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Lacquerware supplier to emperor of Japan and Pokémon team up for new tableware

Casey Baseel Dec 24, 2025
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Yamada Heiando has been in business for over 100 years, but it’s still got new ideas for its Pokémon crossover line.

Pokémon will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next year. That’s an impressive milestone for an entertainment franchise, but their partner in their newest creative endeavor also knows a thing or two about staying consistently popular, as 2026 will mark Yamada Heiando’s 107th year in business.

Founded in Tokyo in 1919, Yamada Heiando specializes in lacquerware, and its reputation for beauty and quality is so strong that it counts the emperor of Japan and his family among its fans, as it’s a supplier to the imperial household by royal warrant. You don’t have to be a member of the nobility to own a piece of Yamada Heiando art, though, and showing that they’ve got a playful side too, they’re now offering lacquer bowls bearing the image of Pokémon Swinub.

Yamada Heiando and Pokémon first teamed up back at the start of the year, when they released lacquerware bowls bearing the likenesses of Pikachu, Dragonite, and the snake-like Ekans, the later two chosen as part of an eto (Chinese zodiac animal) theming. Next came a bowl in August for Torchic (representing the Year of the Rooster), and now it’s Swinub’s turn, filling the Year of the Boar role.

Though the Ekans and Dragonite bowls were released right around the start of the Year of the Snake/end of the Year of the Dragon, the designers have been kind of cherry-picking since then, as the next Year of the Rooster is 2029, and the next Year of the Boar isn’t until 2031. Still, with Swinub looking this cute and elegant, you can’t really be upset at him for showing up early, can you?

Don’t let the sense of fun fool you into thinking that these are low-quality novelty goods, either. The Pokémon bowls are made with the same dedicated care that Yamada Heiando puts into all their pieces, with skilled craftsmen with decades of experience turning the wood, layering on the lacquer, and then, as a finishing touch, applying gold powder, in a process called maki-e, to create the Pokémon imagery.

The bowls are 10 centimeters (3.9 inches) in diameter and 6.3 inches tall, with a steady base to prevent spills (as well as surface scratching tumbles off of shelves or desks where you might want to display them). Because of they’re made of wood with a lacquer coating, the bowls stay cool to the touch even when filled with hot liquids such as miso soup, and they also come with a small lacquer spoon.

They can also be customized with your name written maki-e-style, though there’s a limit of six characters and it’s not clear if Latin alphabet letters are an option.

▼ But really, it’s hard to think of a more fitting reason to have your name written in Japanese then because you’re putting it on the side of a piece of Pokémon lacquerware.

▼ The Pokémon logo can be found on the underside.

As you can probably guess, handcrafted tableware from a company that supplies the imperial family doesn’t come cheap, but at 17,600 yen (US$115), the Pokémon Eto bowls are remarkably reasonable, as far as authentic lacquerware goes. They can be ordered, in black or red, through Yamada Heiando’s website here. Oh, and if you’re wondering what the next Pokémon to get the Eto bowl treatment is, Yamada Heiando says it’ll be releasing a Ponyta model in 2026 to celebrate the Year of the Horse.

Source: PR Times, Yamada Heiando
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times, Yamada Heiando
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