Cast Iron Bottle Opener (Rooster)

The rooster—tori (酉) in Japanese—is one of the twelve zodiac animals, associated with fidelity and the disciplined marking of time. This bottle opener borrows its form from that tradition, casting the bird’s compact silhouette in Nambu iron.

Made by Suzuki Morihisa, a foundry now in its 16th generation in Iwate Prefecture, the piece belongs to the centuries-old Nambu tekki lineage of cast iron craft. The iron is sand-cast, giving the surface a fine, matte grain that develops character with handling over time.

It functions cleanly as a bottle opener and sits well on a counter or bar shelf when not in use—a small, purposeful object with more history behind it than most.