Kiri-Kogei
Paulownia Craftwork
It is said that around the same time as paulownia bureaus began to be produced in the Edo period that other handicrafts of the same material also started to be made. Making use of the wood’s lightness, flexibility and excellent permeability, all sorts of products have been produced from paulownia wood. In Taito-ku, there are Paulownia wood box artworks that have been crafted using “kiri-kime-komi-saiku” – a unique method that consists of using a graver to carve designs onto Paulownia chests or wooden boxes and utilizing pure silk fabric (as used in kimono) or other rare antique kimono fabrics to decorate them with patterns of talisman-like images such as dragonflies, gourds or bells – and that enhance the value of such objects, ascertaining certain characteristics of objects used for the storage of artworks and tea utensils.
