Mukojima Meugaya
13:21 JST, July 1, 2024
Mukojima Meugaya is located about a 10-minute walk northwest of Oshiage Station at the foot of Tokyo Skytree in Sumida Ward, Tokyo. With a foot-shaped board and a traditional noren curtain at the front, Meugaya deals in Japanese tabi socks, which have become a rare sight.
The store was founded in 1867 in the Asakusa area of โโTaito Ward, at the end of the Edo period (1603-1867), after the right to use the name Meugaya, which is pronounced Myogaya in Japanese, was granted by the mother store in what is now the Nihombashi district of Tokyo. Mukojima Meugaya moved to its current location after the 1923 Great Kantล earthquake.
Yoshikazu Ishii sews the toe piece of a tabi sock using a 100-year-old sewing machine.
Once inside, the first thing that caught my attention was a large sewing machine. According to Yoshikazu Ishii, 72, the fifth-generation owner of Meugaya, the 100-year-old machine is capable of performing intricate sewing tasks and was brought into the shop about 50 years ago.
Ishii uses the machine to sew the toe portion of the tabi. He turns the handle of the machine by hand and gently sews the socks as he rotates them. This is one of the most difficult tasks in making tabi. In the past, there were craftsmen who specialized in sewing tabi toe sections.
Stitching the tabi toe part requires care.
โThe sewing machine and workbench are irreplaceable. I take good care of them because it is difficult to repair them now,โ Ishii said.
Seventy to eighty percent of the tabi produced in Meugaya is custom-made and sold to geishas in the Mukojima area of โโSumida Ward, which once flourished as a place for nighttime entertainment. Other customers include Noh actors, sumo wrestlers, and teachers of tea ceremonies and flower arranging.
Tabi-making involves 20 steps, including measuring each foot, making patterns, cutting them and sewing them. Ishii divides the work with his wife Kiyoko, 73, their son Kensuke, 46, and others. They make between 10 and 20 pairs of tabi a day.
The store also sells ready-to-wear products and the variety of patterned tabi are fun to look at.
At Meugaya you can see different types of tabi socks.
When he puts the finishing touches on his tabi, Ishii places them on a wooden mold and taps the top of the tabi with a wooden mallet to shape them. He does all this while wearing a serious look on his face. The hammer hitting it makes a reassuring sound.
Ishii has 45 years of experience in making tabi and many of his tools have been in use since the shop was founded.
“To keep the tradition going, I have to keep improving my skills. I think training is a lifetime,” he said. I could hear the pride in Ishii’s voice when he said he was still training, even though he’s spent more than half his life in the industry.
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Mukojima Meugaya
Address: 27-05-16 Mukojima, Sumida Ward, Tokyo
Access: A 12-minute walk from Oshiage Station on the Toei Asakusa Line, Hanzomon Line, Keisei Oshiage Line and Tobu Isesaki Line.
Opening hours: Open from 9am to 6pm. Closed on Sundays and public holidays.
