Copyright
© 2001 & 2002 John C. Loring
On the town with a kiseru – the personal smoking ensemble. It’s a bit redundant to speak of going out of
the house with a kiseru in 19th century
“He
draws from his girdle a Japanese pipe-case and tobacco pouch combined; pulls
out of the pipe-case a little brass pipe with a bowl scarcely large enough to
hold a pea; pulls out of the pouch some tobacco so finely cut that it looks
like hair, stuffs a tiny pellet of this preparation in the pipe, and begins to
smoke. He draws the smoke into his
lungs, and blows it out again through his nostrils. Three little whiffs, at intervals of about
half a minute, and the pipe, emptied, is replaced in its case.” Lafcadio Hearn (aka Yakumo Koizumi), Glimpses
of Unfamiliar Japan, 1894.
“In
Lacking pockets in their clothing, Japanese,
especially women, often carried small objects in the sleeves or upper folds of
their kimono, robes or inside their obi (waist band). In terms of smoking articles this would be a kiseru
(sometimes in a cloth or leather sleeve) and kizami-tabako, perhaps in a tatohgami, which in turn would
be in a tabako-ire (a small paper, cloth or leather pouch for tobacco)
or if the kiseru was longer then the
pouch the pipe would be carried between
the pouch opening and the flap, the flap keeping the pipe in place). Initially, a cord (himo) might be wound
around the tabako-ire to keep it
closed, but by the 19th century tabako-ire
had closure clasps. For a woman this ensemble was sometimes referred to as a memochi. It is said that this style was also favored
in the 17th and 18th century by samurai and the male
nobility and in the late 19th century with the coming of western
men’s clothing styles, men of all classes might carry tabako-ire
ensembles of this sort in one of their pockets.
The better known ensembles, at least to collectors
however, are those that were worn by men through the 19th century hung
from their obi. Lacking pockets, Japanese men most often
carried sagemono, small objects, hung from their obi, waist
band, on a pair of cords, himo,
kept together by a small oval guide with a single hole, ojime, through
which the himo was threaded. Typically the himo passed underneath the obi and was kept
from slipping free by a netsuke (the 'u' is silent), a
toggle. The most common sagemono
were pipe cases, kiseru-zutsu, and tobacco carries, tabako-ire,
if a pouch, or tonkotsu, if a case.
A man’s
personal smoking ensemble was typically carried in one of three
fashions:
A sage tabako-ire ensemble which appears to be the oldest style, had a netsuke attached to two himo pairs, one pair passed through an ojime and ended with either a tabako-ire or tonkotsu and the other pair held a kiseru-zutsu with or without an ojime in between. The himo passed behind the obi, kept in place by the netsuke above with the kiseru-zutsu and tabako-ire or tonkotsu dangled below. It should be noted that while this ensemble style was meant to hang from the obi, men are frequently pictured in prints, sculpture and photographs carrying the ensemble by hand by the netsuke and one can find derogatory 19th century accounts of wealthy merchants ostentatiously flaunting a prized ensemble in this manner while walking down the street. (An older variation of this type of ensemble would also have a flint pouch, hiuchi-bukuro, either on a third himo pair or acting as the netsuke.)
A koshizashi tabako-ire ensemble, which appears to have become increasingly popular during the 19th century, had a kiseru-zutsu at one end of the himo, either a tobako-ire or tonkotsu at the other end and an ojime in between. In this style ensemble the kiseru-zutsu acted as a netsuke. Most often the pipe case was thrust behind the obi with the tobacco carry dangled on a short himo in front rather then below the obi. However, with delicate cases the case might have been hung in front of the obi with the himo passing behind the obi, as in a sage tabako-ire ensemble, and the tobacco carry hanging below. (Paintings and prints from before the 19th century sometimes show koshizashi tabako-ire ensembles with a tabako-ire held by a himo wrapped around the pouch. I suspect that this is not so much a variation of style but an indication that tabako-ire did not yet have a closure clasp.)
