Wakasa · ObamaNo.1097★★Open in map →

Wakasa Lacquered Chopsticks

— The chopstick makers' showroom in Obama

craftOff the trail — and worth it

The showroom of the cooperative that makes Wakasa lacquered chopsticks, on Route 162 north of Obama's centre. Free to enter, rows of pairs to pick up and handle, and a bench where the pattern is ground out of the lacquer by the visitor.

FromTsuruga Station
~1 h 20 minJR Obama Line, then a short ride
Get off atObama Station (JR Obama Line)
From there
Wakasa Lacquered Chopsticks

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

This is a local landmark rather than a secret, and coaches pull in. The catch is the calendar. The cooperative, the city and the government guide all give Thursday as the closing day, and the hours for Sundays and holidays are written differently by different sources. Arrive on a weekday morning and the question goes away.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Wakasa lacquer patternsUFsushi / CC BY-SA 4.0

The giant chopsticksan outsized lacquered pair standing in the hall, recognised by Guinness
The lacquered mikoshia portable shrine finished in the same shell-and-lacquer technique
The selling floorabout three thousand kinds of chopsticks, laid out to be picked up
The traditional and modern rowsold-method pairs and contemporary designs shelved side by side
The polishing benchthe machines where visitors grind their own pair back through the coats

How to actually get there

Tsuruga Station → Obama Station (JR Obama Line, westbound).
Obama Station → the hall (taxi, or a rental bicycle from the tourist office in front of the station).
Start with the giant chopsticks and the lacquered mikoshi, then work along the selling floor.
Book the polishing bench by phone beforehand if you want to grind your own pair.

JR Obama Line from Tsuruga, then a short ride: Tsuruga Station →(JR Obama Line, westbound)→ Obama Station. The cooperative's own access page puts the Tsuruga leg at roughly an hour and ten minutes. From Obama Station the hall is about ten minutes by car, and the tourist information office in front of the station also rents bicycles.
Return from Obama Station: Ride or take a taxi back down Route 162 to Obama Station and pick up the JR Obama Line for Tsuruga. Services on this line are widely spaced, so read the return times while you are still at the station rather than after you have left it. The connection at Tsuruga matters more than the local departure.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Hashi no Furusato-kan WAKASA stands on Route 162 in Fukutani, north of Obama's centre and close to the bay. It is the showroom of the cooperative that makes Wakasa lacquered chopsticks, and the wood turners, the lacquerers and the sellers all belong to it. More than eighty per cent of the lacquered chopsticks produced in Japan come from Obama — a share the cooperative and the city both state. Entry is free, and the government's factory-visit guide lists the hall among the working places open to look around.

How to enjoy it

The polishing session runs about ten minutes and is taken on a booking basis, so ring ahead rather than turning up and hoping. You do the grinding yourself, which is why no two pairs come out alike. Every August 4th — chopstick day in Japan — the hall opens even when the date lands on its usual Thursday closure, and holds its own events.

Background & history

Wakasa lacquer is traced to a lacquerer in the service of the Obama domain, Matsuura Sanjuro, who is said to have worked the look of the seabed of Wakasa Bay into a pattern in the early Edo period. A later lord of Obama, Sakai Tadakatsu, gave the style its name and kept it going as piecework for the domain's foot soldiers. The technique — shell, eggshell and pine needles buried under coat after coat of lacquer, then ground back until the layers show — was designated a national traditional craft in 1978.

Before you go

Cash: Admission is free — the cooperative, the city's travel site and the government's factory-visit guide all say so. The polishing session is charged, but the figure differs between those sources, so ask when you book. Parking on site is free and takes coaches.
Good to know: Thursday is the closing day, with the year-end and New Year period added. When a Thursday falls on a public holiday the hall opens and shuts the following Friday instead, and August 4th and the mid-August days are kept open. Hours for Sundays and holidays are listed differently by the cooperative and by the city, so treat the late afternoon as uncertain.
Another way: By car it is a short run from the Obama interchange on the Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway. From Kyoto and Osaka the cooperative points people down the Kosei Line to Omi-Imazu and across by bus to Obama, which is the usual way in from Kansai.
After you get off: Obama Station is roughly three and a half kilometres from the hall, too far to walk comfortably. Take a taxi from the rank, or rent a bicycle at the tourist information office in front of the station and follow Route 162 north along the bay.