Edo Kiriko

Colour cut to clear

Edo kiriko is glass cut with spinning metal discs and whetstones into sparkling patterns. Traditional motifs include chrysanthemums and hemp leaves, and everyday Edo things such as kagome basket weave and lattices, which makers combine into their own designs. Once mostly clear glass, today it is mostly iro-kise: clear glass cased in a thin coloured layer, so the cut lines flash clear against the colour. It is made in eastern Tokyo wards in Tokyo and in parts of Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa and Ibaraki.

Four steps, no drawing

• Reference lines and points are marked on the glass.
• Grooves for the pattern are rough-ground with metal discs, sometimes in two or three stages.
• Stone wheels refine the pattern and cut the finest details.
• The cut surfaces are polished to a shine. No design is drawn on the glass: the pattern comes from the maker's trained eye and hand.

Copying English glass

Edo kiriko is said to have begun in 1834, when Kagaya Kyubei, who ran a glass shop in Odenmacho in Edo, carved glass in imitation of English cut glass. A story tells that Commodore Perry marvelled at a cut-glass bottle from Kagaya presented to him. In Meiji, English instructors brought Western cutting techniques, the start of many of today's precise cuts.