[VILLAGE Report vol.34] 23 Items, the Most in Japan | Tokyo

We now enter the Kanto region. First, Tokyo.

Tokyo has 23 nationally designated traditional craft items. This is the highest number among all prefectures.

Kyoto has 17 (vol.22), and Niigata has 17 (vol.33). The top three have completely different characters.

Kyoto grew through orders from the imperial court and temples and shrines. Niigata grew because of snow. So what made Tokyo grow?

Townspeople, not daimyo

Edo was Japan’s first city to reach a scale where "Townspeople buy things with their own money" such a scale became possible.

In Ishikawa (vol.31), we wrote that the domain continued investing in crafts. There, the customers were daimyo.

Edo’s customers were merchants, artisans, actors, and anglers. That is why the things produced have a different character.

The shogunate repeatedly issued bans on luxury. Each time, craftsmanship was lavished on places that could not be seen from the outside It moves in that direction. Haori jackets with elaborate linings, and komon kimono patterns that look plain from a distance.

This is why so many Tokyo crafts are “plain-looking, but intricately made.”

Edo Kiriko began in 1834

Edo Kiriko is said to have begun in 1834, or Tenpo 5, when Kagaya Kyubei, a glass merchant in Edo, engraved the surface of glass using sand.

nanako, yarai, kiku-tsunagi, asanoha— The pattern names all come from designs found on kimono and similar garments. They placed existing designs onto the new material of glass.

Edo Glass is designated separately from kiriko. This is the blown and shaped side. It is the same as how copper in Toyama (vol.32) and copper in Niigata (vol.33) were separated into casting and hammering. The person who makes the form and the person who adds the pattern are different trades.

The island’s yellow silk

Honba Kihachijo is a silk textile woven on Hachijo Island.

All of its colors are taken from plants that grow naturally on the island. Yellow from kobunagusa grass, brown (birch) from madami, and black from chinquapin.

And what is used to fix the color is Ash from the island’s camellias and mud. Both the dyes and the mordants are made without bringing in anything from outside the island.

Within the administrative area called Tokyo, there is a craft so different from those of the city center. The separation of the islands works much like the mountains of Nagano (vol.28).

Who printed the ukiyo-e?

Edo Woodblock Prints are the very technique used to make ukiyo-e.

What matters is that this was work done by a team of three. the artist, the carver, and the printer. A publisher, or producer, joined them.

The names of Hokusai and Hiroshige remain, but the names of the people who carved and printed them have mostly not survived.

Shiga’s Hikone butsudan Buddhist altars (vol.21) were also made through a division of labor across seven trades. Division of labor raises quality, but in exchange it erases the names of the makers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Why do Tokyo crafts use both “Edo” and “Tokyo” in their names?
A. In general, “Edo” tends to be used for crafts that have continued since the Edo period, while “Tokyo” tends to be used for crafts or regions that took shape from the Meiji period onward. However, this is not a strict rule.

Q. Are all 23 items made within Tokyo?
A. They include production areas outside the city center, such as the Tama region (Murayama Oshima Tsumugi and Tama Ori) and Hachijo Island (Honba Kihachijo).

Next issue: Kanagawa.

References: Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Traditional Crafts Association, Hachijo Town, Musashimurayama City, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries

—The Value Village Editorial Team

Photo: elminium / CC BY 2.0 (Flickr)