A third style, actually a variant of the sage tabako-ire, came into favor in the
late 19th century, apparently led by trend setting kabuki
actors. This style had a large manju netsuke at one end of a
multi-stranded metal chain, a decorative, fixed ojime (looking more like a napkin ring then a
typical ojime) and
a tabako-ire at the other end.
Either the tabako-ire
would hold both kizami-tabako and a small kiseru or alternatively a tsutsu of the same material as the tabako-ire would attach at the ojime (as opposed to the netsuke) and hang at a slant behind the tabako-ire.
In these ensembles the ostensible purpose of the ojime
was to keep the himo threaded through it together and thereby keep the
tobacco carry from opening.
However, functionally this was
largely necessary only for a tonkotsu or an early tabako-ire lacking a clasp, otherwise the ojime was essentially
decorative and occasionally omitted.
It is said that prior to the 19th
century, nobles and samurai generally did not wear these ensembles because they
interfered with the carrying of weapons and inro. However, paintings and prints from prior to
the 19th century indicate that this was not always the case and it
certainly was not the case in the latter part of the 19th century
when even the emperor was seen wearing a smoking ensemble out-of-doors.
While the functional purpose of the personal smoking
ensemble was to carry smoking necessities, the ensembles served a larger
purpose. For the wealthy in a society where men did not wear jewelry and only
nobles and samurai were allowed to wear swords, a beautifully and expensively
decorated personal smoking ensemble became an important status symbol. This importance only increased after the
1870s when nobles and samurai were similarly barred from wearing weapons. And for all classes regardless of wealth, the
decoration choices for personal smoking ensembles allowed for individual
expression in a conformist society.
Indeed, it is that quality and individuality of decoration that makes
the personal smoking ensemble and its constituents particularly collectable sagemono.
The average person of course would make up an
ensemble on his or her own, but the wealthier would have it assembled by the fukuro-monoya, a pouch and purse maker, who acted as a
general contractor with all the necessary artisans and who might present the
completed ensemble in a hakogaki, a
custom box certifying the artisans who made the various components, or if the
ensemble was made by only one or two artisans, in a tomobako, a box signed by the artisans themselves. When the ensemble was made up of the same
materials it was called a tomozutsu. But in fact the Japanese were not particularly
concerned with keeping a smoking ensemble intact, rather they would freely
change components to fit the occasion, the season, or personal taste. Indeed the individual expression inherent in
the ensemble was very much to the point:
“I used
to collect the different components, one by one, when ever I found a really
good one. Then I would select a suiguchi and gankubi and have a pipe made, pick out a pipecase to match it, then
an ojime, and finally a tabako-ire with certain kanagu.
I had a shokunin (artisan) put
them all together. There are very few
set in my collection that were already assembled. I had them put together just the way I wanted
them.” Katsura Bunraku, a late 19th century raconteur whose personal
smoking ensemble collection is now displayed at the
Lastly, while the focus of this paper is the
utilitarian, as opposed to the artistic side of Japanese tobacciana, a note
about signatures applicable to all tobacciana elements is appropriate. In the early period into the 18th
century, it should not expected that any of these elements will be found
signed. No matter how finely executed
they were simply considered every day objects, not objects of art. Further, in that early period and well into
the 19th century, many of the finest artisans were retainers of the
upper classes. When they crafted a piece
in such a capacity, often their best work, that piece was rarely, if ever,
signed. Consequently unsigned pieces may
be simply quite ordinary or alternatively of the very finest quality. A signature can have an equally ambivalent
meaning. While a significant portion of
quality 19th century pieces were signed, as signing became more the
custom, so too were many of the common place.
Moreover, towards the end of 19th century some pieces, most especially netsuke,
were specifically made for export to the West.
These pieces were invariably signed, indeed fine older unsigned pieces
collected for export sometimes had 'fake' signatures added prior to export. The foregoing is but a glimpse at the
complexity of signatures (or the lack thereof) on Japanese tobacciana but in short, first, last and foremost the
rule to follow is that a piece must be judged by its intrinsic quality and not
the presence or absence of a signature.
I turn now to the individual
components of a pipe ensemble.
Copyright
© 2001 & 2002 John C. Loring