Established in 1959, Odate Kougeisha continues the 1,300-year-old legacy of magewappa bent-wood craft, retaining traditional manufacturing methods while creating magewappa designs that fit modern lifestyles. Using Akita cedar, one of Japan's most precious trees, which has a warm, beautiful color and uniform grain, Odate Kougeisha produces a variety of tableware that is light, supple, and has a pleasant aroma.

The company handles the entire process of making magewappa, from purchasing Akita cedar logs to lumbering, bending the wood, sewing with strips of cherry bark, attaching the bottoms of boxes and trays, and finishing. Now twenty-six craftspeople, including five officially-recognized traditional craftspeople, are making magewappa at Odate Kougeisha.

Odate Kougeisha's magewappa is made of Akita cedar, an endemic Japanese cedar known as one of Japan’s great trees. Odate Kougeisha uses two types of Akita cedar: natural, wild-grown Akita cedar and beautifully red-hued, human-planted Akita cedar. The company continues to make traditional magewappa while also preserving nature and resources through strategic planting, harvesting, and preservation.

While Odate Kougeisha produces traditional magewappa, they also create modern designs that suit the dining culture of today. The company's magewappa products are now especially popular among younger generations and around the world. The company has received offers from prominent interior design stores in Tokyo, and its bento boxes have become a hit in Europe.

Mitsukura Kazuo, company president, said, "I believe that carrying on traditional crafts means continuously creating products and passing the baton to the next generation. That is why I make it my motto to make products with sincerity.”

The company shows howmagewappa can be used for a long time if used with care. Their work in repairing thirty-year-old magewappa is proof of their reliable quality and craftsmanship.