12 | History of Glass: Japanese Glass Manufacturing Part 5

Good morning!

Taito-ku in Tokyo, where Kimoto Glass is located, is an area bustling with festivals and events. On May 20th and 21st, there's the Sanja Matsuri,

May 26th, 27th, and 28th will see Taito Monomachi, an event to energize the town through craftsmanship, and then on June 10th and 11th, the Torigoe Matsuri.

The people of the old downtown area work all year for this season and then let loose at the festivals. Please do come and visit.

It is said that Edo Kiriko originated in 1839 (Tenpo 5), in the late Edo period, when Kyubei Kagaya, a glass wholesaler in Nihonbashi Odenmacho, known as "Kagakyu," sculpted glass surfaces with emery and applied cut-glass techniques.

Another person known as the progenitor of Edo glass is Tomosaburo Arihara of Kagosaya, who established a factory in Asakusa Minami-Motomachi (around present-day Kuramae in Taito-ku, near Kimoto Glass) in 1819 (Bunsei 2) and manufactured and sold hairpins, wind chimes, and other items. Furthermore, from 1828 (Bunsei 11) to 1834 (Tenpo 5), he trained in Nagasaki, then returned to Edo and continued manufacturing hairpins, wind chimes, and the like.

In Edo, only Kagakyu and Kagosaya manufactured and processed glass blanks, and they were generally referred to as "taneya" (seed shops). Other glass manufacturers purchased glass as "mochi-tane" (mochi-shaped blanks) from these taneya, remelting them to produce finished products. During the late Edo period, the main glass manufacturers were Hachijuni Fukuda (in front of Sosenji Temple, Asakusa), Gisaku Iseya (Shiba Shinmeicho Shindo), Seibei Oyama (Shiba Shinmae Mishimacho), and Gensuke Okuma (Asakusa Kayacho 2-chome). All of these were in the downtown area around present-day Asakusa, Tokyo, close to the roots of Kimoto Glass.

Also, Ainu beads were made in Edo, and since beads were cherished as indispensable ornaments by Ainu women, many dragonfly beads made in Edo are said to have traveled to Ezochi (present-day Hokkaido). It is said that a master craftsman named Ou, who specialized in making dragonfly beads, was employed at the Matsumae clan's mansion in Asakusa Kiyoshimacho. In the Edo period, glass manufacturers, called "bidoro-shi" or "gyaman-shi," were highly regarded for their manufacturing techniques and were given special privileges for establishing factories and purchasing raw materials. Some were even given stipends and allowed to carry swords.

It is clear that glass culture and manufacturing flourished in Tokyo during the Edo period.

Glass manufacturing in the Edo period

Ainu beads and Ainu attire