The Japanese Personal Smoking Ensemble

The Japanese personal smoking ensemble is the collection of pieces that carried pipe and tobacco outside the home, from the Edo period through the end of the 19th century. Because kimonos and similar traditional garments had no pockets, small items were either tucked into the sleeve or fastened to the sash (obi) tied around the waist, and were most often hung from that sash instead; the general name for items carried this way is sagemono. Alongside the compartmented case used to carry seals and medicine (inrō), the smoking ensemble is one of the most common examples of the sagemono family, and within the world history of the pipe it forms the Japanese counterpart to the pouch-and-tobacco pairing of the West.

The Parts of the Ensemble

A typical ensemble was made up of the following pieces:

• Kiseru-zutsu: the case for the kiseru; it could be made of bamboo, wood, horn, metal, or lacquerware.

• Tabako-ire: a soft tobacco pouch of leather or fabric. In early examples the pouch was closed with a cord wound around it; from the 19th century a metal clasp (kanagu or kanamono) was fitted to the flap.

• Tonkotsu: a hard-bodied tobacco container that replaced the pouch. It is noted as becoming widespread after the middle of the 19th century.

• Himo: the pair of cords tying the pieces together.

• Ojime: a small single-holed bead through which the cord passed. It tightened the cords to keep the tobacco container's opening from coming loose; on pouches with a clasped flap this function was no longer needed, so the ojime became purely decorative, and some ensembles dispensed with it altogether.

• Netsuke: the toggle at the end of the cord. It sat above the sash and kept the ensemble from sliding down.

The tobacco carried in the pouch was kizami-tabako, shredded to the fineness of hair; this style of cutting is discussed in the entry tobacco cuts.

Ways of Carrying It on the Sash

The arrangements men used are distinguished by where the ensemble anchored to the sash. Sage tabako-ire is regarded as the oldest form: the netsuke sits at the top end of the cord, the cords pass behind the sash, and the case and pouch hang below the sash. In koshizashi tabako-ire, which became widespread in the 19th century, there is no separate toggle — the pipe case itself acts as the netsuke; the case is tucked in behind the sash while the tobacco container hangs in front on a short cord. A later variant of the sage arrangement also appears at the end of the century: instead of a cord, a multi-strand metal chain is used, with a flat, round netsuke called manju serving as the toggle.

Women mostly did not hang the ensemble from the sash, but carried the pipe and pouch in the kimono's sleeves or tucked into the sash itself.

Craft, Assembly, and Signature

An ensemble generally did not come from a single hand: the craftsman who carved the case, the one who forged the clasp, and the one who carved the toggle were different people. Well-off buyers had the pieces assembled to their own taste, and the finished ensemble was sometimes delivered with a box bearing information about its makers (hakogaki; called tomobako if it carried the maker's own signature). Ensembles were not treated as fixed, permanent sets either — pieces were swapped depending on the season or occasion.

There is no general rule regarding signatures. Through the 18th century these objects were treated as everyday items and were not signed; signing became common in the 19th century; and by the end of the century, nearly all pieces produced for export to the West came out signed. For this reason, the presence of a signature alone is not treated as a measure of quality in collector circles.

From Status Symbol to Museum Piece

It was not customary for men to wear jewelry, and the sword was a privilege reserved for the nobility and the samurai. In such a setting, a carefully decorated smoking ensemble was one of the few objects that could display its owner's standing and taste. When the Haitōrei edict of 28 March 1876 banned everyone except the army, police, and former lords from carrying weapons in public, this function of the ensemble became even more prominent.

After 1868, as Western-style dress spread, the problem of pockets disappeared and ensembles fell out of everyday use; production continued for a while longer for collectors in Europe and America. Today these pieces are preserved in bulk in museums and private collections. The Tobacco and Salt Museum in Tokyo's Sumida ward is considered the field's principal address; it is noted that the tobacco-pouch collection known by the name of the rakugo performer Katsura Bunraku is also held there. Japan's later pipe production is described in the entry Beyond Tsuge.