🎎 Antique Meiji–Taishō Ikawa Menpa Bento Box – Hinoki & Cherry Bark – Japan Antique Roadshow
🎎 This finely crafted Ikawa menpa (井川メンパ) represents one of Shizuoka’s most enduring folk crafts: the bent-wood, urushi-lacquered bento box from the mountain hamlet of Ikawa at the headwaters of the Ōigawa River. Likely dating from the late Meiji to early Taishō period (c. 1890–1926), it is formed from local hinoki (Japanese cypress) bent to an oval (koban-gata) shape and “sewn” at the overlap with strips of mountain-cherry bark. The entire surface is finished in natural urushi lacquer, producing the deep reddish-brown body with a darker, almost blackened rim—an Ikawa signature.
Menpa of this type were everyday companions for outdoor workers in the southern Japanese Alps—woodcutters, miners, and tea pickers who valued them for their strength, lightness, and the way lacquered cypress preserved rice: warm and fragrant in the cold, safe from spoilage in the heat. The form is practical yet refined, a product of generations of local knowledge. This example bears a faint circular impressed mark on both lid and base—likely a maker’s burn stamp—now softened through age and long handling. The lacquer shows honest wear from service, with a deep, even patina and small areas where the cherry-bark stitching is revealed. These features are typical of older Ikawa boxes, which naturally darken over decades of use and sometimes receive a careful re-lacquering to preserve them.
📏 Approximate dimensions
• Weight: ~100 g
• Length: 15 cm
• Width: 10 cm
• Height (with lid): 4 cm
• Period: Late Meiji–Early Taishō (c. 1890–1926)
• Materials: Hinoki (Japanese cypress), mountain-cherry bark, urushi lacquer
• Condition: Very good antique condition; lacquer worn/faded in places, patina throughout, small areas of exposed cherry-bark joinery, faint circular impressed mark on sidewalls; structurally sound
Ikawa menpa are still made today in Aoi-ku, Shizuoka City, by the sixth-generation Mochizuki family workshop (Ikawa Menpa Seizō Mochizuki), the sole active maker within the city. Shizuoka designates this craft as an important local tradition, with repairs and re-lacquering offered at the Sunpu Rakuichi shop. Antique examples such as this—especially in complete, serviceable condition—are increasingly rare, embodying both the aesthetic warmth of urushi-lacquered hinoki and the lived history of Japan’s mountain communities.
Curated in Shizuoka City by softypapa, this menpa offers a tangible connection to Japan’s folk-craft heritage and the quiet endurance of tools made to serve both beauty and work.
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- Quality is guaranteed. If there is a print error or visible quality issue, we'll replace or refund it.
- Because the products are made to order, we do not accept general returns or sizing-related returns.