Pianos Were Once Made in Chinatown: The Story of the Chew PianoFrom a shop at 123 Yamashita-cho to about ten surviving instruments
From the end of the Meiji era to the Second World War, a piano maker worked in Yokohama Chinatown. Its pianos are known by the founder’s name: Chew Pianos. A few survived the earthquake and the air raids, and two can still be seen in Chinatown.
A piano shop at No. 123
In 1912, a shop called Shu Kōka Yōkin Senseisho opened at 123 Yamashita-cho, on today’s Minamimon Silk Road near Motomachi. Its sign was a carved board showing three tuning forks. The pianos became known as Chew Pianos.
A piano then cost about as much as a house. Even so, Chew Pianos sold well, praised for their sound and their decoration. Five years after opening, the business built a new factory in Horinouchi, in today’s Minami Ward.
A founder trained in Shanghai
The founder, Chew Shosei (Zhou Xiaosheng), came from Zhejiang Province. With his brother he went to Shanghai and spent more than ten years making and selling pianos for a British instrument dealer.
He came to Yokohama in 1905 and worked as a foreman at a foreign firm’s piano factory, while experimenting with his own pianos in a corner of Chinatown. Seven years later he opened the shop at No. 123.
Earthquake and war
The Great Kanto Earthquake of September 1, 1923 destroyed the shop and killed the founder and his second son. His widow, with about 40 craftsmen, rebuilt the Horinouchi factory. Seven years later the eldest son, Chew Jangjie, became factory manager.
In 1945 the factory burned in an air raid. The son, who had traveled between Shanghai and Yokohama for parts, was taken in on suspicion of spying and died the year after the war ended. That was the end of the Chew Piano.
Where to see one today
It was thought none had survived, but about ten pianos by the first and second generations have since been found across Japan. One found in Kiryu, Gunma in 2004 still had a purchase record from 1922.
Two are on display at Manchinro Honten on Chinatown’s main street, since 2007. The first-generation piano bears the name “S.CHEW PIANO” and the second-generation one “S.CHEW&SON”.