KISARAGI Furniture Collection

Cedar planting began in the late 1400s, it was planted in the areas where they planned to build Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in order to ensure the supply of lumber for those structures. Due to the wood’s high affinity for moisture and its pleasant fragrance, it is used for housing, boat frames, buckets and so on. Cedar has always been involved in various aspects of the Japanese lifestyle. The Japanese government’s postwar policy is responsible for the fact that a large proportion of the country is now covered in cedar. Cedar was the government’s choice of tree for mass planting in the forests that were devastated in World War II, given that it grows rapidly and helps ensure the supply of building materials.

Increased lumber imports from overseas, however, prompted by a strong yen and a change in construction methods, dragged down the price of domestic lumber. Japanese crippled forestry industry was no longer a top priority. The forests across the country were eventually devastated, and a vicious cycle ensued. Sixty-seven percent of Japan’s land is forested, but Japan fails to use its forest resources, which have gone to waste. We have the problem the country faces.

The steam compression technique was developed in order to overcome this drawback. Hida Sangyo, headquartered in Hidatakayama, played an important role in this invention with its “wood bending” technique, which was developed and improved over 90 years. In recent years, it has become possible to strengthen and mold cedar wood by employing heat, moisture and pressure without the use of chemicals. This technology is known as “high-pressure steam compression.”

KISARAGI is made of an innovative material known as “straight-grained, compressed cedar wood.” This new material is the result of years of research and development. Furniture produced through compression methods prior to the invention of the new technique typically had a knotty, burled grain. The new technique, however, meets the challenge of achieving a straight, clear grain, which is of course a prized characteristic of cedar.

“Even wood compression,” the latest technique, facilitates high-quality wood compression that produces solid wood with beautifully straight grain.