Traditional craft
Tokyo Ginki
東京銀器
Hand-hammered sterling silver tea and sake ware from Tokyo, raised from a single sheet and finished with hammer textures or engraving.
Key facts
- Officially recognised
- 12 January 1979
- Type
- Metalwork
- Region
- Kanto
- Official name in Japanese
- 東京銀器
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 特別区（港区を除く）、武蔵野市、町田市、小平市、西東京市
Silver that improves with use
Tokyo Ginki is made of silver at least 925 parts in 1,000 pure. It is elegant, long-lasting and harmless, so it is used for tea and sake ware, flower vessels, ornaments and accessories, and it gains character the more it is used. Pieces are made either by tankin, raising the form with hammers, or chokin, chasing patterns with chisels. It is made across most of Tokyo's wards and in Musashino, Machida, Kodaira and Nishitokyo.
One sheet, many hammers
- A single sheet of silver is hammered and raised into the shape of the vessel.
- Patterning hammers add textures such as round hammer marks, a woven-mat gozame look or a rocky ganseki finish.
- Some pieces are engraved with chisels instead.
Silversmiths of Edo
Tokyo Ginki began in the mid-Edo period with shirogane-shi, silversmiths who made vessel bodies for engravers, and kinko-shi, ornament makers who made combs, kanzashi hairpins and fittings for portable shrines. They thrived in Edo because the city had the gold and silver mints and was the political, economic and cultural centre where the daimyo gathered.
Good to know
- Silver gains character with use, so choose a piece you will reach for often.
- A silver sake cup is a compact gift that packs easily.
Questions travellers ask
How pure is Tokyo Ginki silver?
At least 925 parts in 1,000, the same as sterling silver.
What is tankin?
Raising a vessel from a flat sheet of metal with hammers.
Where it comes from
More crafts from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.