What kinds of wood are used in tansu?
Tansu are made mostly of native Japanese wood: HINOKI (Japanese cypress) is a golden, dense and stable wood. It is used in most larger tansu, such as misuya (kitchen tansu) or kaidan dansu (step tansu). It is usually quarter-sawn for its subtle tight grain. KAKI (Persimmon) is another dense hardwood, a member of the ebony family, and is found as veneer on smaller pieces, such as sewing boxes, kyodai (dressing tansu with mirrors) and chadansu (tea tansu). KEYAKI (Japanese elm Zelkova) is the most highly prized of tansu woods. It is a dense hardwood used in the best of tansu. It is always flat sawn to expose the stunning decorative grain. KIRI (Paulownia) is often used for clothing tansu because of its ability to resist Japans humid summer climate. It is a lightweight, soft wood that is very stable in most any environment. The tree is fast growing, about 40 feet in 20 years. It was the custom in the Edo period in Japan to plant the kiri tree on the day of a girl childs birth, and to harv
