Hisakichi Asahara
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Hisakichi Asahara | |
|---|---|
浅原 久吉 | |
 Hisakichi Asahara, standing in front of the kiln, in June 1950 | |
| Born | July 17, 1877 Fukuoka, Japan |
| Died | October 16, 1957 (aged 80) Otaru, Japan |
| Occupation | Glass artist |
Hisakichi Asahara (Japanese: 浅原 久吉, Hepburn: Asahara Hisakichi, July 17, 1877 – October 16, 1957) was a Japanese glass artist. A pioneer in glass crafts making, he was the founder of Otaru glass industry during the Meiji era, that evolved into a "glass town", where many glass factories have been established.
Biography[edit]
Hisakichi Asahara was born on July 17, 1877, in Fukuoka, Kyushu, the birthplace of Satsuma kiriko. His parents' home in Hakata used to be a glass factory that had been around since the Edo period, now closed down. He went to work as an apprentice at a glass factory opened in Osaka, but later moved to Hakodate for training and accompanied a senior craftsman to started his own company.
Then, he became independent and moved to Otaru, during its development period, on his own as a glass blower and founded Asahara Glass, the predecessor of the famous shop Kitaichi Glass established after one of their shore was closed in 1971, a company to manufacture miscellaneous glass household items, such as oil lamps and medication bottles,[1] in 1903 in Tomioka.[2] He established the manufacturing technology and started producing kerosene lamps, that were part of life's necessities because electricity supply was unknown at that time, and medication bottles.
In 1908, he was asked by the Fisheries Research Institute at the time if it would be possible to make glass fishing floats, which were previously made of wood and bamboo, out of glass that was cheaper, lighter, easier to process, and transparent enough to blend in with the color of the seawater. Those request arrived words inspired him through extensive research, and so he devised a technique called "glass-blowing", which was passed down from him and continued for a hundred years along with the history of Hokkaido's fishing industry.[3][4]
During the Meiji and Taishō periods, glass floating balls invented by him for local fishermen using recycled glass were quickly used as buoyancy bodies to float ropes when fishing for herring and northern sea, although nowadays similar balls are in demand as home decorations. He gathered his brothers and relatives together, taught them glass-making techniques of hand-blown spheres, and around 1940 expanded his Asahara Glass factories across Hokkaido (Otaru, Muroran, Kushiro, Asahikawa, and Sakhalin), and the number of employees increased to about 400, making it one of the largest companies in Hokkaido at the time: it is said that 1,056 tons of floating balls were produced in 1947, but it can be assumed that the actual amount was more than that.
In 1934, he moved to Midori, Irifune, and then to its current location in Tenjin. According to lifestyle changes, their products have shifted to tableware to enrich people's lives. They always try to supply products that enhance the quality of life. By the 1920-30s, they were sending out millions of glass floats for use on boats fishing the Pacific Ocean, sealed with their so-called "buttons" blank. However, after the end of the war, business gradually declined in prosperity because of the use of electric lights, aluminum and orange plastic floating balls during the Shōwa period, and Asahara Glass is the only company in the country that, rather than developing new products, still continues to make and sell oil lamps and glass floating balls as interior decoration souvenirs.
After retired in June 1950, he died in Otaru on October 16, 1957, and was laid to rest in Asahara's local grave. His progeny succeeded him: his eldest son Torai Asahara inheriting the name "Hisakichi Asahara II" until his death on May 9, 1979; his grandson Yōji Asahara from 1967 to his death on September 7, 2007; and now his eldest great-grandson Saiichirō Asahara.
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- Asahara Glass (in Japanese)