Koga –One of Samurai Capitals in the Kanto Region—

 

     When I took a train from Totsuka to Kawasaki, its last stop was Koga, the seat of the Koga Kanto Deputy Shogunate in Medieval times.  The city is also known for its snow crystal motif as its “speciality.”

     Powderly snow, large snowflakes, light snow…

     We tell snow apart in many ways.  When, however, did we know the shapes of snow crystals?

     As early as in the Edo Period, Doi Toshitsura (1789-1848), the lord of the Koga Domain, observed crystals of snow.  He called its crystales snow flowers, recorded what he observed for 2 decades, and published an illustrated book of snow crystals, Sekka Zusetsu, with 86 types of snow crystals in 1832.

     “I first leave a dish in cold open air, catch flakes of snow on it, and carefully pick up a flake with tweezers so that neither my breath nor my fingers touch it.”  “When you light it, it sparkles brilliantly.”

     He didn’t mind his hands freezing, and kept on observing flakes.  In 1840, he published Sekka Zusetsu, the Sequel, with 97 types of snow crystals.

     Nagayo Toshihiko, a curator of the Koga History Museum, says, “Toshitsura made another contribution.  He used snow crystals as motifs.  He decorated his letters, clothes, sword guards, and other personal belongings with snow flower patterns.

     Snow flower patterns became a fad in the latter half of the Edo period.  People used them on their clothes and slide doors.  He ordered gold-sprinkled lacquer wares from Hara Yoyusai, a lacquer ware craftsperson in Edo, used them as gifts and return gifts for debts.

     Toshitsura was not only an amateur scientist but also a competent politician.  He became a kind of prime minister in those days.