Stories

Edo Kiriko is hand-cut glass from Tokyo: a colour skin under 1mm thick is laid over clear glass, then ground away on spinning wheels so the pattern reads as bright clear lines through the colour.

Satsuma Kiriko is Kagoshima cut glass made by fusing a 1-5mm layer of colour over clear crystal and cutting through it so the colour fades into the clear in a gradation called bokashi.

Aoba is a chopstick company founded in 1968 in Obama City, Fukui Prefecture, whose own site describes its products as Wakasa lacquered chopsticks made by local craftspeople.

Asahido is a Kyoto ceramics house founded in 1870 at the approach to Kiyomizu Temple, still tracing its own history proprietor by proprietor and known today for Kiyomizu-yaki porcelain tableware.

Cakeland is the baking brand CAKE LAND, run since 1978 by Tigercrown Co., Ltd., a confectionery-equipment maker based in Tsubame, Niigata that plans the tools and has local companies make them.

Haku Glass is the Edo Kiriko brand of Tokyo craftsman Yoshihiro Mitamura, known for pairing delicate traditional patterns with bold, dynamic cuts.

Hatsukokoro is a Japanese knife brand that commissions its lines from named smiths and workshops in Takefu, Sakai and Kochi rather than forging from one house.

Hirota Glass is a Tokyo glassware house founded in 1899 by Kinta Hirota, now based in Sumida and known for Edo Kiriko cut glass alongside hand-blown tableware.

Ichiyama is a pottery range whose plates and bowls one of our own listings places in Toki, in Japan's Mino ware district, with no independently published company history found.

Ikenaga Iron Works is a cast-iron manufacturer founded in Osaka in 1937, known today for Nambu ironware kettles and teapots and for its own line of ice-shaving machines.

Kagami Crystal is a Tokyo-founded crystal house started in 1934 by Kozo Kagami as Japan's first factory built only for crystal; it now cuts Edo Kiriko at its own plant in Ryugasaki, Ibaraki.

Masutani Hamono is a family kitchen knife workshop in Echizen, Fukui, that has carried the region's centuries-old Echizen Uchihamono blade-forging tradition across four generations.

Nabetani Glass Crafts is a family Edo Kiriko workshop in Ota ward, Tokyo, founded in 1949, now led by Junichi Nabetani and his son Kaito as its third and fourth generations.

Nemoto Glass is a three-generation Edo Kiriko workshop in Koto ward, Tokyo, founded in 1959 by Nemoto Yukio, whose son and grandson now cut the whisky glasses we carry.

Nigara is a knife forge in Hirosaki, Aomori, tracing its roots back 350 years to swordsmiths of the Tsugaru Clan, now working mostly in SG2 and Aogami Super steel.

Nippon Kodo is the Tokyo incense maker we stock the most of, 45 items, with roots over 400 years old and a formal founding in 1965.

Nousaku is a metal foundry from Takaoka, Toyama Prefecture, founded in 1916, known for tableware cast in 100 per cent pure tin.

Rinzen is a Tokyo Edo Kiriko studio in Edogawa Ward, opened in January 2021 by craftsmen who left a larger glass manufacturer to cut and sell under their own name.

Sakai Takayuki is a knife brand from Sakai, the Osaka cutlery city once known for swords, whose Damascus line comes from its own Aoki Hamono workshop.

Toa Glass is an Edo Kiriko workshop in Ota Ward, Tokyo, run by Nabetani Satoshi, a Minister-designated traditional craftsman who apprenticed under his father before joining the workshop in 1996.

Tojiro is a knife maker in Tsubame, Niigata, founded in 1953 as a farm equipment workshop and making kitchen knives there since 1955, inside the Tsubame Sanjo metalworking region.

Yamada Glass is a four-generation Edo Kiriko workshop in Sumida, Tokyo, founded by Yamada Eitaro, who trained under a British instructor and developed his own flower-cutting technique.

Arita ware and Imari ware are the same porcelain: Imari is simply the port near Arita that it shipped out from.

Banko ware is pottery from Yokkaichi, Mie, made with a petalite-rich clay that resists cracking under direct flame, which is why most Japanese donabe hot pots are made from it.

Kutani ware is colour-glazed porcelain from Kutani, now part of Kaga in Ishikawa Prefecture, founded in 1655 and known for gosai, five strong overglaze colours painted onto white porcelain.

Seto ware is pottery from Seto in Aichi Prefecture, where potters first made glazed pottery in Japan, and Mino ware is pottery from eastern Gifu, made later by potters who moved there from Seto.

Shigaraki ware is stoneware from Koka City, Shiga Prefecture, one of Japan's Six Ancient Kilns, fired without a glaze from clay unique to the old Paleo-Lake Biwa Formation.

Wash urushi lacquerware by hand in cool water, dry it with a soft cloth straight away, and keep it away from the dishwasher, the microwave, direct sunlight and very dry air.

It depends on the piece: glaze, hand paint, lacquer and metal decoration all change whether Japanese pottery is safe for the dishwasher or the microwave, so check the listing.

Porcelain is fired hotter and vitrifies completely, so it is pale and translucent, while stoneware is only partially vitrified, opaque and usually grey or brownish from impurities in the clay.

Tin is a soft, corrosion-resistant metal that gives Japanese drinking vessels a quick temperature response and a different feel in the hand.

Cakeland's range covers loaf, chiffon, springform and madeleine moulds in aluminised steel, chrome plating and non-stick coatings, so match the tin's shape and coating to the bake you are making.

