Nousaku 能作

Who is Nousaku?

Nousaku is a metal foundry founded in 1916, casting Buddhist ritual objects, tea-ceremony utensils and flower vases in brass and bronze for the city of Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture. The foundry stayed a maker of those traditional pieces for most of the twentieth century. Its own history page dates the turn: in 2002 Katsuji Nousaku, the fourth generation of the family, designed a brass bell as the company's first item under the Nousaku name. The bell barely sold, because a bell is not something most households in Japan keep. A sales assistant suggested turning it into a wind chime instead, since a wind chime is something people do keep for summer. That switch is what the company credits with starting its run of making things people actually asked for.

What makes their tin tableware different?

The defining move came the year after the bell: in 2003 Nousaku developed what its own history page calls the world's first tableware cast from 100 per cent pure tin, built on casting skills the foundry already had. Pure tin is soft enough to bend by hand, and Nousaku leaned into that rather than working around it: a plate can be curved into a bowl shape, or a tray bent to hold a bottle steady, then flattened out again afterwards if you want the shape back. The company's own guidance is direct about the limits of this: bend a piece too far or too often and it can crack, and once tin has been stretched it will not spring back to its exact original shape on its own. Their own materials page also states that pure tin resists rust and tarnish and is antibacterial, which is part of why it works for anything food touches. The foundry's best-known piece built on this idea is a flexible tin basket called KAGO, which its own site calls the company's masterpiece; that basket is not part of what we currently stock, so treat it as background on the maker rather than something on our shelf.

What do we carry from Nousaku?

What we have on hand right now runs across several of their tin lines rather than one signature piece. There are flower vases in a few shapes, cups and tumblers including a striped beer cup sold in three colours and a tumbler that comes with its own stirrer, tin sake cups and a matching sake pitcher, a flat bamboo-leaf-shaped plate, a pair of tin chopstick rest sets, plus a handful of tin incense stands, a natural pairing with incense from Nippon Kodo. None of it is engraved or painted; the finish is the cast tin itself, which is the point of the material. Browse the Nousaku collection to see the current range, since what is on the shelf shifts as pieces sell through.

How do you look after tin?

Wash it by hand with a mild detergent and a soft sponge, and skip the dishwasher entirely: Nousaku's own care page says its tin pieces are not suited to a dishwasher or a drying machine. Keep abrasive pads, wire wool and hard brushes away from the surface, since they scratch it. If the shine dulls, the same guidance says a standard metal polish, or something as ordinary as toothpaste or a paste of baking soda, brings it back. Tin has a low melting point, so it is not for the microwave or anywhere near an open flame. Cold storage has its own limit too: no more than thirty minutes in the fridge, and never in the freezer, or the metal can be damaged. None of this changes because a piece is a plate rather than a cup; the material is what dictates the care, not the shape.

Can you visit the foundry?

Yes, and Nousaku built for exactly that: a factory in the city of Takaoka opened to the public in 2017, with a factory tour, a hands-on casting workshop called Nousaku Lab, a cafe called Imono Kitchen that serves food on the foundry's own tin plates, plus a factory shop selling pieces made only there. It is the kind of thing that only makes sense once you have seen the material bend in someone's hands; a photo of a tin plate does not really tell you it is soft enough to curve. If chopsticks and a rest are part of your table setting, our chopsticks guide covers Nousaku's tin rests alongside the other materials we carry.