by Margot Guralnick - February 5, 2018

High/Low: The Japanese Wooden Bath Bucket

Here at The Organized Home, we all dream of installing a Japanese-style spa bath with a deep wooden soaking tub. And while this is likely to remain a fantasy for most of us, one of the key Japanese bathing ritual accessories, the copper-ringed wooden bucket, turns out to be within reach. We’ve long admired the real thing made of hinoki, a lemon-scented cypress wood grown only in Japan. And we recently happened upon a surprise lookalike that hails from Ohio.

Pamela Shamshiri Japanese bathroom in LA, via Rizzoli, The Perfect Bath by Barbara Sallick. — Above: At home in LA, architect Pamela Shamshiri has a Japanese soaking tub with a traditional hinoki stool and wash bucket at its side. Photograph from The Perfect Bath by Barbara Sallick, courtesy of Rizzoli. See Expert Advice: How to Create the Perfect Bath.

The buckets are used to rinse the body after soaping and scrubbing, but they also make great soap and shampoo caddies. Beyond the bath, they can take on other roles, including that of fruit bowl. (In Japan hinoki boxes are used for making tofu.)

High

Hinoki bath bucket by Kiso Lifestyle Labo from Nalata Nalata. — Above: The Hinoki Copper Bath Bucket, $100, from Nalata Nalata in NYC. (Made by Kiso Labo of Kiso, Japan, the same Bath Bowl is also available from Mjölk in Toronto.) It’s 9 inches wide and 4 inches tall and watertight. UK readers, Native & Co. sells a top-of-the-line Hinoki Bath Bowl for £85.

In addition to its lovely scent, hinoki has a silky smooth finish and is naturally mold- and mildew-resistant.

Medium

Hinoki bathtub bucket from Hinoki Japan via Amazon. — Above: The Hinoki Oke Pure Wood Bathtub Bucket comes in two sizes—the 8.25-inch size is $62.35 and the 9.45-inch size is $64 from Hinoki Japan via Amazon.

Low

Old-fashioned oak bucket from Lehman's, Ohio. — Above: Located in Amish country Ohio, farm tool specialists Lehman’s offers Old-Fashioned Wooden Buckets of oak with brass rings in four sizes, starting at $29.95 for the 1 quart size. Note that only the bees-wax-lined versions are watertight. Lehman’s also sells a wooden Shoulder Yoke, $159.99, for hauling a pair of buckets.

And if you love the look of hinoki, you can go beyond the bucket and source all sorts of accessories, including Hinoki Wood Stools, Hinoki Bath Mats, Hinoki Tissue Box Covers, and Hinoki Soap Dishes.

Go to High/Low Design for more of our discoveries.

As intrigued by Japanese design as we are? Take a look:

You need to login or register to view and manage your bookmarks.

Add to Collection

No more results!

Haven't found what you are looking for? Try seaching!

×

Join the Remodelista Family of Websites

Become a Member at no charge

When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.

Become a Member

Member benefits include:

Access to all posts published in the past year
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites

Or Subscribe for Maximum Value!

For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.

Subscribe Subscribe

Annual ~~$119.88~~ $59.99/year - SAVE 50%

Monthly $9.99/mo

Subscriber benefits include:

Unlimited access to all three sites
Weekly access to subscriber-only content
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive the full-text daily newsletters
All features that Members have access to
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99

×

Sorry! You have reached your limit of three (3) free posts from our archive every 30 days. You can increase this to 10 posts by joining as a free Member, or read unlimited posts with no ads by becoming a paid Subscriber.

Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites

For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.

Subscribe Subscribe

Annual (Save 50%) $59.99 USD/yr

Monthly $9.99 USD/mo

Subscriber benefits include:

Unlimited access to all three sites
Weekly access to subscriber-only content
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive the full-text daily newsletters
All features that Members have access to
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99

Become a Member at no charge

When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.

Become a Member

Member benefits include:

Access to all posts published in the past year
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites