Welcome back. Golden week had ended and what a productive one it was. Check out our May VLOG here. You just never know what you’re going to find in an old house. Tucked away in a corner of the second floor of the barn was an old dresser made from the wood of a Paulownia tree, otherwise known as an empress tree or a foxglove. These dressers called, Kiri-tansu in Japanese, have a long tradition that began in the Edo period up until the Meiji and early Taisho periods.
In the past, wooden oblong boxes called nagamochi and smaller chests called hitsu were used for storing personal items. However, as Japan prospered, so did the number of personal items the average person carried, making the tansu a necessity . It was customary in the Edo period to plant a foxglove tree upon the birth of a daughter, and use the wood of that tree for her dresser. Light and with handles attached, these dressers were designed so that any woman could carry the dresser by herself if needed.
While I do not know the exact year when this particular dresser was made, I did find something that could shed some light on its’ age; a newspaper. Laid at the bottom of the shelves the papers dated in range from early Showa to Taisho 14. So at the very least, this dresser could be from the Taisho period.
Despite being stored away for decades the dresser seemed to be fairly intact and seeing how I’ve lately been growing more interested in kimono I thought this would be a great opportunity to restore this dresser.
With the rainy season beginning at the end of June, I figured there’s no time to waste if I want to get this restoration underway and began checking the weather report daily looking for a few days of good weather.
After bringing the dressers out of the barn, I gave them a good wash and placed them in a partly covered area with good ventilation to dry for a few days. In the meantime, I started looking for a good hand sander and a set of tools to help me remove the handles.
With the handles removed and sander purchased, now all I need is a nice sunny weekend to start sanding away. Until then, I will start working on getting rid of the rust on those handles.