Official

Tomiji Hirano is a leader in spreading not only the printing business but also the shipbuilding, steel, and civil engineering industries to Japan.

I think it's an entrepreneur comparable to Eiichi Shibusawa, but it may not be well known yet.

The land of Ishikawajima will be lent by the Ministry of Navy to establish the Ishikawajima Plain Shipyard. It is the predecessor of today's IHI.

The shipping business has also begun, and it remains as today's Tokai Kisen.

In addition to shipbuilding, we will import assembly-type light iron gauges and start railway construction.

　We undertook construction work between Osaki and Shibuya on the Yamanote Line and construction of various parts of the Tohoku Line.

Ishikawajima Shipyard was the only factory in Japan capable of processing large iron.

The parts of Azuma-bashi Bridge will be manufactured at Ishikawajima and built as the first railway bridge in the Sumida River.

We also built Japan's first electric elevator installed at Ryounkaku in Asakusa, which was the tallest building at that time.

You can see the actual type of typographic printing press made by Tomiji Hirano, a person who seems to be in Taiga drama series, at the Mizuno Printing Museum on Irifune.

The machine in the above photo is considered to be the oldest existing domestic printing machine.

"Place the paper on the ink-filled plate, put it on top of it, move it to the press place, pull the lever manually, press and print. When the lever is released, the crimp goes up by spring. It is a domestic production of an albion printing machine devised by Richard W. Coop of England around 1820. ”

　It's in the manual.

I saw the engraving of a plain print shop surrounded by a circle of "H".

In 2007, it was certified as a "Central Citizen's Cultural Property."

It was also recognized as a "Mechanical Heritage No. 17" selected by the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Mr. Murayama of the General Affairs Department of Mizuno Pretec Co., Ltd. carefully explained and thank you very much.

You can see valuable items such as the world's oldest printed matter, "One Million Pagodadarani" and the first edition of the "Study of Learning".

Reservations are required to visit the Mizuno Printing Museum.

TEL： Open Monday, 03-3551-7595.

It's poetry monument of Takuboku Ishikawa in Ginza.

　A newspaper company in Takiyama-cho, Kyobashi

　　　It's a little bit of a light."

　It is engraved.

This monument was built to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Takuboku's death, working at the Asahi Shimbun in Ginza Takiyamamachi (currently Ginza 6-chome) for three years from 1909.

In the Meiji era, there were many newspapers in Ginza, both the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, and the Yomiuri Shimbun.

According to the Edo Tokyo Museum, which is currently closed, there were over 100 large and small newspaper companies in Ginza.

This is the Kojunsha building in Ginza. This is a social club for businessmen advocated by Yukichi Fukuzawa.

The daily newspaper, Jiji Shimpo, which Fukuzawa launched, was here.

He was also a publisher who published the Japanese Men's Record.

There are various theories...

The center of the Edo period is Nihonbashi.

In the Meiji era, a town called Ginza was created, and after being burned by a large fire, it became a brick town.

In contrast to Nihonbashi, which is lined with long-established stores, Ginza has a new store centered on imported goods.

In contrast to the reputation of fire resistance, brick streets are said to have increased the vacancy of buildings due to rain leaks and moisture.

　It may be because the price of the property was quite high.

But Ginza is close to the foreign settlement in Akashicho, and foreign information can be quickly entered near Shimbashi Station, where there is a railway that can go to Yokohama.

It is close to the center of the new government, and just next to Kabuto-cho and Nihonbashi, where banks are located.

It is exactly the source of political economy and trends.

That's why newspaper companies have entered vacant stores in Ginza one after another, and publishers, magazine companies, and advertising companies are lined up.

In the early Meiji era, newspapers were called separately from large newspapers and small newspapers.

　The Daishinbun (which seems to be called Oshinbun) is based on political theory for the knowledge class.

　Koshinbun is mainly based on entertainment articles for the common people.

　　That's right.

