Cassia

Scientific name: Senna siamea
Japanese: 鉄刀木 (tagayasan)

Cassia is a type of tree native to South and Southeast Asia, the wood of which is a luxury material seen particularly in Chinese furniture.

It was also the primary material used for the production of at least some sets of musical instruments for the royal court of the Ryukyu Kingdom; an imported material, it must have been particularly rare and special at that time. One set of such uzagaku instruments was gifted by the kingdom to the Owari Tokugawa clan lord of Nagoya in the 1790s.

Today, many Southeast Asian countries have banned the export of cassia wood.

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References

"Ryûkyû gakki no fukugen ni tsuite" 琉球楽器の復元について, Fee nu kaji 南ぬ風 3 (2007/4-6), 14-15.