One log in the Kyoto mountains, reserved in your name. Watch it through the seasons — until your first shiitake appears.
An hour north of Kyoto, in the forests of Keihoku,
shiitake still grow the old way — on living oak logs.
One of these logs will carry your name.
A real oak log in Keihoku is inoculated and marked with your name and log number.
We tend it ourselves through the seasons. While your log grows, monthly reports and a quarterly box from Kyoto come to you.
When shiitake appear, we hand-harvest, dry, and ship them to your door.
From reservation to harvest. We're with you for every season in Kyoto's forests.
Your log is reserved in Kyoto's Keihoku forests.
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Photographs of your log and the mountain it stands on — every month.
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While your log grows, a box from Keihoku arrives every quarter.
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Your first shiitake has appeared.
now
We notify you the moment your first shiitake appears.
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For as long as your log gives — about three years — every harvest is hand-picked, dried in Keihoku, and sent to you.
Included in your membership — only shipping is billed separately.
Your first shiitake has appeared.
Most shiitake is grown indoors on sawdust blocks. Ours grow the old way — slowly, outdoors, on living oak.
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan — Special Forest Product Production Statistics, 2024
A log takes seasons to wake. Until yours does, a box of Kyoto craft arrives every quarter.
A sample selection — contents follow the seasons.
Once your log wakes, the box gives way to your own dried shiitake — harvest after harvest, for about three years.
Cedar ridges, a shallow river, terraced rice. Your log stands on the slope where the morning fog lingers longest — the reason shiitake here grow slowly, and dense.
Keihoku, Ukyō-ku, Kyoto — early autumn
37 of 50 logs remaining
A refundable deposit. Nothing else, until your log goes into the forest.
This season's logs have not been inoculated yet. Your $50 holds one of the fifty in your name until they are. Refund it in full at any time before then — or let it become the first month of whichever plan you choose.
Then, choose how your membership runs
$100/MO
Cancel anytime
Billing starts the month your log is inoculated.
$1,800 ONE-TIME
Save $600
Charged once, the month your log is inoculated.
Either plan is reserved with the same $50. You can switch plan, or take the deposit back, until memberships open.
Everything you might want to know before reserving.
Nature sets the pace. A newly inoculated log typically wakes after one to two full growing seasons — some sooner, some later. You'll follow its progress in every monthly report, and the moment the first cap breaks through the bark, we photograph it and tell you.
A box of Kyoto craft from Keihoku — a hand-dyed tenugui cloth, a scented sachet of Kyoto-made incense, and a folding fan of bamboo and washi. Contents follow the seasons. Once your log wakes, the box gives way to your own dried shiitake — harvest after harvest, for about three years.
Everything is sent from Kyoto with tracking, wherever you are. Your quarterly box ships with your membership — that shipping is included. Your dried shiitake costs nothing beyond your membership — only its shipping is billed separately, at cost, because weight and timing change with every flush.
Some logs simply take longer — that is the nature of the old way, and your reports will always show you honestly where yours stands. If your log has still not woken after two full growing seasons, we move your name and your plate to another log at no cost to you. Your membership also stays flexible: pause or cancel anytime.
$50 reserves your log today. It is credited to your first month when memberships begin, and refundable in full anytime before then — no questions asked.
We do, ourselves. The same hands that inoculate your log tend it through every season, in the Keihoku forests where we work.
Yes, by appointment. Keihoku is an hour north of Kyoto city, and we welcome members who would like to stand beside their own log. Write to us and we will find a date that suits the season and the work.
