ARTISTS

Amita Arthur & Bond Asahi Shoten Ashihara Fujii, Yoshitoyo Fukui Hagiya, Katsuhira Hattori, Kintaro Ikeda, Seisuke G. Ikoma Kagawa, Katsuhiro Kawano, Yoshinosuke Komai, Otojiro Komai, Seibei Kuhn & Komor Kumeno, Teitaro Kuroda, Kiichi Kyoto Damascene Mitsui, Yoshio Mitsukoshi Miyamoto Shoko Murakami Toyo Nagata Namikawa, Yasuyuki Nogawa, Noboru Ogurusu Ohayo Okubo Brothers Samurai Shokai Takeda Brothers Uyeda, Kichigoro Yamanaka

Amita Co. artists: Minai, Torahiko Kanamori, Takeshi

Other artists

NOGAWA, NOBORU 能川登

Four bronze ware craftsmen are at work in the Nogawa workshop (能川登) in Kyoto in 1885.

Five bronze ware craftsmen are at work in the Nogawa workshop (能川登) in Kyoto in 1885.

HISTORY

Nogawa workshop was founded in 1825. Nogawa acted both as a manufacturer and dealer and ran a very popular shop on 22 Shijo Otabicho, as well as showrooms in the Kyoto Hotel and the Miyako Hotel, the city’s most exclusive hotels. Although there is surprisingly little documentation on the company, it appears to have been well-known at the time. It exhibited at several large overseas exhibitions between 1893 and 1910.

In advertising, the company introduced itself as “a manufacturer of bronze and fine art wares”, which included garden items, birds, animals, human figures, Buddhas, gongs and bells, vases, lanterns and small pieces. Nogawa also sold cloisonne ware, damascene works, ivory carving, lacquer ware, pearls, prints and Satsuma ware.

Expert workmen pouring molten bronze into moulds in the
Nogawa Bronze Works, Kyoto, Japan.

Because of the lack of documentation, until recently Nogawa metalwork was identified as being from the Hattori Co. It was only during the early 2000's that experts discovered that the distinctive mark they had believed as belonging to Hattori, was actually Nogawa’s trade-mark. It features the stylized hiragana character No (の) with three vertical lines in the background signifying the kanji character for river (川, Kawa, or Gawa in compounds). This is effectively pronounced as Nogawa. This new discovery meant a drastic evaluation of Nogawa’s small but productive workshop.

Artists in Nogawa workshop got a salary of 3 sen (1.5 cents) per day.

Several artists had been working in the Nogawa workshop. Their individual marks are provided below.

EXHIBITIONS

Participated in the following exhibitions:
1893: World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago, USA).
1915: Panama-Pacific International Exposition - "Gold and Silversmith's work" category.
1933: A Century of Progress International Exposition (Chicago, USA).

Chicago (1893)
Exposition record

Panama-Pacific (1915)
Exposition record

Chicago (1933)
Exposition record

ADDRESS

22, Shijio Otabi-cho, Kyoto.
35, Otabi-machi, Yojo-teramachi, Higashi-iru, Shimokyo-ku, Kyoto.
35, Shijo-dori, Teramachi, Higashi-iru, Shimokyo-ku, Kyoto.