Traditional craft
Edo Wazao
江戸和竿
Handmade jointed fishing rods of natural bamboo from Tokyo, each straightened, jointed, thread-wrapped and lacquered by hand.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 20 May 1991
- Type
- Wood and bamboo
- Region
- Kanto
- Official name in Japanese
- 江戸和竿
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 栃木県／塩谷郡高根沢町、埼玉県／川口市ほか、千葉県／市川市ほか、東京都／千代田区ほか、神奈川県／横浜市
Rods made to fit the fish
Edo Wazao are jointed fishing rods made from natural bamboo. They are working tools: each is made to suit the fish, the fishing spot and the angler's taste, then finished with beautiful lacquer. They are made mainly in Tokyo, and also in neighbouring Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Tochigi.
From thousands of canes
- Makers are so particular that they cut their own bamboo or pick just a few canes from thousands.
- The canes are dried for several years and polished, one cane for each section of the rod.
- Each section is straightened over heat (tame) and jointed (tsugi).
- Thread is wrapped and the rod is lacquered.
Made for Edo's anglers
Edo Wazao began in Edo in the Kyoho era (1716 to 1736), when the city's anglers, blessed with the bay and clear rivers, wanted better rods. In the Tenmei era the first Toyochiya Tosaku opened a rod shop, and every Edo rodmaker today traces their lineage back to him. By the late Edo period the rods had reached the level of fine craft.
Good to know
- A wazao is a lifetime tool; many anglers keep and repair theirs for decades.
- Look closely at the silk wrapping and lacquer: they are both decoration and strength.
Questions travellers ask
What bamboo is used?
Hoteichiku, yadake, hachiku, daimyochiku or madake.
Who was Toyochiya Tosaku?
The rodmaker who opened a shop in the Tenmei era and is seen as the ancestor of all Edo rodmakers.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Gyoda: the town of tabi storehouses
- Hakone Hachiri: walking the Edo stone road over Hakone
- Japan's old schools: where a nation learned to read
- Kamakura: the samurai capital as a mosaic of history
- Kasamashiko: the sibling pottery towns of Kasama and Mashiko
- Mount Takao and Hachioji, the city of silk
- Nasunogahara: the future that Meiji nobles dreamed of
- Oyama Mairi: the Edo people's pilgrimage and day out
- Sakura, Narita, Sawara and Choshi: the Edo closest to the airport
- Tamba-Sasayama: a castle town in a folk song
- The stone islands of the Seto Inland Sea
- Utsunomiya: the underground labyrinth of Oya stone
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.