Satsuma kiriko

What it is

This is a kind of cut glass, counted among Japan's traditional handmade goods. A clear body is covered by a thinner second layer of coloured glass. The maker grinds through that coloured skin with rotating wheels, clearing some ground and leaving the rest, so the design appears as a difference in tone rather than as something painted on. The effect looks soft where the glass is shallow and intense where it is thick. A related craft, Edo kiriko of Tokyo, keeps its glass colourless, while Satsuma work is known for the overlay.

Origins and history

Shimazu Narioki, a Satsuma lord who lived from 1791 to 1859, brought glass workers to his domain from Edo, the city now called Tokyo. They learned from foreign books obtained through Nagasaki. His son, Shimazu Nariakira, folded the craft into the Shuseikan Enterprise, the earliest industrial works in Japan built on western lines, which also turned out steel and cloth. Nariakira prized the glass and gave pieces to other lords. After his death the work stopped. Money ran short, the factory was damaged when Kagoshima was bombarded, and the Satsuma Rebellion brought more upheaval. Very few pieces survive from those years.

Glass, colour and cut

Two things mark this glass out. The first is colour: a tinted layer sits over clear glass, and wherever the cutter grinds it away the clear body shows through. The second is the cutting itself, done boldly and at depth, so light passing through thick and thin areas shifts gradually from dark to pale. The old method is set down in a handbook of glass technology that Kazuyoshi Hanai wrote in 1830, the Hari Seiko Zensho. It describes a technique shaped by Chinese practice. Lead was melted with powdered white stone, zinc was sometimes stirred in on reheating, and niter went into the cooling mixture before the glass was shaped.

Foreign influence and Meiji

Satsuma glassmakers drew on Dutch and English practice, and the handbook used in the domain reached it by way of Nagasaki, the port then open to foreign trade. In the Meiji period Japan began selling goods abroad, and some workshops made cloth and other products aimed at Western buyers. Taste for Japanese art ran the other way too, under the name japonisme: European painters took up Japanese motifs and methods, and Vincent van Gogh was among those influenced by Japanese art. Satsuma kiriko belongs to that period of exchange, a Japanese craft built with borrowed technique.

Revival and today

Production began again when a glass factory, an artisan and a researcher joined forces, and by 1985 they had worked out how to make the glass once more. In 1989 the craft, then run by Shimadzu Limited, gained recognition as a traditional craft of Kagoshima. Makers now turn out two sorts of work: copies of the old pieces and fresh designs and colours in the same manner. Kagoshima Prefecture is where this happens. Satsuma Glass Studio and Satsuma Vidro Craft, two workshops, produce the overlaid glass and the reproductions, and some of the cutting is passed to Edo kiriko craftsmen.

How Satsuma kiriko is kept

A piece starts with clear glass. A second, coloured layer is laid over it, and the whole is cooled slowly so that it does not crack. The cutter then works the surface against turning wheels, grinding the colour away in chosen places and leaving it in others. Bold, deep cuts let more light through and lighten the tone, while shallow cuts hold the colour dark. At the end the surface is tidied and polished. In the Satsuma domain this was one job among many at the Shuseikan works, where steel and cloth were also made. Today a handful of craftsmen in Kagoshima carry it on.

When and where

Kagoshima Prefecture is its home, in the south of Japan on the island of Kyushu. The Satsuma clan's industrial complex at Shuseikan was where the first pieces were made. Today the work stays in Kagoshima, and some cutting is passed to Edo kiriko craftsmen. When the craft lapsed, its craftsmen and their skills scattered to Tokyo and Osaka.

What Satsuma kiriko means

For the Satsuma domain the glass carried standing. Nariakira prized it and gave pieces to other lords as presents, so it spoke for a domain that was modernising quickly. For makers today the deep colour matters most. They treat the strong shift in tone between thick and thin cuts as the mark of good work, and they measure new pieces against the old ones.

Questions people ask about Satsuma kiriko

See also

IkatA resist-dyeing craft from Southeast Asia, where yarns are tied and dyed before weavingChinese knottingA folk craft of cord tied into lucky shapes, made in China and given as charmsBonsaiA Japanese craft of keeping small trees in shallow pots, shaped for contemplationCeladonGreen-glazed pottery first made in China, valued for colours that echo jade

Good reading and sources

• Satsuma kiriko on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-10.