Warazaiku Takubo – Handwoven Straw Amulet – Ume Musubi
75,00 €
incl. VAT plus Shipping Costs
Ume Musubi takes its shape and its name from the plum blossom, one of the most quietly loved flowers in Japan. Ume is among the very first blossoms to open each year, often pushing through the last cold of late winter to flower before spring has properly arrived. For that reason it has long stood for perseverance, renewal, and hope, the promise that warmth is coming even while the world still looks wintry. Woven flat and round, this piece doubles as a trivet, a small piece of symbolism that sits, quite literally, under your everyday pots and pans.
Its five-lobed form is built the same way as every Takubo piece, through nawanai, rolling rice straw between the palms into an even cord by hand, then shaping and binding several such cords into the blossom’s outline. There is no mold and no machine involved at any stage, only a craftsperson’s feel for symmetry and tension, refined over years of practice.
The straw used is aowara, harvested while still young and green, which gives each new piece a fresh scent and a bright, grassy color. That green softens with time into a warm golden beige as the straw is exposed to daily light, so the trivet continues to quietly shift in tone the longer it lives in your kitchen.
Takubo, the workshop behind it, is based in Hinokage-cho in the mountains of Miyazaki Prefecture, close to Takachiho, a region closely bound up with Japanese mythology. The family grows its own rice straw on the terraced fields nearby and, under craftsman Yoichiro Kai, continues a technique increasingly rare in an age of mechanized rice harvesting, which leaves most straw too short and brittle to braid by hand. Every piece that leaves the workshop helps keep this rural craft, and the community built around it, alive.
Because each Ume Musubi is shaped by hand rather than pressed from a mold, gentle variations in size and tone are normal from piece to piece, a small signature of the maker rather than an imperfection.
Features:
– Design: Yoichiro Kai, Takubo
– Material: Aowara, young harvested rice straw
– Dimensions: approx. 17 cm diameter
– Made in: Hinokage-cho, Miyazaki, Japan
– Handle With Care – This is a natural, handwoven object with fine, delicate details. Please handle it gently, as the woven form can break if treated roughly. While shaped as a trivet, it is best kept away from direct heat and open flame.
Care Instructions:
Keep out of direct sunlight, which can fade or dry out the straw over time. Store in a dry place, away from humidity, to prevent mold or discoloration. Dust regularly with a soft brush or a dry cloth. Avoid any contact with water or cleaning products. With this care, the weave will keep its shape and color beautifully for years.
Pre-order! Ships in October 2026!
Standard delivery: 3-7 DAYS
In stock
About the Artist / Designer / Brand
Warazaiku Takubo – Handwoven Straw Amulet – Ume Musubi
TAKUBO STRAW
A Craft as Old as Japan Itself
Warazaiku, the art of weaving rice straw by hand, is one of Japan’s oldest crafts, mentioned as far back as the Kojiki, the country’s foundational chronicle compiled in 712. For centuries it grew alongside rice farming and Shinto belief, practiced by farmers who turned the straw left over from each harvest into sandals, storage baskets, ropes, and ritual ornaments. Woven by hand, coil by coil, each piece was understood to carry a quiet prayer for good fortune, worked into the material by the maker as they twisted it.
Rooted in Takachiho
Takubo is based in Hinokage-cho, a mountain village in the Takachiho region of Miyazaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, a landscape held sacred in Japanese mythology. Local legend tells of Ninigi-no-Mikoto, grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu, descending from the heavens here carrying a sheaf of rice, a blessing meant to ensure the land would always be abundant. That old promise still shapes the region today: Takachiho’s terraced rice fields, carved into steep mountainsides over generations, remain some of the most striking in the country and are recognized internationally for their agricultural heritage.
From Farmers’ Side Trade to Living Craft
Takubo’s own story began in 1957, when local farmers wove shimenawa ropes and straw ornaments during the quiet months between harvests, a modest source of extra income built on generations of shared knowledge. What started as seasonal work grew, over decades, into a dedicated workshop, becoming a full-time operation in 2016 and formally incorporating as Takubo Co., Ltd. in 2024. In 2022, the craft was officially recognized as a traditional handicraft of Miyazaki Prefecture, a rare distinction for a practice so many feared was disappearing.
That fear was not unfounded. Modern, machine-driven rice harvesting cuts the stalks far too short for weaving, which has left this kind of straw craft increasingly hard to sustain. Today, Takubo is led by Yoichiro Kai, a third-generation craftsman who has spent years working against that trend, growing rice by hand specifically to be harvested long for weaving rather than for grain alone. Roughly three quarters of every year go into cultivating and preparing the straw itself, a slow, seasonal rhythm that often means working around an unpredictable mountain climate long before a single piece is woven.
Two Kinds of Straw, One Technique
Every Takubo piece begins with nawanai, the fundamental technique of rolling rice straw between the palms until it twists into a single, even cord, entirely by hand and without machinery. From there, cords are shaped, bent, and bound into finished forms, whether a hanging ornament, a wreath, or a trivet. The workshop grows and prepares two varieties of straw for this work: inawara, harvested after the grain has ripened and valued for its strength and texture, and aowara, cut while still young and green, prized for its brighter color and faint natural fragrance. Aowara in particular continues to change after weaving, mellowing gradually from green to a warm golden beige as it meets light and air over time.
More Than an Object
Yoichiro Kai and his team don’t separate the craft from what it’s for. Growing their own straw, training newcomers who are drawn to a slower pace of life, and weaving every piece by hand are all part of the same effort: keeping a centuries-old technique in daily use, giving the region around Hinokage-cho a reason for young people to stay, and sending out objects meant to feel like they were made with someone specific in mind.
