Lacquered wooden tea box / "Shusai" (M)

Red and black lacquered cherry bark tea box, manufactured by Fujiki Denshiro Shoten in collaboration with the Settsu Lacquer Workshop. Kabazaiku products are made from the bark of mountain cherry trees. The word "kabazaiku" is said to have its origins in a long poem in the Japanese poetry collection Manyoshu, in which mountain cherry trees were described as "kaniha", a word which was later transformed into "kaba". Since its founding in 1851, in the city of Kakunodate (Akita Prefecture), the house continues to create high quality kabazaiku.