On a chilly night in late November, Seizo Hashimoto, 65, was stood beside his stall at Otori Shrine in Asakusa, Tokyo, selling ornamental bamboo rakes that are believed to "catch and rake in" wealth and good luck in the coming year.
His family's income depends solely on selling the rakes at shrines in the Kanto region during the winter period between November and January. The rest of the year is devoted to making the rakes, which are called kumade in Japanese. Among 100 rake-makers that operate today, his Tokyo-based company is one of only 20 family-run firms that make their living only through the rake business.
Hashimoto, who inherited the rake-making firm launched more than 100 years ago by his grandfather, said he was mostly content with his life as a third-generation rake-maker. The business has been stable for the past 40 years, even after the collapse of the bubble economy in the 1990s, he said.
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