What is Hinoki Wood?

We have recently added a new range of wooden beads to our website that are made out of Hinoki Wood - Hard and Rot Resititant are just some of it's features.

A common companion of the Japanese cedar, Cryptomeria japonica, is the famous Japanese hinoki, Chamaecyparis obtusa. Hinoki is a smaller tree, however in ancient times massive ones existed – alas those forests of old are long gone. Nevertheless, this tree has a special place in Japanese culture, revered mostly for its wood, but also for the fragrant essential oils found throughout its tissues.

Chamaecyparis obtusa a massive evergreen coniferous tree reaching 35 meters in height, and with a trunk up to a meter in diameter. The bark is reddish brown to silvery and grows in long strips. In young trees these can flake off in thin strips, but older trees have more compact bark generally, and thicker in substance.

Hinokiwood has been cherished throughout the centuries as a building material for traditional structures such as shrines and temples since it is resistant to rot. It also is used in Shinto ceremonies and to build special baths particularly at hotsprings (known as onsen). The wood is fragrant, clean, and beautiful to look at.

A freshly constructed building made of hinoki wood is a pleasure to step inside due to the cocktail of organic compounds found in its essential oils – the word that comes to mind is “clean”, and perhaps it is this quality that makes it important in purification rituals in Shinto religion. The wood is so resistant that well built structures can last 1000 years, and the remnant artifacts made of hinoki date back even further, into the Yayoi Period, (BC1000-AD200). It is still used in building today, but only for high end market products carrying equally high end prices.

Hinoki essential oil is jammed full of aromatic chemicals. One of the more celebrated components is hinokitol, a monoterpenoid found in many members of the cypress family, the Cupressaceae. This compound is low in toxicity and has been proven to inhibit the growth of some bacteria, including Chlamydia trachomatis. On the popular market hinokiessential oil is sold as another natural cure all and can be found in products such as perfumes, toothpaste, and hair tonic. It also is used in aromatherapy. While such uses are questionable from a pragmatic perspective, they will do little harm to the user, except maybe empty their wallets – these products, in particular the oil, are often sold at high prices

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