafts, including bentwood lunchboxes.
Akita Cedar
The natural forests of Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) in Akita Prefecture are one of three forest regions in Japan widely known for their outstanding beauty. Bentwood lunchboxes made from Akita cedar, known as magewappa, were first made around 1,300 years ago and continue to be made in much the same way today. In the late 17th century, the Satake-nishi family, lords of Odate Castle, promoted the manufacture of magewappa as employment for low-ranking samurai. It was designated a ‘Traditional Craft’ in 1980. Originally, 250-year-old Akita cedar trees were used in the bentwood process, but the felling of such trees was stopped in 2013 to help preserve the natural forests, and 100-year-old Akita cedar trees from planted forests are now used.
Beech
The Shirakami Mountains, home to one of the world’s largest virgin beech forests, straddle Aomori and Akita prefectures and the area is registered as a World Heritage Site. Beech trees have a high-water content in its trunk, and their wood is prone to distortion and rotting, making it difficult to dry using conventional woodworking techniques. To make effective use of beech wood, a technique was developed at the Aomori Prefectural Industrial Research Institute in 1956 to roll beech wood very thinly and push it through a mould.