10 | History of Glass: Glass Manufacturing in Japan, Part 3

Hello, this is the 10th entry in this blog. I started it thinking it might be a bit of a challenge, but so far, once I start writing, I remember "oh, there was this and that too," and I enjoy recalling and researching various things as I write... I don't know how long this enthusiasm will last (laughs).

In Osaka, Harimaya Seibei, who learned glassmaking from the Portuguese in 1751, began manufacturing glass around Tenma, Kita-ku, Osaka City.

A little earlier than that, during the Shotoku era (1711-1715), glass manufacturing techniques were introduced to Edo. According to "Kiyu Shoran," published in 1830, "Even now, there is a glassmaker (biidoro-shi) named Nagashimaya Hanbei in Asakusa, who is over 70 years old. His foster father was Gennojo. It is said that he was the one who started blowing glass (biidoro) in Edo. Considering this, it seems that the beginning was around the Shotoku era."

Then, in "Shokunin Burui," published in 1770, it is recorded that glass was already being manufactured in Edo at that time, and the variety of glass products had increased. However, the progenitors of Edo glass are said to be Kyubei Minagawa of Kagaya and Tokusaburo Arihara of Kazusaya. Kagaya, which manufactured and sold metal round mirrors and string-attached spectacles in Torishio-cho, Nihonbashi (now around Nihonbashi Bakurocho), Edo, planned to manufacture glass during the Bunsei era (1818-1829) and sent his clerk, Bunjiro (later renamed Kyubei), to Osaka. Bunjiro trained for several years under Izumiya Kahei, who had become independent from Harimaya, and then returned to Edo to manufacture glass.

In 1839 (Tenpo 10), Kyubei Minagawa branched off from Kagaya and became independent, naming himself Kagaya Kyubei, commonly known as "Kaga-kyu," and opened a shop in Odemmacho to begin manufacturing and selling glass. It is said that Kagaya Kyubei invented cut glass by carving patterns onto the glass surface with diamond sand in 1834 (Tenpo 5). This is considered the first Edo Kiriko, and this is where Edo Kiriko originated. At the same time, Kyubei also manufactured glass for scientific and medical use for the first time in Japan. He is regarded as the ancestor of Japan's glass development, excelling in both talent and business acumen.

Edo Kiriko at that time was not in the indigo blue or red colors seen today, but rather clear glass with flower-like patterns.

Kagaya Hikkifuda (like a modern catalog)

[Reference] Taisho era cut glass