Japanese Candles

Warosoku - the traditional Japanese candles made from haze tree wax

Candles first arrived in Japan from China during the 8th century CE, together with Buddhism. In time, Japan developed their own plant-based candles - the warosoku, at first experimenting with pine resins and eventually settling on wax extracted from haze tree berries, also known as sumac. The craft flourished during the Edo period, between 1603 and 1868 CE, when the city of Takashima, in the Shiga prefecture, became the center for the production of  traditional Japanese candles.  

Today the craft is practiced by only a handful of artisans across Japan. The Japanese candles are built around a thick, hollow wick made of washi paper, rush weeds and sometimes silk fibres. Traditionally, the artisans shape each candle by repeatedly applying fine layers of melted wax by hand, before hand-pouring one final layer of red or white wax. The artisans then finish the candles also by hand, cutting them to size and perfectly carving out the wick at the top. More modern techniques make use of wooden moulds to hand-pour the first layer of plant-based wax around the wick, while the following layers are applied in a traditional way by manually coating the base.

More recently, Japan developed a new generation of candles made from rice wax while employing the traditional warosouku techniques of candle making. This development came as a response to the limited supply  of haze tree wax and a growing demand for natural, plant-based candles from environmentally conscious and health-wary customers in Europe and the US. Unlike Western petroleum based paraffin candles, Japanese candles burn with a large, vivid flame that produces minimal dripping and soot, and practically no smell.

Japanese candles come in various standard sizes, allowing for as little as 20 minutes burning time, making them the ideal comanion for meditation practice.