On Thursday, March 22, 2018, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government designated the "Tokyo Umbrella" as a traditional craft. The city currently has 41 designated traditional crafts, and this is the first time in 11 years that a new designation has been made.
What is Tokyo Umbrella?
In Tokyo, the birthplace of Western-style umbrella manufacturing in Japan, traditional techniques that have been used for over 100 years are still used today in almost the same form.
In this area where culture and information come together, umbrellas that maintain traditional techniques while also improving functionality and fashionability are called "Tokyo Umbrellas."
Western-style umbrellas, which were brought to Edo from the West, evolved into Japanese-made umbrellas by artisans in Tokyo during the Meiji period.
Western umbrellas first came into use in the Greek era. They then spread throughout Europe, and in the 1800s they were introduced to Japan, which has a culture of Japanese umbrellas. At the end of the Edo period, there is a historical fact that the Western umbrellas brought by Captain Harris when Perry arrived to sign the Treaty of Peace and Amity between the United States and Japan attracted attention in Japan.
Tokyo craftsmen tried and tested many things to make umbrellas, which were a symbol of Western culture. Then, in 1872 (Meiji 5), Aoki Motoji established the Honjo Nagaokacho (present-day Sumida Ward) Western Umbrella Manufacturing Company and began full-scale umbrella production. This allowed Tokyo to be called the birthplace of Japanese-made Western umbrellas.
Since the 1970s, low-priced products from other countries have become popular.
There are only a dozen or so umbrella craftsmen left in Tokyo
Tokyo-made umbrellas once flourished, but in the 1970s, low-priced umbrellas produced overseas began to spread, and the number of umbrellas produced in Japan, including Tokyo, dropped sharply. According to the Ministry of Finance's "Customs Statistics," the number of umbrellas purchased domestically was about 120 million, and the number of umbrellas imported was about 119.2 million (2014), which means that each citizen throws away one umbrella every year.
This situation has led to a decline in the number of umbrella craftsmen in Japan, with only a dozen or so left in Tokyo. Therefore, we hope to use the designation of Tokyo umbrellas as a traditional craft as an opportunity to spread the appeal of Tokyo umbrellas both domestically and internationally, to secure and train successors, and to preserve, pass on and improve training techniques, with the aim of re-establishing umbrellas as a Tokyo brand.