Tobacco pouch set

Tobacco set

Japanese, 19th century
Wood and inlaid shell

Our object of the month for May is a tobacco set which is on display in the Japanese Room after a long period in storage. The set includes a wooden tobacco pouch with a pipe holder attached to it with a silk cord. The cord is threaded through the lid or flap of the tobacco pouch, which can be secured shut using the carved wooden bead. Sets with a tobacco pouch and pipe holder such as this one were worn hanging from the belt as part of traditional Japanese dress for men.

The pipe holder is in the form of a foreigner or Dutchman with his arms raised above his head. Japanese tobacco pipes, or kiseru, consist of a long hollow bamboo tube with a mouthpiece at one end and a bowl at one end that curves upwards. Both ends are made from metal, often carved with a decorative design. The finely shredded tobacco is placed in the bowl. The pipe holder which is part of our object of the month is designed so that the metal bowl is securely held between the arms of the Dutchman.

Japanese pipe in wood and metal with a design of pine trees and a tiger, Chiddingstone Castle collection, object number 01.0860

Tobacco and the practice of smoking pipes was introduced into Japan in the late 1500s by the Portuguese. The government initially tried to control its use by issuing bans, but these edicts did not have any effect and by the early 1600s the use of tobacco was permitted. Smoking with a kiseru pipe became a popular pastime for all levels of society. Its popularity is reflected in the many woodblock prints from the Edo period (1603 – 1868) depicting actors and courtesans with pipes and smoking sets. Actors and courtesans were the celebrities of the period and the setters of social and cultural trends. For the price of a bowl of noodles, anyone could buy a woodblock print of their favourites wearing the latest fashions and enjoying an aspirational lifestyle.

The Kabuki actor Matsumoto Koshiro IV smoking a pipe, woodblock print, Torii Kiyonaga, ca. 1783, The Metropolitan Museum, accession number JP2610

Our object of the month reflects the fascination with foreigners and depictions of foreigners in Japanese art during the Edo period. Following the ban on trade with the Portuguese and their expulsion from Japan in 1639, the only Westerners who were permitted to stay and trade with Japan were the Dutch. They were confined to a tiny man-made island off the coast of the city of Nagasaki, and permitted to leave only once a year in order to visit the government in the capital, Edo. People who lived in Nagasaki may have had the chance to occasionally see a Dutchman, but most people would only have the chance to see them on their route to Edo. There were a few other occasions when glimpsing a foreigner was possible. Korean ambassadors travelled to Edo in great processions twelve times during the Edo period, as did representatives from the Ryukyu islands. These processions of foreigners paying tribute to the government in Edo helped strengthen their power in the eyes of the public. These rare glimpses of foreigners in their unusual clothes became a popular subject for Japanese art. The ban on foreign books was lifted in 1720, fuelling a fascination with foreigners and sparking the popularity of ‘Dutch studies’.

Dutch Printers, woodblock print, Utagawa Yoshitora, 1861, The Metropolitan Museum, accession number 2007.49.203

The design of the tobacco pouch which forms part of our object of the month playfully continues the theme of ‘foreignness’. It depicts a mythical figure known in Japan as ‘Shoki the demon queller’, in carved wood with eyes of inlaid shell. Shoki, whose original name was Zhong Kui, was a Chinese scholar of the seventh century. According to legend, he committed suicide after failing to achieve first rank in the civil service examinations. Hearing about his story, the Emperor honoured him with a burial, and in gratitude Zhong Kui appeared to him in a dream, vowing to banish demons and disease. Images of Zhong Kui, or Shoki, were considered to be lucky and to provide protection against diseases and other evil forces. On this tobacco pouch, Shoki is depicted holding his straw hat – perhaps with a demon captured underneath.

Netsuke depicting Shoki the demon queller, carved ivory, 19th century, The Metropolitan Museum, accession number 10.211.582

This object is just one of the many objects that form part of Denys Eyre Bower’s five impressive collections which include Ancient Egyptian, Japanese, Buddhist, Stuart and Jacobite, and Books. For more information on these objects, review our Object of the Month series, visit the Historic House and Collections or contact our Curator, Naomi Collick by email or by calling 01892 870347.