Edo Bekkō Tanaka

Tortoiseshell (bekkō) worked here for over 100 years: a 2-hour guided experience, from 10,000 yen.

In the Yanaka workshop a woman craftsperson still works the shell of the hawksbill turtle (bekkō), cut, heated and fused by hand to make frames, brooches and netsuke. If you book the experience (two hours, from 10,000 yen) you make a piece of your own and take it home, with tea served at the end.

The shop has worked bekkō, the shell of the hawksbill turtle (taimai), now a species protected by the Washington Convention (CITES), for over a hundred years, for spectacles and accessories; the official website has a page devoted specifically to the relationship between bekkō and the international convention that regulates its trade. It is now in its third generation: master Tanaka has been making tortoiseshell frames for over forty years, since he was eighteen.

ℹ️ Open Monday–Saturday, 10:00–17:00; closed on Sundays and public holidays (official website, tanakabekko.jp). The guided experience (根付/netsuke, or accessories such as earrings and necklaces) lasts 2 hours and costs from 10,000 yen; a course for school trips lasts 2 hours at 2,000 yen; if you have already done the basic experience you can come back for the ‘bekkō school’, with tickets from 5,000 yen per hour (60 min). All experiences require booking. About 125 m from Yanaka Ginza, on the same street.

🚉 Sendagi · 5 min walk

Sources: tanakabekko.jp

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