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06: Braiding Itaya Minnow with itaya sticks and fuji

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05: Making thin sticks from itaya tree

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04: Fuji tree bark (right) and inner part of the tree (left)

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03: Collecting itaya for making Itaya Minnow

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It is a technique transmitted in Akita prefecture located in the northern part of Japan for making Minnow by braiding itaya tree (kind a of maple tree) and fuji (Japanese wisteria), and by framing them by nemagaridake (kind of a bamboo that grows in nothern area). Minnow is one of the most popular implement used for faming in Japan from ancient times. In general, bamboos are used as material to make minnow, but in the nothern area where bamboos do not grow in the wild, people developed techniques to use arboreal materials other than using bamboos. Techniques in Akita is one of those examples, using itaya tree as its material. 01: Itaya Minnow, made of itaya tree and fuji tree