KIKUSUI (Kikusui Sangyo)

Kikusui Sangyo was founded in 1960 in Kawachinagano City, Osaka, known as the home of the toothpick. Against the backdrop of a land where the kuromoji used for kuromoji picks grows wild, toothpick-making — which began as local cottage work — eventually developed into a local industry holding the majority of the domestic market. As a small factory making up part of that, it has kept producing domestic toothpicks.

But with the influx of cheap overseas products and changes in lifestyle, demand for domestic toothpicks declined. As local makers continued to dwindle, Kikusui Sangyo chose the path of protecting tradition, as "one of the only few round-shaft domestic toothpick makers in Japan." It decided to keep producing, using Hokkaido birch and kuromoji from across Japan, without lowering quality.

In recent years it has also taken on product-making from new ideas — the revival of fully domestic kuromoji picks, the "toothpick maker's contactless stick," and unpainted smoked-bamboo turners and rice scoops. Through factory recovery via crowdfunding and in-depth coverage on a TV program, the story of the "small toothpick factory" has reached many people.

In addition to the online store "Kikusui," Amazon and Yahoo! Shopping, it also offers OEM for hotels and restaurants and small-lot novelty production. With making rooted in the nature and history of its hometown Kawachinagano, it keeps imbuing "small tools that color the table" with a genuine story and added value.

One of the few makers of domestic (round-shaft) toothpicks in Japan

In Kawachinagano City, Osaka — which has developed as a toothpick-producing region since the Meiji era — Kikusui Sangyo still makes round-shaft domestic toothpicks. Processing Hokkaido birch in its own factory, it continues to protect "reassuring made-in-Japan toothpicks" you can use as a matter of course at the everyday table.

Carrying kuromoji picks and kuromoji culture into the future

Kuromoji picks, made from the Japan-native fragrant wood "kuromoji" (spicebush), are indispensable to the hospitality of the tea ceremony and Japanese sweets. Kikusui Sangyo handles everything in-house, from cutting the raw wood to manufacturing, also taking on the revival of fully domestic kuromoji picks. Through fragrance and gesture, it hands Japan's culture of hospitality to the next generation.

Kitchen tools committed to unpainted, domestic bamboo

It offers a wide range of food-related wood and bamboo tools — smoked-bamboo turners, rice scoops, cooking chopsticks, sushi rolling mats and blinds. A feature of the KIKUSUI KITCHEN series is making kitchen tools that put the material and the user first, such as "finishing them unpainted for those who are concerned about coatings."

Small but long-life making

While overcoming hardships such as fire damage and the shrinking of local industry, it continues production with the belief that "keeping local industry alive means keeping the community alive." Through crowdfunding and media appearances, it keeps sharing the value of domestic toothpicks and wooden kitchen tools.