Tsuga 'Tokyo' rice straw broom

A dark bamboo handled, red- and black-twine bound brush of broom-corn/rice-straw, which is neither from rice nor corn, but a kind of sorghum grass traditionally planted on 5th June and harvested around the 20th August — after about 75 days growth — giving the optimum length between ligule (the point at which the stem splits) and tip for the production of properly measured corn brushes. Hand bound in Tsuga, Tochigi prefecture by Mr and Mrs Araki, who have been making similar brooms for over sixty years. Roughly 90cm by 35cm.