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History

Fukyusai Takano Tadao, the founder of our company, was the son of a shopkeeper of a bamboo crafts shop. He therefore grew up with bamboo since he was little and spent his life dedicating to it. A great inspiration is taken from of Sen-no Rikyu*, who produced tea utensils made of bamboo through discovering its natural beauty, which inspired him to became an artisan of tea utensils. His wishes and skills are taken over by our current craftsmen creating the finest tea utensils not only in bamboo but also using other natural materials.
*Sen-no Rikyu: a tea master that set out many of the techniques and precepts of present-day tea ceremony. His influence stretches far beyond tea and his work has been significant in shaping and developing Japanese aesthetics.

History

Craftsmen

We the Takano Group count with craftsmen that have inherited the skills of bamboo craft, woodworking, maki-e and Japanese lacquer from the founder of the company and have been producing tea ware with enthusiasm and the founder's wide connections to various temples allowing us to use material from buildings considered as national treasures and others that could be compared with those.

BAMBOO AND WOOD FROM KYOTO

We use high quality bamboo that we grow and also the old building materials from temples with a long history in Kyoto. With their skilled craftsmanship, our craftsmen carefully choose the right materials for the right purposes, making each piece of material in the best possible light.

BAMBOO

Bamboo

Takano Chikko takes care of bamboo groves in Nagaokakyo city in Kyoto, the area famous for high quality bamboo, and is devoting a great deal of time and effort to ensure the material that we use is in the best condition.

HOME GROWN BAMBOO

Bamboos in Kyoto are quite thick and said to be of high quality because of our fortunate environment of being surrounded by mountains and the extreme temperature difference between the seasons. Our studio is located in Nagaokakyo city in Kyoto, the area famous for quality bamboo, and our specially trained staff maintain bamboo groves. We cut 4 to 5 years of grown bamboo in the autumn season when the moisture level inside the bamboo gets lower. From there we dry them in the air for 2 to 3 months and then heat their surface to extract the moisture and the oil inside them. We expose them under the sun to bring out the luster and rest them for years and years in our shed with great care to avoid mold.

  • BAMBOO
  • BAMBOO
  • BAMBOO
  • BAMBOO
  • BAMBOO
  • BAMBOO
  • BAMBOO
  • BAMBOO
  • BAMBOO
  • BAMBOO

OLD MATERIALS

Old materials from temples

Takano Chikko’s history led us to have the honor to retain the old building materials from National Treasure class temples in Kyoto. Our craftsmen make the most of unique characters of each material and breathes new life into these old materials.

Takano Chikko has been producing tea utensils since the time of the founder, Sōryo Takano and has been carefully developing a close relationship with national treasure class temples. This history led us to have the honor to retain the old building materials which were replaced at the restoration of those temples in Kyoto. Takano found his fascination with the presence of those materials which keep the traces and memories of the old days. He was also influenced and highly stimulated creatively by the words of Arima Raitei, the head abbot of the Shōkoku-ji temple: “giving life to the debris, that’s the work of craftsmen”. It will be our pleasure to introduce the mystic beauty of nature through our crafted works in which retired yet irreplaceable materials are given new lives and are handed down to posterity by our experienced craftsmen.

  • OLD MATERIALS
  • OLD MATERIALS
  • OLD MATERIALS
  • OLD MATERIALS
  • OLD MATERIALS
  • OLD MATERIALS

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