Tohaku Sumac Wax Candles, Set of 7 Candles and Stand
£64.50

Wa-rosoku (hand rolled candles) renowned for their long burning and even flame. Made of a hard fat, not entirely dissimilar to tallow, but extracted from the berries of specially bred sumac trees native to western Japan. The wicks are made of washi paper rolled about a rush skewer and the body built up by rotating this in the right hand whilst the hot wax is smoothed about the shaft with the left — a rarely practiced traditional art known as kiro-tegake-seiho — before the top is shaped and the rush removed leaving a hollow core. Tohaku is a roughly cigar shaped candle, which is a homage to ‘The Pine Trees screen’, drawn by Tohaku Hasegawa — a child of Nanao City (where Takazawa are based) and amongst the most renowned painters in Japan.