Tokyo Shelf

Catalogue

First English editions of pre-modern Japanese craft-trade primary sources, drawn from the technical and trade literature of the period 1860–1945. The catalogue is curated to address the documented gap in the English-language secondary literature where post-war scholarship has had to lean on synthesis even where the primary documentation is both extant and authoritative.

Acquisition enquiries: masae@tokyo-shelf.com.

Shōyu and miso

Saishin Shōyu Jōzō-ron (1913)

The foundational pre-war Japanese shōyu brewing monograph. 469 pages on koji culture preparation, moromi management, brine ratios, raw-material chemistry, and the operational practice of the working brewer at the moment the modern Japanese shōyu industry was consolidating its standards.

Saishin Shōyu Jōzō Shinan (1934)

Toganō Meijirō’s mid-Shōwa successor to his 1913 monograph: the canonical Japanese industrial guide to shōyu brewing of the period, by the same author whose 1913 Saishin Shōyu Jōzō-ron is the most-cited pre-war shōyu reference work. Updated operating-detail on koji culture preparation, moromi management, brine ratios and aging from a working brewer’s perspective at the moment the modern Japanese shōyu industry was consolidating its standards.

Shōyu Brewer: Latest Theory and Practice Research (1923)

Ashida 1923 — pre-war shōyu trade research compendium written for the working brewer.

Sake-koji and sake brewing

Shuzō Seikiku-hō (1928)

Watarai’s canonical sake koji-making manual, covering the seed-koji rotation, the cooling and aeration of the kōji-muro, and the operational discipline of the small kura at the moment the modern sake industry was consolidating its standards.

Kuro-Kōji (1919)

Kawauchi Genichiro’s personal field notebook on black koji (Aspergillus luchuensis Inui) and shōchū distillation. 48 pages. Original printed at request of Director Inoue Fukujiro, based on years of Kawauchi’s personal research while a Technical Officer at the Kagoshima Tax Office (Tax Supervision Bureau).

Shōchū, awamori, and beverage spirits

Shōchū, Shusei oyobi Shusei Gan’yū Inryō (1922, seven volumes)

Kawauchi’s seven-volume treatise on shōchū, ethanol-purification, and ethanol-bearing beverage production. The canonical pre-war Japanese reference on the koji- and yeast-side chemistry of distilled and fortified beverages.

Awamori Zakkō (1937)

Higashionna’s miscellaneous study of the Okinawan awamori tradition: cultivation, distillation, ageing, and the cultural-economic position of the awamori kura in pre-war Ryūkyū.

Awamori Monogatari (1951)

Sato’s post-war reflection on awamori production, including pre-war operational practice retrospectively documented.

Shusei oyobi Shōchū (1948)

Kurono’s post-war integration of ethanol production and shōchū distillation theory.

Vinegar and other fermented condiments

Shokuzu Jōzō-hō (1942)

Nagaki Gyōzaburō’s methods-of-vinegar-brewing monograph, drawing on the Nankai Shōji vinegar tradition. Covers acetic-acid bacteria classification, enzyme management, and the operational practice of the working vinegar brewer in pre-war Japan.

Beer, whisky, and Western beverages

Bīru, Wisukī (1951)

Matsuyama’s post-war monograph on beer and whisky production, with reference to pre-war Japanese craft-brewing practice that would later become the foundation of the international Japanese whisky tradition.

Cuisine and food trades

Mezurashii Osushi no Koshiraekata (1925)

Hattori’s pre-war sushi craft monograph documenting the Edo-style sushi tradition at the moment the modern Tokyo-and-Osaka sushi-bar form was crystallising. Includes 24 base condiments, 27 decorative arrangements, 23 bara-style and 22 hako-style technique entries, with approximately 200 sushi configurations in total.

Menrui no Seihō (1950)

Sakaki’s post-war noodle-making methods monograph, drawing on pre-war ramen and udon production literature.

Cha Ryōri (1935)

The 1935 monograph on tea-cookery (cha-ryōri) in the Japanese culinary tradition.

Tea cultivation and industry

Uji-cha no Chōsa (1940)

The 92-page Kyoto Chamber of Commerce and Industry survey of the Uji tea industry, completed at the moment Japan’s tea-export market had contracted under the wartime exchange-rate regime and the Uji houses were consolidating around the premium tea category. Includes prefecture-by-prefecture domestic production figures (1912–1939), the lineage and eight distinctive characteristics of Uji tea, micro-village production data for Uji-gun, Kuse-gun, Tsuzuki-gun and Sōraku-gun, and the machinery profile of the consolidating producer cooperatives.

Acquisition

Acquisition enquiries: masae@tokyo-shelf.com.