The Mainichi Shimbun, which was originally called the Great Newspaper, began to post entertainment articles, and it seems strange that modern large newspapers were called small newspapers in the sense of letters along with the Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun from the beginning. .

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The printing and bookbinding industries inevitably became popular in Irifune and Minato, which are close to newspapers and publishers in Ginza.

The above photo shows the printing plant founded in 1955 in Irifune.

The predecessor, who trained at the printing factory, opened independently. It was a time when there were many companies around the world.

I don't know why I opened it in this place because my predecessor died.

Currently, the second president is taking over.

Just recently, the factory manager, who was like an older brother who has been with the company for 62 years, has just retired.

This is a type printing machine from the same printing factory.

It seems that the factory manager was working on an offset printing machine, and the current president was sharing a typographic printing machine.

The demand for typographic printing is decreasing, and it seems that only limited printing factories remain.

Printing a business card using a letterpress printing machine creates subtle irregularities, and it seems that it is popular when it gives a sense of luxury.

I was told that I would use a press printing machine the day after I took the picture.

He seems to be printing with perforation.

I didn't have the image yet, but I was able to show the actual one printed at a later date.

By printing a live plate tooth on the cut line such as a transfer paper, the paper can be uneven, and the perforation that you usually see is made.

In addition to typographic printing, there are other ways to insert perforations, but this is one of the ways to use typographic printing machines.

This is a photo of the bookbinding machine in the Irifune bookbinding plant.

The fourth president has succeeded at a bookbinding mill, which has been founded in Kanda and moved to Irifune for 100 years.

The bookbinding business is not only a company that makes books, but also a company that makes pamphlets and magazines.

It seems that books and slips are often handled by bookbinds in photography at present.

There are many occupations related to printing in Irifune and Minato.

One of them is a photograph of the machine at the Irifune polishing place.

A polishing place is a profession that sharpens the teeth of a paper mill (cut paper to the order size) or a cutting machine used by a bookbinding machine.

If you have a slight distortion or difficulty slipping, you will not be able to cut the paper cleanly.

The technique of maintaining teeth regularly is craftsmanship.

Ginza is a gorgeous state-of-the-art city　

　Tsukiji is a fish shore and Honganji.

　　Akashicho is the birthplace of school and St. Luke's

　　　Shintomi is a city where the sound of restaurants and shamisen remains.

And Irifune and Minato are the streets of printing and bookbinding.

This is the image of the city I think.　

I looked at Irifune and Minato on the 1963 housing map.

Including my own memories, I counted the printing and bookbinding industries regardless of the size of the company.

1/15 Irifune 2/21 Irifune 3/14 Irifune 1/14 Minato 1/13 Minato 2/35 Minato 3/32

Irifune 1/5 Irifune 2/1 Irifune 3/4 Irifune 1/3 Minato 2/9 Minato 3/10

There are also many other printing-related occupations, such as paper industry, printing industry, copying and polishing place.

I saw a magazine commemorating the 30th anniversary of Minato Sanchome Town Association in the Kyobashi Library basement room.

Now it can't be personal information, but the town member list is listed.

There is also a job column for town council members (head of household). The total number was 520.

　82 households are listed as printing businesses.

　There are 42 households listed as bookbinding.

　There are 16 households that seem to be related occupations.

The work location is not necessarily Minato 3-chome, but many people are involved.

Currently, Irifune and Minato are being developed, and tall buildings such as tower apartments and hotels are being built one after another.

In particular, Minato 2-chome has changed a lot.

Due to the passage of the times, the number of printing shops is decreasing.

The place I used to sleep was facing an alley, and 5 meters before it was a printing shop.

When I fell asleep in the morning, the sound of Gatchangatchan and the printing machine was lullaby.

It's certainly a city that is changing now.

But it's not in my memory that I can still hear the sound of printing machines in Irifune and Minato.

This year, in front of a printing shop and a polishing shop, I saw the scenery of Obon's pick-up and fire-fighting.

It's a wonderful scenery of the downtown area.