History
Batten Lace is an object of art which is first created in Germany. It takes
for a long time to make it because it is all handmade. It was brought to
Yokohama and Kobe around 1887 (Meiji 20). In those days, the main material,
Blate (Tape), was imported from the foreign countries.
Batten lace became popular among the people in Joetsu. In 1892, the people
such as Mr. Nobuyoshi Miyazaki (a member of Joetsu City Assembly) and Mr.
Torahachiro Yoshida (Yoshida Batten Lace) knew that it was very popular
in Yokohama and they spread it all over Takada City (Joetsu City)
1894(Meiji 27), Batten Lace spread.
In February in 1898(Meiji 31), Mr. Yasutarou Iizuna invited Ms. Tatsu Mishizawa
and Ms. Ume Abe as the teachers for Batten Lace and they founded the factory
of Batten Lace in Shokunin-machi (Omachi 5). In those days, it was very
difficult to get the material for Batten Lace because it was imported.
1908(Meiji 41), Mr. Otokichi Nezu (who is from Toka-machi) who realized
the difficulty to getting the material for Batten Lace invented the weaving
machine and founded a company that was called "Toyo Blate" in
Yokohama. It enabled us to get the material for Batten Lace and developed
Batten Lace.
1910(Meiji 43), Batten Lace was exported to the foreign countries such
as the United States of America, The United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain
and Belgium as it was very expensive. In those days, Many people (About
8000 people worked for it) in Takada City worked for it and they made a
lot of Batten Lace and they had a lack of the material for it. Then, Mr.Toyotaro
Arisawa invited "Toyo Blade" to Takada City and he founded a
company.
1916(Taisho 5), Mr.Shuzo Hirose and Mr.Jiro Uwatuki started creating Blade,
and it was very successful. 22~23 people were united and they made 300
goku of Blade.
1917(Taisho 6) Creating Blade had been very successful for a long time.
However, as World War ‡T happened, they were in danger of extinction and
making Blade was no longer successful.
1923(Taisho 12) Suddenly, people had a strong earthquake and Blade making
was damaged. Not only the Blade companies in Yokohama but also other companies
were damaged. What is worse, they were almost extinct because of deflation.
However, Mr. Yasutaro Iijima had a contact to Mr. Tadashi Kondo and his
company in Kobe, and he didn't get big damage from this accident. His company
(Higashi-Honcho 4 in Joetsu City) managed to survive until 1985.
Time has changed. We had some terrible events such as Manshu-Jihen, Shina-Jihen,
World War ‡U. Only 3 companies that Mr.Yasutaro Iijima (Now continued Mr.Tumeshichi
Iijima), Mr.Kaname Yoshida (Now continued Mr. Shin Yoshida) and Mr.Raiji
Aoyama (Now continued Mr.Shozo Aoyama) survived after these terrible events.
1955(Showa 30), the War has finished and people began to build their life up. Mr. Kaname Yoshida began to run the company that was called "Yoshida Batten Lace".
Batten Lace attracted people in Japan and they are familiar with it until
now. Yoshida Batten Lace creates Batten Lace from the material to completed
products.