During the heyday of the Japanese-style
kiseru -pipe, smoking tobacco
was customarily shredded to a hair-like degree
of fineness. The prevalence of this "fibre-tobacco"
influenced the development of many characteristic
Japanese forms of
smoking accessories, Tobacco trays, pouches,and
other smoking paraphernalia were often exquisitely
finished, and they are justly prized today as superb
miniature masterworks of decorative art.
 Tobacco
in Genre Prints and Paintings
Tobacco was of fundamental importance in the
development of the classic urban culture of Edo-period
Japan. In particular, it formed part and parcel
of the daily lives of lower-and middle class town
dwellers, for it was one of the everyday luxuries
which the could enjoy anywhere and at anytime. Japanese-style
pipe-smoking was both pleasant and refreshing, and
it helped set the mood for convesations and social
gatherings; shops, restaurants, inns, and private
homes always had handsomely decorated tobacco sets
ready for customers and guests. The neatness, cleanness,
and elegance of the long and graceful kiseru pipe
made tobacco attractive to women, as well as to
men, and people of both sexes took pride in owning
and using well-designed personal smoking implements.
Left "Tobacco on outings: at the seashore"
Artist: Toyokuni I (late eighteenth century)
Right "Tobacco in daily life:shopkeepr's wife with
Kiseru pipe"
Artist :Utamaro (ca.1800)
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