Privacy Policy
JA EN

Naniwanomiya Discovery Map

The area where "Nanoniwa" is located is the site of the former capital, which was also the scene of the Taika Reformation, and is in the Naniwa Palace Site Park, with Osaka Castle in front of it, Even today, it is a town where writers, craftsmen, and artists who transmit culture, food, and art to Japan and the world gather. Rediscover the charm of the Naniwanomiya area through the stories of these wonderful "townspeople" who are based in this area. ...... See more

A long-established box maker in Osaka
since the Edo period,
practicing a fully sustainable cycle.

6

Hakoya Tsunekichi

OwnerMasao Sasai
Eri Sasai

Founded in 1868, Masao Sasai became the fifth generation to inherit Osaka's oldest box store in 2007. 2018 saw the launch of his own brand [Hakoya Tsunekichi], and in 2022 his wife, Eri, will become the representative, renaming the company Hakoya Tsunekichi Co. Currently, Eri runs the antenna shop in Osaka, and Masao and his apprentice work together to create products while traveling back and forth between the Wakayama factory and the Osaka store.
  • Photo : Yoshiko Watanabe
  • Edit & Text : Midori Nagase
The wood used for bento boxes is Yoshino cedar, known as “Japan's three most beautiful man-made forests,” and other nearby Japanese cedar trees. Bags and stationery made of wood are also available at the store.
As the oldest box store in Osaka, the company overcame hardships and returned to its roots.

Tsunekichi Sasai, the first generation, started the business at the end of the Edo period and established it in Tosabori, Osaka in 1868 under the trade name [Hakotsune]. After that, he moved from one location to another in Osaka Prefecture, and now the fifth generation, Masao and Eri Sasai, have a store in Tanimachi 6-chome. They were the oldest cedar box merchant in Osaka, wholesaling boxes to Tsuruya Hachiman and Takaoka Genfukushin, both of which have been around since the Edo period, as well as to Senba Kitcho, a Japanese-style restaurant, but Masao says that the road to success was not an easy one.
My predecessors were mass-producing disposable gift-wrapping materials during the 1970s, partly because of the Expo ’70s economy. At that time, there was so much demand for boxes that there were about 50 box stores in Osaka that were divided into Hakotoku, Hakokichi, and others. After that, in order to make them as cheap as possible, we purchased materials from China, cut labor costs, and engaged in price competition and mass production with ……, but eventually we hit our ceiling and realized that we couldn’t continue doing this. So in 2018, my wife left the company she had worked for for many years to join the family business, and we decided to move from a wholesale focus to creating our own brand. It reminded me of the wooden lunch boxes I used as a child. Back then, there was no refrigerant. Unlike plastic or aluminum ones, my wooden lunch boxes were breathable and sterilized, so the side dishes tasted good forever. Even now, when I think back on it, I can’t help but think how delicious it was. That’s why we decided to make wooden lunchboxes for our original brand,” says Masao.
At one point, we were relying on materials from China, but we switched to using all domestic wood. In 2018, the company launched its own brand under the name of Tsunekichi Hakoya, which was taken from the name of the first generation, and began making original wooden lunchboxes.

Masao is also launching the "Japan, Land of Trees" project to connect the culture of trees to the future through stories about the environment, forestry, and box stores starting in 2021.
Using food as a gateway, the birth of a directly managed store that conveys the appeal of wood to men and women of all ages.

With the addition of Eri, the popularity of Tsunekichi’s bento boxes spread quickly, and now we see countless #tsunekichiboxes on social media every day.
We have rounded the corners, made them gentler to the touch, coated them with beeswax to make them last a little longer and look more beautiful, and added more shapes, such as squares and octagons, through trial and error. Since the product has spread to so many customers, we can’t betray that feeling. I want to keep making good products! and it motivates me,” says Eri.
The company’s own brand [Hakoya Tsunekichi] has become so successful that in 2023, the company decided to open its first antenna shop since its establishment in the current Tanimachi Rokucho-mae district in order to have a place where all of its products can be seen at once.
I think there is a direct connection between bento boxes and food. That is why we wanted to convey the importance of food, so we set up a kitchen inside the store. There are many children in the area, so I hope the workshop will provide an opportunity for children to easily come into contact with wood and learn about the importance of food. I hope it will become a place where people of all ages can gather,” says Eri.
Eri hopes that children, who will be responsible for the future, will be able to experience and feel various things through the experience of wood.
Wooden lunch boxes are expensive and breakable. That’s why I think it will nurture a sense of taking good care of things. If you take care of it properly, it will grow strong and not get damaged easily. On the other hand, if you treat it carelessly, it will become moldy and prone to illness. A bento box responds to the amount of love you put into it and provides you with long-lasting, delicious food. This is a function that is unique to wood and not to enamel, stainless steel, or plastic,” says Eri.

