Kameido Umeyashiki, literally meaning Plum Orchard of Kameido, has been inspiring artists in Japan and all over the world for hundreds of years. Most famously, Kameido Yashiki was featured in one of ukiyo-e master Hiroshige Utagawa’s “Hundred Views of Edo” series in 1856. This print was then replicated by European artist, Vincent Van Gogh in 1887 and thus spread the beauty of Japan and Kamiedo Umeyashiki with Western culture. In 2013, a new Kameido Umeyashki was built, taking inspiration from this famous place. Kameido Umeyashiki is a tourist information center, art gallery and hotel inspired by the bustling downtown atmosphere of the Edo period. If you are in the area, be sure to stop by and enjoy the Edo-inspired architecture, ukiyo-e prints and gallery.
It is said first EDO KIRIKO was a carving on the surface of glass using emery by the glassware craftsman,Kyubei Kagaya of Edo Odenmacho in 1834. In 1873 the Shinagawa Glass Factory (modern day Kita Shinagawa 4-chome, Shinagawa-ku) was established, and an English glass-cutting expert, Emanuel Hauptmann, was invited as a glass-cutting advisor in 1881. Over ten Japanese craftsmen learned from him and this is when the traditional glassware craft technique still used to this day was developed. The popularity of Kiriko began to grow around this period along with the progress of cutting techniques as well as the popularization of glassware. In the Taisyo period, researches regarding glass materials used for cutting glass were conducted while polishing techniques for crystal glass were devloped, and this helped to further raise the Quality of EDO KIRIKO. "Cut Glass" rapidly developed to become a high-level craft and was the representation of glass crafts from the Taisho period to the early Showa period, which also became its first golden period. In 1985 EDO KIRIKO was designated as a traditional craft industry of Tokyo, and it also became designated as a traditional craft product of the country in 2002.