Edo Sashimono

Clean lines, Edo style

Kyoto's sashimono grew up serving the court and the tea ceremony. Edo Sashimono, by contrast, was made for samurai, merchants and Edo kabuki actors. It makes the most of the wood's grain, avoids heavy decoration, and expresses Edo's chic iki style through clean shapes and solid construction. Mulberry from Mikurajima island, called shima-kuwa, is prized as the finest wood. It is made in Taito, Arakawa, Adachi, Katsushika and Koto in Tokyo as chests, desks, shelves, boxes, hibachi braziers and items for tea and Japanese music.

Joints you never see

Boards and rods are joined without nails: makers carve interlocking joints with chisels and knives so the pieces fit together. Edges may be shaped with small handmade planes. The joints cannot be seen in the finished piece, yet the hidden parts get the most skill, so the furniture is very strong and lasts for decades.

Craft streets of Edo

In the Edo period the Tokugawa shogunate brought craftsmen from all over Japan and set up craft districts for carpenters, smiths and dyers around Kanda and Nihonbashi. As city life grew richer in the mid-Edo period, carpentry split into specialised trades, and one of them, the sashimono maker, continues today.