Edo Glass soy sauce pot making workshop!

<<Greg's Experience Report!!>>

The Edo glass making experience was truly one of a kind! The workshop where our enthusiastic host, Takayuki Shiina, polishes his unique pieces is like something out of a Miyazaki movie. There are levers, wheels, pulleys and the polishing machines that they run, criss-crossing the entire space. The entire shop springs to life as soon as Takayuki San starts the motor running the steel, stone and wood polishing wheels all at once. He explains to us that this type of setup, a system derived from the Edo period (1603 – 1868), is the last of its kind in Japan, and possibly the world.

We select a soy sauce pot from his workbench and watch as he demonstrates the diamond tipped drilling. One by one, we are brought to the press and asked to drill out the bottle neck to allow the stopper to fit. We test the fit by pouring water from the spout. The uniquely designed stopper is tight enough to keep the lid on without any assistance but also allow a steady stream at the same time.

Overall, I thought the experience was really great! We got to see a traditional style of Japanese craft in action, participate in a small portion of the process and keep a truly unique and cool looking piece of glassware as a souvenir!


If you would like to have this experience, you can reserve through Edo Glass soy sauce pot making workshop