Gyokusendo: Hammering Copper in Tsubame Since 1816
Gyokusendo (玉川堂, Gyokusendō) is a tsuiki copperware workshop and shop in Chuo-dori 2-chome, Tsubame City, Niigata Prefecture, founded in 1816, and four of its buildings (the store, forging shop, storehouse and gangi arcade) were registered in 2008 as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties.
Tsuiki means raising a vessel by hammer. A craftsman starts with one flat sheet of copper and strikes it, over and over, until it curls up into a kettle or a cup. The company's own history says the method reached Tsubame in 1768 with Tōshichi, an itinerant coppersmith from Sendai. Tamagawa Kakubei, the first head of the house, took it up in 1816 and made kettles, pots and other household wares.
The shop name Gyokusendo first appeared in 1873, when the second head, Kakujirō, sent pieces to the Vienna World Exposition.
Tsubame was a nail-making town in the Edo period, so hammer work was already second nature there, and copper mined on nearby Mount Yahiko fed the new trade, according to the company. In 1926, under the fourth head, Gyokusendo took the top prize at the Philadelphia exposition. Wartime restrictions shut the workshop down, but it reopened after the war, and hammers still ring in the Tsubame workshop today.
The Tsubame Site and Its Four Registered Buildings
The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the site as 3064-1 and others, Tsubame Aza Nishigo, which corresponds to the street address 2-2-21 Chuo-dori. Tsubame City describes Gyokusendo's lot as a long, narrow strip of the kind common to Machiya townhouses, with the shop and work buildings lined up from the street toward the back.
The gangi, a covered walkway of the Taisho period, faces east onto the street. The late-Meiji store stands at the front of the lot on the west side of that street. Southwest of the store, turned at a different angle, is a Taisho-era storehouse, joined to the store and the main house through its forecourt. The forging shop, where the copper is worked, lies west of the main house: a Taisho building with an early Showa extension.
All four were entered on the register on July 8, 2008, under registration numbers 15-0303 through 15-0306, and each is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan. The store qualified as a building that serves as a model of design. The forging shop, storehouse and gangi qualified for their contribution to the historic landscape.
What makes Gyokusendo worth the trip is that every building a craft business needs survives on one lot: a shop for customers, a workshop for artisans, a fireproof store for goods and a street arcade for passers-by.
Visiting Gyokusendo and Getting There
The Gyokusendo shop in Tsubame is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and closes on Sundays and public holidays. Guided tours of the workshop (the forging shop) start five times a day, at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. and 3:10 p.m.
A tour lasts about 15 to 20 minutes and is free for parties of 1 to 5. Groups of 6 or more, and visits arranged through travel agencies, companies or other organizations, are charged a fee. Reservations get priority, so contact the company in advance through the inquiry form on its website or by phone (0256-62-2015).
There are no tours on Sundays, public holidays, over the New Year period or on other workshop closing days, and fewer artisans are at work on Saturdays. Visitors who have been drinking are not admitted, and machines and tools must not be touched. Ask staff before taking photos; flash and video are not allowed (all details checked in September 2026).
Gyokusendo is about 300 meters south of Tsubame Station on the JR Yahiko Line, a walk of roughly 5 minutes. Tsubame Station is one stop from Tsubame-Sanjo Station on the Joetsu Shinkansen. By car, the Niigata Prefectural Tourism Association gives about 5 minutes from Tsubame-Sanjo Station and about 5 minutes from the Sanjo-Tsubame interchange on the Hokuriku Expressway; the lot holds 22 cars and 1 bus.
References
- Cultural Properties of Tsubame City (Tsubame City, Japanese)
- https://www.city.tsubame.niigata.jp/soshiki/kyoiku/3/10564/15/966.html
- Gyokusendo, 4 Properties: Summary (Tsubame City, Japanese PDF)
- https://www.city.tsubame.niigata.jp/material/files/group/29/100890585.pdf
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Gyokusendo Store (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007202
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Gyokusendo Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007203
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Gyokusendo Forging Shop (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007204
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Gyokusendo Gangi (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007205
- History of Gyokusendo (Gyokusendo, Japanese)
- https://www.gyokusendo.com/about/history
- Tsubame Showroom & Workshop (Gyokusendo)
- https://www.gyokusendo.com/en/about/tsubame
- Open Factory (Gyokusendo)
- https://www.gyokusendo.com/en/openfactory
- Factory Tour Guide, Tsubame Main Store (Gyokusendo, Japanese)
- https://www.gyokusendo.com/openfactory
- Gyokusendo Co., Ltd. (Niigata Tourism Navi, Japanese)
- https://niigata-kankou.or.jp/spot/10006
Last verified: 2026.09.17
Basic Information
| Name | Gyokusendo |
|---|---|
| Location | 3064-1 and others, Tsubame Aza Nishigo, Tsubame City, Niigata Prefecture |
| Owner | Gyokusendo |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (4) |
| Coordinates | 37.66500, 138.92939 |
