Taisho Roman Checkered Pattern Single Flower Vase

This is a single flower vase from the Taisho Roman glass series by Hirota Glass, a long-established glass manufacturer in Tokyo.

This vase has a cute round body like a water balloon. The height is low, but the body is surprisingly large and stable.

The striped pattern, traditionally called "Tokusa (horsetail)," conveys a nostalgic atmosphere. The pattern is also applied to the narrow part of the mouth.

This pattern is created not by painting or pigments, but by the "Aburidashi (invisible ink) technique," which uses specially blended glass materials to create an opalescent, milky-white pattern by the sudden temperature difference when molten glass comes into contact with a mold with a precisely engraved pattern.

The single-flower vases are packaged in a decorative box, making them ideal for gift-giving. 

Hirota Glass

When Hirota Glass was founded, Japan was in the Meiji Era (1868 CE–1912 CE), a time marked by the Industrial Revolution and increasing Westernization of the townscapes.

During this era, Japanese and Western arts, crafts, architecture, and designs began to blend. By the Taisho Era (1912 CE–1926 CE), this fusion gave rise to "Taisho Romanticism," a unique aesthetic style of the time.

In 2002, Hirota Tatsuo, the third director of Hirota Glass, began reviving the classic glassware styles popular during the Taisho Era. Today, the exotic charm of Taisho Romanticism continues to be reflected in Hirota Glass's creations.

Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is also a center of craftsmanship. Among them, Edo Glass and Edo Kiriko are traditional Japanese Glassware that have been handed down for about 200 years in Edo City, the old name for the central area of Tokyo.

These beautifully shining glasswares have been refined in Japan's largest consumer city, carrying on the good old Japanese tradition into the modern age.