Practical wrapping

The tamago-tsuto protects precious eggs, making it easy to carry and preserve them; the kome-dawara, straw bags for rice, made transport of heavy rice less burdensome; and the cylindrical taru barrels allowed liquids to be carried by rolling. In agrarian times, people used familiar natural materials and their wisdom to wrap foodstuff functionally, to logically strive toward a rich food culture.

Religious wrapping

Seeing something sacred about pristine, immaculate paper, the Japanese have also found the spiritual aspect of wrapping. Examples of such wraps that house spirits include omamori, portable good luck charms contained in little bags or boxes; ohineri, washed rice or money wrapped in white paper, which is placed as offerings at temples and shrines, or thrown as a compliment at one’s favorite kabuki actors; and the nagashi-bina dolls that are sent out to sea on Doll’s Day.

Ritual wrapping

For formal gifts, including occasions of celebration or mourning and seasonal greetings, one can show reigi – courtesy or good manners – to the other person by using the right type of wrapping to match the content. The mizuhiki is derived from the shimenawa, a rope that demarcates a sacred space; the origata has different folds depending on the object being wrapped; the noshi, a ceremonial fold with a strip of dried abalone attached, symbolizes perpetuity. These are examples of ancient conventions established in aristocratic society and samurai society, which have been passed down to this day as part of our lives.

Wrapping in paper

Kozo, a type of tree from which paper can be made, grew abundantly in Japan. This has led to all sorts of paper being produced in the country since antiquity. Wrapping in paper can be done with plain paper or with vibrant colors and complex shapes. Remarkable examples can be found particularly in Kyoto and Nara – cities with many confectioners – and we can see the craftsmanship in their refined and urbane designs. On the other hand, there is something comforting about a steaming manju cake or taiyaki cake wrapped in simple, unpretentious paper. This warm familiarity too is paper’s appeal.

Wrapping in bamboo

As bamboo grows naturally everywhere from the Kyushu region to Hokkaido, it has been one of the natural materials most familiar to the Japanese. If cut in a way that makes use of the segmented structure, it can be used to hold water; if cut into strips and woven together, it can form delicate baskets. Bamboo peel is also said to have a preservative effect, allowing bamboo-wrapped food to last for a long time. Wrapping rice balls in bamboo peel, which could then be carried around, is also said to have been the origin of the bento.

Wrapping in seasonal plants

Dividing very specifically, there are 72 seasons in a year. The Japanese, who has historically been sensitive to these subtle changes, expressed this sensibility through wagashi, Japanese confectionery. There are wagashi that use plant leaves to wrap the confectionery. These are said to have the effect of preventing drying, and of making confectionery easier to carry around. The sakuramochi cake comes wrapped in a sakura (cherry blossom) leaf, kashiwamochi in a kashiwa oak leaf, chimaki in a sasa bamboo leaf. Besides these famous examples, there are seasonal wagashi across the country that use the local vegetation, such as the yomogi manju cake and the sasa dango dumpling.

Wrapping in wood

Warm and humid, Japan is home to a diversity of trees, and 70% of its land area is covered in forestation. Wood is a practical material for making housing, tools, and sturdy storage containers. The Japanese have also seen an acute sense of purity in the texture of plain, unvarnished wood with its divinely smooth sheen. As such, wood has also been valued as material for stands to hold offerings to the gods, and for boxes for special gifts.

Wrapping in straw

It is said that the whole of Japanese culture was born out of rice farming. In particular, wrapping with straw – made from dried rice plants after harvest – gives us a glimpse of the quality of farming life in Japan, which developed out of a fine sensibility. Straw is flexible, wieldy, and has extremely strong fibers; as such, it is ideal for wrapping fragile items. The fact that this straw was the most easily procured material gave way to a distinctive culture of straw-wrapping in Japan.

The infinite square

Whether a box, a large bottle, a sphere or a complex shape, a furoshiki – one square sheet of cloth – can wrap it all up in one bundle. One sheet can be used for anything and any number of times, and different uses have been devised in different eras, with new ideas developed even today. Here we introduce five furoshiki wraps, such as the hira-tsutsumi, which avoids knots as a sign of sincerity and respect, and the awase-tsutsumi, which allows one to carry two wine bottles with one hand.