Usually made of bamboo, the traditional wooden ladle, hishaku, is an almost omnipresent object in Japan. You can see it used in the tea ceremony, in the uchimizu tradition and you will always find it at the temizuya fountains in Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples.

They are always carefully aligned on a rack, according to the temizu cleansing ritual. But during modern times, versions of metal or even plastic started to replace the traditional wood… like the ones from this photo, taken on Mount Kurama, near Kyoto.

Kurama-dera, Kyoto

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: To-ji, the only surviving Kyoto Imperial Temple