By Porter Lang
Count the steps. Official craft pages disagree on how many it takes to make a Nambu iron kettle. One says over 80 steps across about two months. Another says ten. Both agree on the place: Iwate.
Two streams
A craft article published by a retail company says the craft grew from two streams in Iwate Prefecture. One began in the early Edo period, when the lord of the Nambu clan invited kettle makers from Kyoto to produce tea-ceremony kettles. The other, older stream grew in Oshu-Mizusawa in the late Heian period and focused on practical household cookware. A Japanese tourism and trade body gives the same split. It says Mizusawa casting is said to have originated in the twelfth century, for Buddhist ceremonial and military items, and that Morioka production began at the end of the seventeenth century, when craftsmen from Kyoto started making teakettles, weapons and temple bells.
The official crafts association gives a slightly different start for Morioka: the early seventeenth century, when the Nanbu clan invited Kyoto kettle makers to Morioka. A government-supported craft portal says that in 1659 a feudal lord ordered the Kyoto caster Nizaemon Koizumi to move to Iwate. So Morioka’s start is the early seventeenth century, 1659, or the end of the seventeenth century, depending on the source. We show each.
Why the name came late
The retail company article says the casting guilds of the two areas united in 1959 as the Iwate Nambu Tekki Cooperative Association, to market both regions’ products together. The trade body says the unified name Nambu Tekki was adopted around 1960. We show both dates.
The official crafts association says the craft was officially designated on 17 February 1975. We have not checked this against the government register.
How it is made
The official crafts association says casting uses sand moulds made from river sand and clay. The retail article says the sand and clay come from the basin of the Kitakami River, and that the iron sand or ore comes from the Kitakami Mountains with local charcoal. The portal describes a ten-step method: drawing, sand mould creation, pattern application, casting at 900 to 1,300 degrees Celsius, then polishing and traditional colouring with a mix of iron rust and tea, called ohaguro.
The crafts association describes something different at the finishing stage: a rust-prevention firing at 800 to 1,000 degrees Celsius and lacquering with natural lacquer and iron oxide. It says the iron kettle takes over 80 steps across about two months. We cannot reconcile the step counts, and we do not try. Our reading is that the two counts may measure different things, but none of the sources says so.
The pattern
The portal says the arare, or hailstone, pattern is a bumpy texture made by hand with stamping. The association says patterns are pressed in, and calls the arare motif distinctive. It also mentions a surface texturing called hadauchi. We have not checked the terms.
What it makes
The association lists tea kettles, iron teapots and flower vases as main products. The portal says kettles are the best-known item, and that there are also saucepans, wind chimes and accessories. The trade body says mass-produced items include pans, ashtrays and wind chimes.
What the iron is said to do
The portal says the pieces are rust-resistant, long-lasting and well insulated, with good heat distribution. The retail article says iron kettles have excellent heat conductivity and retention, and that they absorb and break down the chlorine in tap water, giving smoother boiled water. The trade body says iron content in pans dissolves into food and may help prevent anaemia. We have not checked these claims and do not repeat the health one as a fact. All three come from promotional or trade sources.
A famous demonstration
The portal says the craft gained prominence when an emperor visited the Tohoku region in 1908 and had the eighth-generation head of a Kyoto-origin kettle family demonstrate the process. We name neither, and have not checked the account.
How big the trade is
The trade body says 80 companies employ 980 workers in Nambu Tekki. The figure is undated, and we do not use it as a current count.
Where it is made
The sources agree on Morioka and Oshu, formerly Mizusawa, in Iwate. The retail article adds that Morioka’s ironware descended from the tea-ceremony tradition, and Mizusawa’s from everyday use. It says urushi lacquer, an Iwate specialty, is used for rust prevention and finish.
What kind of sources these are
The crafts association and the government-supported portal are official or semi-official. The trade body promotes Japanese goods abroad. The retail article is written by a company with an interest in the product. We weigh them accordingly, and every claim above carries its source.
What the sources do not say
None of them says how long a single kettle takes one maker, how many foundries remain in each town, or how a buyer can tell a hand-cast piece from a mass-produced one.
What it means for a buyer
Our view is that the best question for a seller is which stream a piece comes from. Morioka and Mizusawa have different histories, as the sources say. Ask whether the piece is hand-cast or mass-produced, since the trade body lists both. Ask how it is finished, with lacquer or with an iron-and-tea colouring, since the sources describe both. Do not rely on a health or taste claim without a source of your own.
Where sources differ, we show each: Morioka’s start date, the year the name was adopted, the step count and the finishing method. We list them in the check file.
Roam first. Shop later.