  • Octagonal two-tier bento box (small), cloud pattern, 12,100 yen, can be used not only as a bento box but also as a container for Japanese sweets and other items. Careful instructions on how to take care of it are available at the store.
  • The store also has a relationship with Seitaro Kuroda, an artist based in Osaka, and his work on a wooden box is displayed in the storefront.
  • A narrow, long, two-tiered lunch box with leather band and chopstick box, 18,700 yen. Wood has excellent humidity control properties, so it retains its delicious flavor over time.
  • KIDS Rectangular Bento Boxes from 6,050 yen. The store is also active in exchanges with neighboring stores, introducing "delicious one-ply gauze" by "maemuki suit!" across the street as a lunch box wrapping in the store.
  • The "kiteate" series is supervised by Kyoko Onishi, a yakuzen cuisine researcher. Includes an octagonal miso barrel 3 kg (28,600 yen and up) and a square round ohitsu (6 cups) 36,300 yen (both made to order).
The store offers wooden workshops such as chopstick making and box making. Sawdust is recycled as material for enzyme baths.
Fully recyclable manufacturing using every last bit of wood.

In 2024, we moved our production site from Osaka to Wakayama. We asked him to tell us …… what the reason was for his decision right after setting up his dream store in Osaka.
He told us, “Wakayama and Susami Town are right next to the mountains, and the forestry industry is thriving there. Considering the exchange of materials and the transportation of materials to Osaka, it would be quicker for us to get closer to the mountains. Being close to the trees, I felt more strongly that I was dealing with a living creature. We used to throw away scrap wood as industrial waste, but now we distill it and use it as aroma, or ferment sawdust with rice bran to make enzyme baths. Scrap wood and sawdust from Susami Town are transported by truck to Osaka, and sawdust used for the enzyme bath is brought back from Osaka to Susami Town and used as compost in the fields. Finally, the vegetables are transformed into delicious, pesticide-free vegetables in the fields. It is a cycle made possible by the fact that we moved the production site to the town of Susami,” he says.
Today, the company embodies a completely recycling-oriented manufacturing system in which nothing is thrown away. Finally, Masao talked about what he would like to achieve for his children’s future.
He said, “Despite the abundance of forest resources, Japan currently relies on imported foreign lumber for more than 70% of its wood. I think that even if all elementary school students in Japan just used lunch boxes made of domestically produced wood, the forests would be well-circulated as trees are cut and thinned in the mountains. Hay fever and landslides are caused by people who neglect the trees in the mountains, and in a sense, they are man-made disasters. Even if it is impossible to go all over the country, I would like to see the government take the initiative and give children wooden lunch boxes when they enter elementary school, even if it is only in Osaka. It would be cool to say, “All children in Osaka use wooden lunch boxes. I would do everything I can to make that happen.

Naniwanomiya & I

Using the large garden of Naniwanomiya and Nanoniwa,
I believe that we will be able to let visitors experience the circulation of trees.

I am attracted to the empty space of Naniwanomiya Palace. It is precisely because there is nothing there that makes me think back to prehistoric times, and when I stand in Naniwanomiya, I feel as if I have stepped back in time. I want foreign visitors to learn not only about Osaka Castle, but also about Naniwanomiya, which has a much older history,” said Eri. I believe that Nanonowa, which has a large garden along with the facility, will allow visitors to use the garden space to experience and learn about the trees that are in circulation. For example, there will be a booth selling bento boxes, and next to it will be a foot bath corner with an enzyme bath made from sawdust, and vegetables grown with sawdust and rice bran compost used for the enzyme bath will be sold. The garbage is put into the compost with sawdust. …… It’s a true tree cycle, isn’t it? It’s easy and fun, and it would be interesting to experience it and make it happen,” says Masao.

Hakoya Tsunekichi

OTHER ARTICLES Other Articles

GO BACK TO LIST

About Machine
Translation

This site uses machine translation.
Please note that it may not always be accurate and may differ from the original Japanese text.