◆31.5.2018◆

At first about Hakuichi.

Determination to Inherit,Pursuit of the Ultimacy,Commitment to Hospitality.

HAKUICHI started its history when our founder, a Kyoto lady named Kuniko Asano, married into the metal leaf manufacturer family in Kanazawa and built the craft-making business to popularize the beauty of Kanazawa’s metal-leafed products. Now, the “Kanazawa Gold-leafed Craft” is widely known as one of the most famous traditional crafts of Ishikawa. However, no gold leaf was known to be crafted in Kanazawa back in the founding time of 1975 although over 98% of gold leaf in Japan was produced in Kanazawa.
In order to communicate the beauty of the Kanazawa Gold Leaf to more people, we started out with daily use products, not high-end items. The company was named HAKUICHI as our founder was the “first female metal leaf (haku) manufacturer” to create the “Kanazawa Gold-leafed Craft”.
We still have the founding spirit, and preserve the passion to show the beauty of the Kanazawa Gold Leaf to more people while inheriting our tradition. In the popular tourist destination of Kanazawa, we look forward to welcoming visitors from not only Japan but all over the world to show you the beauty of the Kanazawa Gold Leaf.

Inheriting the Tradition in Kanazawa

Ishikawa Prefecture, having the capital in Kanazawa and covering Noto and Ecchu, formerly prospered as Kaga Province of one million koku rice yield, and 36 different traditional crafts have been inherited today. No other areas in Japan has so many traditional crafts. HAKUICHI believes it is our mission, the bearer of the traditional industry, to protect and carefully inherit the tradition that has been nurtured for hundreds of years together with the history and culture as the pride of Kanazawa as well as of Japan.
More than anything else, the “Kanazawa Gold-leafed Craft” is what HAKUICHI must inherit to next generations with the pride as the pioneer. The traditional craft of the “Kanazawa Gold Leaf”, among the 36 traditional crafts, did not exist until 40 some years ago. Although 99% of the national production came from this region, our gold leaf was used merely as the raw material for high-end crafts and family Buddhist altars produced in other regions, and never considered as a standalone craft associated with Kanazawa.