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HOME >Cast Iron Kettle >Suzuki Morihisa

Suzuki Morihisa is the direct descendant of 4 famous families of Nanbu. In 1625, Suzuki family was brought to Iwate as an official caster for Nanbu clan. Suzuki family inherits their craftsmanship until today. It is up to 15th generation. The 13th Suzuki Morihisa was awarded a Human National Treasure of Country: 国定無形文化財.
The 15th generation Suzuki Morihisa caster is a lady by the name of Shiiko Kumagai 熊谷志衣子. She is the first woman caster in Nanbu. Her work was widely recognized in Japan and in 1991, she was awarded Prime Minister Prize on Kushime cast iron kettle at 31st Japan traditional craft exhibition. She would be the nearest Nanbu caster to the next Human National Treasure.
The workshop of Suzuki Morihisa is located in the heart of Morioka city. The location is unchanged since the early day in Edo era. There is ne thing amused with their work shop is that it was very well organized and tidyed up. Although cast iron is the traditional craft, it involves quite heavy handing and usually it looks like factory as car reparting workshop. According to Kumagai, "Only beautiful workshop, produce the best product." They put very intensive cares not only on their product, but also every elements that involves.
Usually casting work is shared with a few artists. The overall work is supervised by the skilled master. The master caster of Suzuki Morihisa is recognized as the best caster in Nanbu. Suzuki Morihisa maintains very high-standard thanks to the colaboration between Kumagai Shiko who comes up with an elaborate design and her skilled caster who maintain consistent quality.
Many know the name of Suzuki Morihisa and most of them admire the overwhelming beauty of Suzuki Morihisa's kettle. However very few people know that Suzuki Morihisa Kettle has outstanding performance as well. Usually different brand of kettle gives different effect and the differece is very obvious. It is due to the following reasons.