"The Stylish Smoker's Items" Exhibition

Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum

This event has ended.

The habit of smoking began in the early Edo period when the Portuguese introduced it to Japan. Upon arriving in Nagasaki, smoking spread through the smaller cities and rapidly through Kyoto. With the rising demand of tobacco, they were eventually grown on local soil. In the beginning, cigars were rather big but they became more compact with time as people saw it more as an accessory than a tool. Originally they were made of metal, but eventually more precious materials such as gold and silver were used and intricate ornamentation was added. Other items such as tobacco cases also went through similar transformations. The exhibition features accessories created by artisans that contributed to the tobacco culture of Japan from the late Edo period to the early Showa period.