Visiting craftsmen – Osaka Senshu Kirikosu To make the most of the goodness of paulownia

Master of Osaka Senshu Kiritosu: Misiki Tanaka

Osaka Senshu Kirikosu is characterized by a profound feeling made from thick, high-quality solid paulownia wood. According to the literature “Nambatsuru” made more than 300 years ago, it is said that it was in Osaka.

After that, after passing through sakai, it became rooted in what is now Senshu. Even now, Osaka Senshu Kirikosu is a bowl with the commitment and quality to compete for the top spot in the bowl industry.

It all started when I was in elementary school.

Helping with family business

Mr. Tanaka’s house has been making Osaka Senshu Kiritosu since his grandfather’s time. Therefore, Mr. Tanaka seems to have been made to help since he was in elementary school.

When I asked him what he was doing, I bought all the Osaka Senshu Kiriki bowls made at Mr. Tanaka’s house from raw wood, but after purchasing the log by truck, I put them to bed in the designated place for about a year or two. It is said that elementary school students were doing the work of carrying raw wood from this truck to a predetermined place.

Is it something that even elementary school students can do? When I asked him, it was very difficult, but after I finished carrying it, I was able to eat udon while eating out, so he said that he worked hard to encourage it. It is a scene that comes to mind indescribably.

The trigger was in the bubble era.

When I was a child, Mr. Tanaka helped me with my house, but since I was my second son, I graduated from university in the Faculty of Engineering and started working for a semiconductor company.

However, the world is at the height of the bubble. Osaka Senshu Kirikosu sold well, and there was a state of insufficient manste. So he asked him to come back from home as a craftsman, so he quit the company he worked for three years and is still in the present day.

Mr. Tanaka’s house also has a shop, so in fact, your brother took over the shop, and Mr. Tanaka took over as a creator, and he said that he was working on production with everyone in the workshop.

Hatsune Furniture

What is Hatsune Brand?

The Hatsune brand is famous in Osaka. It is Tanaka Furniture Manufacturing Co., Ltd. where Mr. Tanaka is making it.

Hatsune’s furniture was first made by mr. Tanaka’s father, the second generation. With the word “making good things” in mind, it can be said that it is the result of struggling to inherit the first skill and spread it to the world further.

Hatsune brand was located at the Royal Hotel in Osaka. Because, in the old days, there was a shop called “Hatsune” at the Royal Hotel. Tanaka Furniture Seisakusho made the kirikosu there.

Currently, hatsune shops are gone, but Tanaka Furniture Manufacturing co., Ltd. takes over the name, registers trademarks, and sells it as Hatsune furniture.

Hatsune furniture craftsmen

Currently, there are 10 creators at the Tanaka Furniture Works, including Mr. Tanaka. Six of them are qualified as traditional craftsmen, and they seem to face paulownia every day every day to create.

There is an image that people involved in traditional crafts get older year by year and young people do not enter, but Mr. Tanaka has a characteristic that there are many young craftsmen. Mr. Tanaka is still young, but six out of ten are younger than Tanaka.

However, young people join the company with a strong belief to protect traditional crafts when they come in, but many people know the reality and leave.

When Mr. Tanaka had just returned as a craftsman, he said that he had a hard time with the men’s belts of Tanaka Furniture Manufacturing, so he understood the feelings of young people.

Not only bowls, but also various paulownia bowls

Rice Bottle

A paulownia box with rice.

By putting it in a paulownia box, it becomes difficult for the bite to stick.

Dokkoisho Chair

It can also be substituted as a chair that can actually be seated.

In addition, because it is made of paulownia, it is an excellent thing that even women can easily move.

Hatsune Original Paulownia Costume Box

Paulownia costume box suitable for keeping important objects.

It can protect clothing from mold and moisture.

Tanaka’s Thoughts on Kirikosu

To make it exactly without gaps

The great thing about Kirikosu is that it can maintain a constant humidity in the sealed state, no matter what the external factors are in (rain or during humid times).

Most of them corrode by the existence of water, whatever they are. That’s why paulownia, which can keep humidity constant, is a great material, Says Tanaka.

The way to make the most of the characteristics of paulownia is not to open a gap in the drawer of the bowl. Of course, it is the same not only for bowls but also for other furniture.
Even if customers are told that it is difficult to open because there is no gap, Mr. Tanaka carefully conveys the nature of paulownia and convinces them.

In addition, it seems that the best way to make furniture that is easy to use and easy to use is not to assemble with a machine, but to do a hand-made. Paulownia is very soft, so it dents as soon as you hit it. It is said that if you incorporate it when you dent it and inhale water from the top, the tree will expand and the place will return to its original shape.

It seems that it is not possible to assemble using this property yet with a machine, and it is said that it can be understood whether it was made by machine or by hand just by looking at how to assemble it. He said that it would be possible to use it with confidence for a long time because it would be stronger to be hand-assembled.

For our customers in the future

The creator’s wish is to use it for decades.

Mr. Tanaka said that when making bowls, he always hopes that it will be easy for customers to use and will be used habitually for a long time. Tanaka Furniture Manufacturing also follows up after purchase, so you want to feel the fun of using good things for a long time.

Mr. Tanaka is currently exhibiting at the special exhibition “Naniwa has skills in Naniwa! The exhibition is until May 11. We also have production experience, so why don’t you talk about the merits of one time with Mr. Tanaka?

※The Tanaka furniture factory to which Mr. Tanaka belongs is linked from this place