In Japanese cuisine

Japanese cuisine

Japanese cuisine has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes throughout Japan. The cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun rule...

, a hangiri (半切 or 飯切), also known as handai (飯台, a rice table or a rice bowl) is a round, flat-bottom wooden tub or barrel used in the final steps of preparing rice for sushi

Sushi

is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...

. Traditional hangiri are made from cypress

Chamaecyparis

Chamaecyparis is a genus of conifers in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to eastern Asia and western and eastern North America. In the nursery trade it is often incorrectly known as "false cypress" for lack of other common name, so as to distinguish it from other similar genera bearing...

 wood bound with two copper bands. They range in diameter from about 30 cm (1 ft) for use at home, to 1 meter (3 feet) for use in a restaurant.

The hangiri and a shamoji

Shamoji

A shamoji is a flat rice paddle used in Japanese cuisine. It is used to stir and to serve rice, and to mix vinegar into the rice for sushi....

 wooden paddle are used to dress and to cool the rice. After cooking, the rice is transferred to the hangiri where it is tossed with a dressing made of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. When the mixing is complete, it is covered with a cloth (fukin) and allowed to cool.

A typical "hangiri" may cost two or three times as much as an expensive steel cooking pot.

The Wikibook Cookbook has a detailed recipe for preparing sushi rice.
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Sushi