Suzuki Morihisa Studio

Iron Caster

Morihisa Suzuki, born Shiiko Kumagai, is the fifteenth generation in a family line of kettle casters. She and her son Shigeo Suzuki, who serves as president and CEO, run the Suzuki Morihisa Studio craft workshop for the production of cast-iron teapots and kettles in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture.

The family line of kettle casters was founded in 1625 by Nui Suzuki, a metal caster from Yamanashi Prefecture. Together with Goroshichi Koizumi, a tea kettle caster
from Kyoto, he was appointed to cast kettles, bells and cannons for the feudal lords of the Nanbu clan, who ruled the Morioka region at the time. In the following period, kettles of the Nanbu clan were often presented as gifts in feudal circles. Nanbu ironware (Nanbu tekki) soon spread throughout the country and the kettles were used in numerous households because of their excellent quality. Many craft businesses in Morioka still use traditional methods to produce high-quality cast-iron kettles, pans and other utensils.