Process of Moxa
- ① Dehydration of mugwort leaves.
- In order to manufacture moxa from mugwort, the mugwort must be harvested between May and July, before it has grown too big, and then sun dried on a sunny day. After that, it should be stored in a dark room until winter. For the best quality, further manufacturing should take place in mid-winter, when it is extremely cold. The mugwort should once again be dehydrated, this time using a charcoal fire or briquette. About 187 kg of raw mugwort per day should be placed in the furnace room for a 24 hour period.
- ② Crushing the leaves.
- Once thoroughly dried, in order to make the mugwort leaves easy to put in the stone mortar, the mugwort leaves are cut to a uniform length using a cutting machine.
- ③ Rough grinding
- The revolution of the pestle of the stone mortar (a rough grinding stone) pushes the cut mugwort leaves into the mortar and crushes the leaves. After that, a sieve is used to sift through it and low-grade moxa is created.
- ④ Fine grinding
- When making high-grade moxa, the moxa is finely ground for a second or third time (using different mortar and pestle sizes and revolution numbers). The revolution numbers and mortar and pestle sizes used are based on long years of experience.
- ⑤ Sieving
- The moxa is separated from foreign substances using a rotating sieve. The finer the sifting, the higher the quality of the moxa.
- ⑥ Winnowing
- A number 1 and number 2 winnower (with differences in revolution number and size) are used to thoroughly remove any further impurities and create high-grade moxa. Quality is altered by revolution speed and time. It is said that raw mugwort produces only 2-3% the quantity of high-grade moxa.
- *To provide stable quality moxa to customers, we store the moxa manufactured in Niigata's moxa factories, in Shiga's storehouses. Then every fiscal year, we blend the moxa, which is slightly different in quality each year because they are products of nature, and winnow for the final adjustment.
