MINGEI - Ujo yoji from koromoji wood chiba

http://darumasan.blogspot.jp/2007/01/tsumayooji-toothpicks.html

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- Carved from the wood of
kuromoji 黒文字 クロモジ　spice bush,
Lindera umbellata
A kind of camphor tree with delicate smell.

In the town of 久留里 Kururi in Chiba, there was a castle called
ujo 雨城　"rain castle".
The Samurai of this domain went out of work during the Meiji period and many begun carving toothpicks with decorations and in various forms for special situations, called
雨城楊枝 "toothpicks from the Rain Castle".



They planted the
kuromoji tree in their gardens to have the material ready.
The toothpicks were used to eat Wagashi 和菓子 sweets or fruit, for the tea ceremony and many other purposes.
To our day, only one family is making these toothpicks.


CLICK for more samples !

- Their homepage
- reference source : geocities.jp/ujyouyoujimorihonke -



on facebook :
- reference source : facebook.com/ujyouyouji -


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