Okawa village is a village surrounded by mountains. Many Japanese Cypresses (Hinoki) grow on these mountains.
In Okawa Village, there is the company that is highly important for preserving Japan’s history and culture. That is Nojiri Lumber.
Nojiri Lumber is a company specializing in processing Japanese Cypress logs for various purposes, such as lumber and woodworking. One distinctive feature of this company is that they exclusively work with natural Hinoki only. Natural Hinoki refers to cypress trees that have grown naturally in the wild, not those planted by humans.
These natural Hinoki trees are preserved in nation-owned forests, and the Japan Forestry Agency manages logging operations. The natural Hinoki logs are auctioned at a timber market in the neighboring Agematsu town. Nojiri Lumber procures their natural Hinoki from these auctions.
In the factory, there is a big belt saw machine that cuts out lumbers from a Hinoki log.
The Hinoki trees in the Kiso region possess unique characteristics not found in other areas. This includes high-density annual rings and a high content of resin. The wood from Hinoki trees with high dense annual rings is called “Ito Masa”.
The short summers, extremely cold winters, limited sunlight due to deep valleys and high mountains, and frequent rainfall in mountainous areas all contribute to the growth of Hinoki trees with high-density annual rings. These dense annual rings give the wood strong durability and help prevent the distortion that occurs over time.
Hinoki trees growing on steep slopes become more resilient to prevent falling down.
This resilience is attributed to the tree’s resin content. It means the Hinoki tree successfully growing on a steep slope has more resin than on flat. After being cut down, the resin in natural Hinoki continues to harden for approx. 800 years, increasing its strength. It is said that after 300 years, the wood returns to the same strength it had at the time of cutting down. In other words, its strength doesn’t decrease over 1100 years in total compared to the time of cutting down.
These characteristics can be considered by-products of the harsh environment unique to the Kiso region. It means that it’s impossible to obtain Hinoki with the same properties as Kiso Hinoki from elsewhere.
This natural Kiso Hinoki is used as a material for buildings in shrines and temples, such as Ise Grand Shrine, as well as for Buddhist statues in temples, Noh theater masks, and other historically and culturally valuable items. Nojiri Lumber stores wood specifically suited for each of these purposes.
Those lumbers are precisely cut out of a big lumber by an expertized worker.
“Ito Masa” wood is ideal for making Noh masks. It is hard and minimally prone to distortion. The following picture shows how a Noh mask is carved out of the a Hinoki wood.
This type of “Ito Masa” wood cannot be obtained from human planted forests. This is because such the forests are planted in places with good sunlight and optimal conditions for rapid and assured growth, which results in wider annual ring intervals.
Although Nojiri Lumber operates in a niche market with natural Hinoki only, we are very proud that they continue to provide a valuable resource essential to Japanese culture.
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