Special Materials

Hakoya Tsunekichi products are made of Yoshino cedar wood and neighboring domestic cedar wood.

Yoshino Sugi (Cedar in Yoshino)

The Yoshino Cedar is a type of planted cedar that belongs to one of the three greatest man made forests in Japan. Its history traces as far as 500 years back, from the Muromachi period. Ever since this age, it has been cultivated in a unique method called the Yoshino method. Seeds are taken from large cedar trees that suit the local soil well, and is grown to a seedling, and is finally planted in the mountains. What makes this Yoshino method most unique to itself is the plantation method, where 10,000 seedlings are planted per hectare, with only a 1 meter interval between each tree. This is double the amount of seedlings planted compared to the average. This creates a high density environment for the trees, forcing them to grow taller and taller to compete with each other. 

Hyakunen Sugi (100-year-old cedar)

The Yoshino Cedar, having a history in plantation is known to have many old trees aged over 200 years. In Yoshino, there are those with professions called yamamori, which translates to ‘Mountain guard’. Mr. Shota Nakai is a 7th generation yamamori; as he works with each and every tree, he never forgets to show appreciation for the mountains, trees, the ancestors and their technologies.

The seventh generation Yamamori (Mountain Guardian) / Mr. Nakai Shota
The seventh generation Yamamori (Mountain Guardian) / Mr. Nakai Shota

Hakoya Tsunekichi carefully creates and processes products from these preciously grown materials without wasting any of it. We believe that passing such heritage and technology of the ancestors to the next generation leads to protecting Japan, the nation of trees.