Shinichi Tanizawa×Chisako Takashima

2013.11.01

A talk series with the violinist Chisako Takashima and the Ginza people. Ginza holds many personal and professional memories for Takashima. In this talk series, she thoroughly explores various aspects of the Ginza culture with her guests. Today’s guest is Mr. Shinichi Tanizawa, the 4th generation president of Ginza Tanizawa, a veteran bag shop.

The history of Ginza Tanizawa, the originator of the character for bag, 鞄

Takashima: When was the shop founded?
Tanizawa: It was founded in 1874. Next year will be its 140th year.
Takashima: Was it always a bag shop?
Tanizawa: The founder, Teizo Tanizawa, came from Tochigi prefecture in 1874 and became involved in bag-making in what is currently Nihonbashi 3-Chome, back before the current word and character for a handbag existed The shop moved to its current location in 1890.
Takashima: I heard that it was Tanizawa that first proposed the character for bag, 鞄.
Tanizawa: Yes. There was no word for bag/briefcase at the time. Teizo submitted a bag with a carrying handle to the first national industrial exhibition in 1877 and received an award for it, but the word for the product on the certificate was 提嚢 (=teino, meaning “bag with a carrying handle”). When it came time to sell the product at the first Tokyo prefectural bazaar, that was a place with a similar function to a modern department store, there was some debate about what to call it and it ended up being written with the two characters, 革 (=kawa, meaning “leather”) and 包 (=hou, meaning ““wrap””). Then, Teizo proposed merging the two characters into one character, 鞄, and reading it as kaban. This is supposedly the start of that character and word in Japan.
Takashima: Wow, that’s amazing!
Tanizawa: That character already existed in China and was even in use at the time, but it was not added to the dictionary in Japan until 12 years after that.

Birth of the Dulles bag – Tanizawa’s long-cherished signature bag

Takashima: When I think of Tanizawa, I think of the famous Dulles bag.
Tanizawa: Some customers have kept theirs in the family for two generations and many customers have used theirs for many, many years, repairing it as needed. Even today, all the bags are handmade by craftspersons in Japan.
Takashima: Was the bag originally designed by Tanizawa?
Tanizawa: No, it was originally a Western product, a type of business bag. It’s the bag that was carried around by U.S. Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, when he came here to conclude the peace treaty with Japan. It captured the eye of Koshichi Tanizawa, the second shop president, who developed his own commercial version through trial and error and dubbed it the Dulles bag, selling it with the slogan, “Symbol of Peace” for the time period being just after the war ended.
Takashima: And it was a big hit?
Tanizawa: It sold very well despite having a 5000 yen price tag back then. At a time when the starting salary of a university graduate was 8000 yen, that was pretty formidable.
Takashima: That’s a really high-end product! It is testimony to how truly loved a bag it is that it continues to sell well even today in a different era despite being such a luxury bag.

Dulles bag

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