Japanese bowls split by job rather than one shape, from the rice bowl lifted in one hand to the donburi and kobachi that stay on the table, and we stock several kiln traditions across all three.

A chopstick rest keeps the tips of your chopsticks off the table between bites, and we carry them mostly in hand-painted ceramic from several small potteries plus a pair of tin designs from Nousaku.

Choose chopsticks by material first (everyday lacquer-coated wood, genuine urushi lacquer, or glass) and then by length, from about 21 to 25 centimetres for an adult pair.

A softer surface protects a thin Japanese edge, so choose Hasegawa's wood-core PE for dishwasher use or its softer rubber for the gentlest cut, then pick the size that fits your bench.

A donabe is a Japanese clay pot built for direct flame, and choosing one means matching its shape, size and stove compatibility to what you actually cook.

Kazuya Yoshida's clay cats sit at the top of the range, and Mino ware, Shigaraki and Kanesan pieces fill the affordable end, each sized and stock checked here.

Hirota Glass supplies most of what we stock outside the whisky and sake shelves, alongside a Kagami crystal wine glass, a Tajima rocking wine glass and Tsugaru Biidoro's coloured tumblers.

A hibachi or konro is a small charcoal grill usually cut from diatomite, and though Kinka's Okunoto bodies and the binchotan for them are sold out, the mesh and skewer that go with one are in stock.

Kayuragi carries single traditional scents while Scentscape and Ka-fuh use no-core blends, and burn time varies by product rather than by length alone.

An incense holder catches ash and holds a stick or cone steady while it burns, and ours range across brass and glass, cast tin, cast iron and handmade ceramic.

Start from the job you do most, since a gyuto, santoku, nakiri, petty, sujihiki, deba or yanagiba is shaped for a different cutting task rather than ranked by quality.

A grater grates, a mandoline slices evenly and shears cut bone and shell, so pick the single-purpose tool built for the job you actually have.

A wooden saya is pinned to fit one blade shape and length, and a plastic or magnetic guard covers a band of edge lengths instead, but only a completely dry knife should go into either one.

A kyusu is the everyday Japanese teapot for brewing loose-leaf green tea, with a side handle for a one-handed pour and a built-in strainer that catches the leaves as it pours.

A mug is a Western shape that several of the kilns we stock now make alongside their traditional teacups and bowls, in the same glazes and clay traditions.

Match the metal to the stove: iron and treated steel woks and pans mostly work on induction, aluminium pieces mostly stay gas only and cast iron and some stainless pieces cover both.

Japanese tableware is sized in sun, a traditional unit of about three centimetres, and the scale runs from a small mamezara dish to a full dinner plate, while bowls follow a separate scale.

Choose a Japanese sake set by matching cup and tokkuri to how someone drinks: everyday meals want a tokkuri and ochoko pair; warm sake wants thick ceramic, and cold sake wants glass or metal.

A yunomi is the everyday cup for steeped tea, a chawan is the wider bowl for whisking matcha, and the shorter kumidashi cup is the less casual one kept for gyokuro and high-grade sencha.

Nousaku's bendable tin vases suit a single stem with a warm cast finish, and Kutani ware's hand painted porcelain vase suits a splash of colour, both sized for a shelf or a desk.

Match the stone to the job, a coarse grit for reshaping or chips, a middle grit for routine sharpening and a fine grit for polishing, then check whether it needs soaking.

Nearly all of it is Edo Kiriko cut crystal from eight named Japanese glass houses, plus two Satsuma Kiriko pieces from Kagoshima.

Light the tip until it flames, blow it out so it glows, then set it in a matching holder in a still spot away from curtains and never leave it unattended.

Rinse a matcha bowl in warm water right after use, and rinse the bamboo whisk in plain water without soap, drying it tip-down on a stand rather than in its box.

To use a konro grill with binchotan, light it slowly in a chimney starter, bank the coals under one half, cook over the hot side, and put them out in a lidded hikeshi-tsubo.

Rinse and wash a board straight after use, dry it the way its maker recommends, oil solid wood occasionally, sanitise sometimes and never put a solid wood board in the dishwasher.

Wash a cast iron teapot or kettle by hand with no detergent or scrubbing, then dry it fully and keep it off the dishwasher and microwave.

Clean any factory coating off the pan, heat it until the steel turns blue grey, then wipe on a thin layer of oil and repeat that cycle before the first real cook.

Season a new donabe once before you cook in it: simmer a thin rice porridge until it thickens, let it cool in the pot for an hour, then rinse and dry it upside down.

Work up through a few grits of whetstone at a shallow, steady angle, feel for a burr before you move on, then rinse, dry and store the knife and the stone separately.

Warm a kyusu before brewing, empty it straight after pouring, rinse the strainer with plain water, then dry it fully with the lid off.

Wash cut glass by hand in lukewarm water with neutral detergent, work the cut faces with a soft brush, never use a dishwasher, and wipe it dry with a cloth before it air-dries.

James Zhang spent an afternoon at the Satsuma Kiriko factory in Kagoshima on 27 October 2022, from the furnace to the finished shelf.

Kakumei's own team sets a home table with a rice bowl on the left, a soup bowl on the right, a main plate behind, small dishes alongside, chopsticks on a rest, and a cup, all pieces sold in the shop.

James Zhang visited three Tokyo Edo Kiriko workshops, Rinzen and Tadano Glass in April and Haku Glass in June 2022, and this is what he saw at each.

Kakumei is a homeware shop in Braddon, Canberra, run by its owner, who imports directly from Japan and picks every piece on the shelf himself in person.