[Category Award] Katsuwara

A must-have for sumo wrestling. New items are created every time at this venue, which is held six times a year. The only company in Japan to handle this ring is Minami, a straw craftsman organization based on the Iijima-cho LLC.Shinshu"Rice Tale Preservation Society." The creator of the company is Sakai Yuji, the representative of Waram LLC and a straw craftsman.

Sakai was originally from Matsukawa Town and worked as a businessman at a butcher restaurant. When I moved to Iijima Town, where rice grows a lot, what surprised me was the large number of rice fields and the small number of children. So, they came up with a marathon event called "Rice Balu Marathon," in which runners carry rice bales while running, combining town revitalization projects with a hobby marathon. What we faced was the current situation in the world where there were very few people who could make straw crafts, including rice bales.

So, in 2013, they established a club that makes straw crafts. Furthermore, in 2015, he decided to start a business and made a decision to "South"ShinshuThe Rice Tall Preservation Society has been launched.

However, at first, they were not well known and had no work. One day in 2018, when I was working part-time and practicing and honing my skills, I suddenly came across the bales for the sumo ring. The craftsman I had been working on up until then retired from illness, and suddenly he was called out to me.

"I couldn't believe that the Japan Sumo Association had asked me to do such a small company, but with the desire to cling to straw, I had to try and error and research it first delivered to the Kyushu tournament in November 2018. When I saw the ring I had produced on TV, I felt a strange feeling like I was dreaming."

Therefore, we are considering branding to increase straw value by aiming to increase sales. What I came up with was "Katsuwara."

Katsuwara is a brand of straw that was designed to add value to rice straw, a by-product of rice farming, and aim to revitalize the region and promote agriculture and rice farming by creating a variety of straw crafts. In sumo terminology, "bearing soil" means losing a game, and if rice in a rice field falls due to a typhoon or other factor, soil will form and quality will deteriorate. The company cultivates rice so that it does not fall over, and named it "Katsuwara" with the meaning that it does not get soil (does not lose). As a lucky charm, it has become so popular that it has received many orders from overseas.

"There are several domestic manufacturers of shime decorations, but we are the only one who can create the ring for the main sumo tournament. We wanted to show that we have the unique strengths of being able to call ourselves "Katsuwara" as rice straw that doesn't have soil."

▲We also produce a variety of original products with improved design and custom-made products to suit your needs.Komagane CityPinkoro Shrine, located inside the Hayataro Onsen "Wild Flower Inn, Tomishizu" in the Hayataro Onsen town, there are enshrined with a giant Dosojin god made by a craftsman from the straw, and a Koma turtle (koma turtle), not a Koma inu (Koma turtle), and a large straw praying for a healthy leg

▲The handmade natto kit made using rice straw, developed as a food education company, is so popular that it has been ordered from both domestically and internationally. In the future, fermented foods will be popular, and healthy and longevity will be available. Nagano We also aim to sell this as a new prefecture specialty.

▲Only rice straw is now on sale. As we also ship straw from bonito tataki made from Kochi's specialty, straw yaki, we will also be developing rice straw sales business for outdoor businesses such as for BBQ.

In addition, they have also requested work from welfare facilities to create jobs, and use "Katsura" to create an environment where socially vulnerable people can play an active role, and promote regional revitalization by cultivating straw crafts into local specialty products. This initiative, dubbed the "Warashibe Choja Project," which adds value to one rice straw, won the Grand Prize at a business contest held at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2019.

In addition, a dojo has been opened where anyone can learn straw crafts. In the future, we aim to establish an organization and association with the aim of establishing a craftsman organization of about 100 people, with the aim of accrediting straw crafts as traditional crafts.